Terms of service

These terms govern the use of the Chersus API, the Chersus dashboard, and the Chersus website. Chersus is a product of GoodFolk B.V., a company incorporated in the Netherlands; references to Chersus, we, and us mean GoodFolk B.V.

Acceptance of these terms

By creating an account or using the service, you accept these terms. If you accept on behalf of an organization, you confirm that you are authorized to bind it. Use of the free allowance is subject to these terms in the same way as use beyond it.

Description of the service

Chersus provides an API that performs defined operations on the input you submit, such as redacting personal data, classifying input, or extracting structured data. Several operations can be combined into one request.

Processing is stateless: input exists in memory for the duration of a request and is not stored, not used for training, and not disclosed. Every response carries an audit trace with hashes of inputs and outputs, never their content.

Where you configure a relay step, Chersus forwards your input, after the detect, extract and transform steps have run, to the language model or models you choose and returns the restored response. Where you configure a tokenize or redact step, personal data is replaced by placeholders before it is forwarded. This protection depends on the steps you configure and on detection, which is statistical. You may bring your own provider key, which we use once per request and do not store, or select a provided model, which Chersus obtains from a provider listed on the subprocessors page. Placeholders are made with a secret we hold for your account; a session key you send is used to make them and is not stored.

Services always run at their latest version; the version that produced a result is recorded in the audit trace. The service includes the dashboard, the API, and its documentation.

Account registration and security

Registration requires an email address; sign-in uses a one-time code. We issue API keys for API access. You keep your keys secret and are responsible for all activity under them. Notify us immediately if a key is lost or compromised; we may revoke and reissue keys to protect the service.

Acceptable use

You must not use the service to break the law or infringe the rights of others. In particular you must not:

• submit content or use the service for purposes that are unlawful, or that infringe intellectual property, privacy, or other rights of third parties;
• process personal data through the API without a valid legal basis and the notices required by law;
• interfere with, probe, or load-test the service without our written consent, or circumvent rate limits or access controls;
• share API keys in a way that makes them public, or resell access to the service without a separate agreement.

You are responsible for the content you submit and for the way you and your users use the output.

Fees and payment

Billing is per character processed, meaning the characters sent in plus the characters handed back in the output, including a model answer returned by relay. The rate for a calendar month is set by that total and falls continuously as volume grows, under the single rule published on the pricing page; there are no tiers or plans. The services executed in a run do not affect the amount billed. A run that a detect step blocks bills the characters sent in only. A run that fails bills nothing.

Provided models. Relay is included in the per- character rate. When you select a provided model, we add the provider’s cost for the tokens the model used plus a fee of 5% of that cost, listed as its own line on your invoice. When you bring your own provider key, your provider bills you directly and none of its charges appear on our invoice.

The first 1,000,000 characters each month are free. Invoices are due within 14 days of issue. Prices exclude VAT and other taxes unless stated otherwise. We may suspend the service for overdue invoices after a reminder. Fees are non-refundable except where required by law.

Intellectual property

We own the service, including the software, the models behind the endpoints, the brand, and the website. We grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the service under these terms.

You keep all rights in your inputs and in the outputs the service produces for you. We claim no rights in outputs and use inputs only to serve your requests.

Confidentiality

Each party protects the other’s non-public information with the care of a prudent businessperson and uses it only to perform the contract. This does not apply to information that is or becomes public, was independently developed, or was received lawfully from a third party. The obligation lasts as long as the information is not public.

Data protection

You are responsible for the lawfulness of the data you submit to the API. Where we process personal data on your behalf, the data processing addendum applies and forms part of these terms. We never train models on your payloads.

Service availability and support

We provide the service with professional care and on a best-effort basis. Unless you purchase a separate service level agreement, we do not commit to specific uptime. Support is available through the channels published on the Chersus website. We may update services and their versions, provided the published contract of a service remains compatible.

Warranties and disclaimers

We warrant that we are entitled to provide the service and will perform it with professional care. Classification and extraction results are statistical estimates; you are responsible for validating outputs before relying on them. Beyond these warranties, the service is provided as is, without warranty of uninterrupted or error-free operation. Mandatory statutory consumer rights remain unaffected.

Limitation of liability

Neither party is liable for indirect or consequential damage, including lost profit, lost data, or business interruption. Each party’s total liability is capped at the fees you paid in the twelve months before the event; if no fees were paid, at EUR 100.

This does not limit liability for intent or gross negligence, for injury to life, body, or health, under statutory product liability, or anything else that cannot be limited by law.

Indemnification

You indemnify us against third-party claims arising from inputs you submit, from your breach of these terms, or from your violation of law. We indemnify you against third-party claims that the service as provided by us infringes their intellectual property rights.

Term and termination

The contract runs for an indefinite term and renews monthly. Either party may terminate to the end of the billing month. We may suspend or terminate with immediate effect for material breach, overdue payment, security risk, or where the law requires it.

On termination, API keys are revoked and access ends. Fees accrued remain due. Provisions that by their nature survive, including confidentiality, liability, and governing law, survive termination.

Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms are governed by Dutch law, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules; the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply. The courts at GoodFolk B.V.’s registered office in the Netherlands have exclusive jurisdiction, unless mandatory consumer law grants you a different forum.

Changes to these terms

We may change these terms. Material changes are announced by email to account holders and on this page at least 30 days before they take effect; continued use or failure to terminate by that date constitutes acceptance. Other changes take effect on publication.

Contact us

Our company details and contact addresses are in the imprint.