Terms of Use

This is a legal agreement between you, the end user, and the developer of Papyrium (the "Author"). It sets out the rules around using Papyrium (the "Software") — what you can do with it, what stays yours, and where the Author's responsibilities begin and end. By installing or using the Software, you confirm you are old enough to enter into a binding agreement where you live, and you accept these terms. If you don't accept them, please don't install or use the Software.

License to use Papyrium

Papyrium is in public alpha. Alpha versions (0.x) are free to download and use for your own purposes — personal or professional — as an individual user, and they stay free to use after the alpha ends. You're welcome to install them on your own devices and use them with your own books and documents.

Once Papyrium leaves alpha, later versions will require a paid license. The terms of that license — including how many devices it covers, transferability, and updates — will be published here when the paid version launches.

Your books and content

Books, documents, annotations, highlights, notes, tags, and any other content you import into or create with Papyrium remain yours, or the property of their respective rights holders. Papyrium is local-first: your library lives on your device, and Papyrium does not send your content to the Author's servers or claim any rights to it.

To provide its features, Papyrium processes the content you add — for example, extracting covers and metadata and building local search indexes — and stores the results on your device.

Some optional features may copy or sync your data to a destination you control or choose to enable (such as your own cloud storage), or exchange limited data with a third-party service you turn on. Any such feature is off until you turn it on, clearly indicated in the app, and described in the Privacy Policy before it processes your data.

Privacy and data

The Privacy Policy explains how the app and this website handle personal data. It is a separate notice, not part of these terms.

Unless you turn off Automatic updates in Settings, the app checks for updates, downloads them, and installs them when you restart or quit it. A new major version is never downloaded or installed automatically. Usage analytics are optional: they're off unless you turn them on, and you can turn them off again at any time in Settings.

If you enable the local MCP server (off by default), third-party AI applications you choose to connect can read your library data — metadata, file paths, annotations, highlights, notes, and bookmarks, not the full text of your books — and, only if you separately allow write access, modify your library. What a connected application does with that data is governed by its own terms, not these. Changes it makes with write access — such as editing records, moving files, sending them to the Trash, or deleting them — are made on your behalf, so check what it plans to change before you let it go ahead, and keep backups.

Acceptable use

You're responsible for making sure you have the legal right to import and use any content with Papyrium. The app is intended for use with works you legally own, have legally obtained, or that are in the public domain.

Papyrium does not endorse or facilitate copyright infringement. The app is a tool — how you use it is your responsibility.

Papyrium does not remove or circumvent digital rights management (DRM) or other technical protection measures, and you must not use it in an attempt to do so. The DRM status of the files you add is your responsibility.

Restrictions

You may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble Papyrium, except to the extent expressly permitted by applicable law. You may not redistribute, sell, rent, or sublicense the app, or remove or alter any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notices.

No warranty

Papyrium is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. The app may contain bugs, behave unexpectedly, or change between versions. Use it at your own risk. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so parts of the above may not apply to you. Nothing in these terms affects your mandatory statutory rights as a consumer.

Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Papyrium and the Author are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages — including loss of data, loss of use, or interruption of work — arising from your use of the app. To the extent liability cannot be excluded, the Author's total liability is limited to the amount you paid for the app (which, during the public alpha, is nothing). Nothing here limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited under applicable law.

Always keep backups of your books, notes, and library data. Papyrium tries hard not to lose anything, but no software is perfect, and your most important files deserve redundant copies elsewhere.

During the alpha

The public alpha is offered on a best-effort basis. There's no guaranteed support schedule, no service-level commitments, and no promise that any specific feature present today will be present in the final release. Things will change. If something breaks or is missing, the best place to flag it is by emailing feedback@papyriumlib.com or opening a bug report on GitHub.

Third-party software

Papyrium is built on a number of open source libraries — see the credits page for the major ones. Their licenses apply to the portions of the app derived from their code; using Papyrium does not transfer any rights in those libraries to you beyond what their respective licenses grant. Nothing in these terms limits the rights those licenses give you.

Feedback

If you send the Author feedback, suggestions, or bug reports, the Author may use them to improve Papyrium with no obligation or compensation to you. You are never required to provide feedback.

Name and trademarks

"Papyrium", its logo, and related branding are the Author's marks. These terms grant you no right to use them.

Termination

This license stays in effect until terminated. It ends automatically if you breach these terms, and you may end it at any time by uninstalling the app. The sections on your books and content, restrictions, no warranty, limitation of liability, feedback, and governing law survive termination.

Transfer

The Author may transfer this agreement in connection with a reorganization or the sale of the Papyrium project.

Changes to these terms

Papyrium evolves, and these terms will too. Small changes, such as clarifications or corrections, take effect when they're published here; the date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision. For material changes, the Author will tell you in the app or in the release notes before they take effect, and may ask you to accept them again. Continued use of the app after a change takes effect means you accept the updated terms; if you don't agree, stop using the app and uninstall it.

Governing law and contact

These terms are governed by the laws of Lithuania. If you are a consumer, this does not deprive you of the protection of the mandatory consumer-protection rules of the country where you live, and you may bring proceedings in your local courts. If any provision of these terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full effect.

Questions about these terms can go to hello@papyriumlib.com.