Terms of Service

Last updated: October 31, 2026

Please read these Terms of Service (“Terms”) carefully before using Archivist (“the Bot”). By adding the Bot to a Discord server, or by otherwise interacting with the Bot, You agree to be bound by these Terms. If You do not agree, do not use the Bot.

These Terms should be read alongside Our Privacy Policy, which describes what data the Bot collects and how it’s used.

Plain Language Summary: Opening, Definitions, Description of Service, and Eligibility

Archivist shows public AO3 content inside Discord. It only displays the data it gets from AO3 and does not keep or own that content. By using the Bot, you agree to these Terms. The Bot must follow Discord’s rules and age limits, so if you do not meet those requirements, you may not use the Bot.

Definitions

• Bot refers to Archivist, the Discord application described in these Terms.
• Developer (“We”, “Us”, “Our”) refers to Caffeinated Canine, the development team of Discord users enigmalea and FoxInBoots.
• Service refers to the functionality provided by the Bot, including but not limited to retrieving and displaying content from AO3 within Discord.
• Server or Guild means a Discord server the Bot has been added to.
• User (“You”, “Your”) means anyone who uses, interacts with, or is affected by the Bot’s functionality, including server members, server owners/admins, and anyone viewing content the Bot posts.
• AO3 refers to Archive of Our Own, operated by the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), an entity unaffiliated with the Bot or the Developer.

Description of Service

The Bot retrieves publicly available content from AO3 — works, creators, and series, with more to come as the Bot’s underlying library expands — and displays it within Discord as formatted embeds, in response to slash commands or AO3 links posted in a server. The Bot does not host, store, or claim ownership of any AO3 content — it is a display and navigation layer on top of AO3.

Eligibility

Use of the Bot is subject to Discord’s Terms of Service and Community Guidelines, including Discord’s minimum age requirements. If You do not meet Discord’s eligibility requirements, You may not use the Bot.

Content Notice

Plain Language Summary: Content Notice

AO3 includes a wide range of fanfiction, including Mature and Explicit works. Archivist shows the metadata from those works when a link or command is used. The Developer does not review or approve any individual story. Server owners and admins should set up channels and permissions to keep content appropriate for their members.

AO3 hosts fan-created content across the full range of Archive Warnings and ratings, including works rated Mature and Explicit, and content covering dark or sensitive themes. The Bot displays whatever content a work’s metadata contains (title, summary, tags, and similar) regardless of rating, when a link or command references that work.

The Developer does not review, moderate, or endorse the content of any individual work displayed by the Bot. It is the responsibility of server owners and admins to configure channels, permissions, and any age-restriction settings appropriately for the content their members may encounter through the Bot, consistent with Discord’s own policies on age-restricted content.

Acceptable Use

Plain Language Summary: Acceptable Use

Do not use Archivist to break Discord or AO3 rules. Do not spam, abuse limits, or try to overload the bot or AO3. Do not use the bot to attack, copy, or sell the software in a way that is not allowed.

You agree not to use the Bot to:

• Circumvent, automate around, or abuse the Bot’s rate limits, including through self-bots, scripts, or coordinated mass requests intended to overload the Bot or AO3’s servers.
• Attempt to access content AO3 itself restricts, including attempting to bypass locked-work protections.
• Submit spam, abusive, or repeated duplicate content through the /suggest command or any other feature that posts to Our public GitHub repository.
• Interfere with, disrupt, reverse-engineer, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Bot, its infrastructure, or its source code beyond what the Bot’s license permits.
• Offer the Bot’s source code, or a modified version of it, to the public as a multi-tenant bot or service in which access to any feature available free of charge in the Developer’s own public instance is instead restricted behind a paywall, subscription, vote-gate, or similar payment or engagement requirement. (Self-hosting Your own instance, and providing dedicated or managed hosting of an instance to a third party for that party’s own use, are both permitted under the Bot’s license and are not restricted by this clause.)
• Use the Bot in any way that violates Discord’s Terms of Service or Community Guidelines, or any applicable law.
• Use the Bot to harass, spam, or otherwise disrupt other users or servers.

We reserve the right to block a User or a Server from using the Bot, without notice, for violating these Terms.

Third-Party Content and Intellectual Property

Plain Language Summary: Third-Party Content and Intellectual Property

Stories and series on AO3 belong to their original authors. Archivist only shows this content in Discord and does not own it. The bot’s own code and name belong to the Developer. The bot is available under a special license and may change to Apache 2.0 on the future license date.

Fanfiction content displayed by the Bot belongs to its original authors on AO3 and is subject to AO3’s own Terms of Service. The Bot does not claim any ownership or rights over this content, and the Developer is not responsible for its accuracy, availability, or removal — content displayed by the Bot reflects what AO3 provides at the time of a request and may change or become unavailable independent of the Bot.

The Bot’s own source code, name, and branding are the property of the Developer. The source code is made available under the Business Source License 1.1, a source-available (not open-source) license — see the LICENSE file in the Bot’s repository for the specific rights granted, including permitted self-hosting and managed-hosting use. The source code will convert to the Apache License, Version 2.0 on the Change Date specified in that file.

No Warranty

Plain Language Summary: Risk, Responsibility, and Legal Limits

Archivist is provided as-is, and we do not promise it will always work. We are not responsible for problems caused by the bot, Discord, AO3, or other services. If you misuse the bot or break these Terms, you may need to cover costs or legal claims that result.

The Bot is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. We do not guarantee the Bot will be uninterrupted, error-free, or available at all times, as the Service depends in part on the availability of Discord and AO3, which are outside Our control.

Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Developer shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of data, arising out of or related to Your use of, or inability to use, the Bot — including damages resulting from content displayed by the Bot, from Bot downtime, or from actions taken by AO3 or Discord that affect the Bot’s functionality.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold the Developer harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of Your use of the Bot, Your violation of these Terms, or Your violation of any rights of a third party.

Termination

Plain Language Summary: Ending Service, Changes, and Legal Rules

We can stop your access to the bot at any time. You can stop using the bot by removing it from your server. We may change these Terms, and if you keep using the bot after that, you accept the new terms. Virginia law applies to these Terms. You can contact us by email or through the support server.

We may suspend or terminate Your access to the Bot, or remove the Bot from a Server, at any time, for any reason, including violation of these Terms, without prior notice.

You may stop using the Bot at any time by removing it from Your Server. See Our Privacy Policy for details on what happens to data after the Bot is removed.

Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will indicate changes by updating the “Last updated” date at the top of this page, and, for material changes, will attempt to notify Users via the support server. Continued use of the Bot after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

Contact Us

If You have any questions about these Terms, You can contact us via email at botarchivist@gmail.com, or join the support server to ask any questions.