Acceptable Use Policy

1. Purpose & Scope

This Acceptable Use Policy ("Policy") governs your use of WebPeel's web fetching services (the "Service"). By using WebPeel, you agree to comply with this Policy and all applicable laws and regulations.

2. Prohibited Activities

You may not use WebPeel for any of the following purposes:

2.1 Illegal Scraping & Harassment

• Illegal scraping: Fetching content from websites for purposes prohibited by law, including but not limited to copyright infringement, data theft, or unauthorized access to protected systems.
• Harassment or abuse: Using the Service to harass, threaten, defame, or otherwise harm individuals or organizations.
• Spam or phishing: Collecting email addresses, personal data, or other information for unsolicited marketing, phishing, or fraudulent purposes.
• Malicious activity: Attempting to exploit vulnerabilities, inject malware, or otherwise compromise the security of target websites or WebPeel's infrastructure.

2.2 Access Control Circumvention

• Bypassing explicit restrictions: You may not use WebPeel to circumvent access controls on websites that explicitly forbid scraping, automated access, or bot activity in their Terms of Service or robots.txt file — unless you have explicit written permission from the site owner.
• Authentication bypass: You may not use WebPeel to bypass login walls, paywalls, or other authentication mechanisms without authorization from the site owner.
• Rate limit evasion: You may not use WebPeel to evade rate limits or intentionally overload target servers with excessive requests.

2.3 Compliance with Target Site Terms

• Respect site policies: You are responsible for ensuring your use of WebPeel complies with the Terms of Service, privacy policies, and acceptable use policies of the websites you fetch.
• robots.txt compliance: While WebPeel does not automatically enforce robots.txt rules (since many sites incorrectly block legitimate use), you should respect robots.txt when it applies to your use case. If a site explicitly disallows scraping, you must obtain permission before using WebPeel to fetch it.

3. Responsible Use Guidelines

We encourage responsible use of WebPeel. Here are some best practices:

• Respect rate limits: Use WebPeel's built-in rate limiting to avoid overwhelming target servers.
• Cache intelligently: Don't repeatedly fetch the same content — cache responses when appropriate.
• Provide attribution: When republishing fetched content, provide proper attribution to the source.
• Minimize impact: Use the fastest fetch mode that works (HTTP before browser, browser before stealth) to reduce server load.

4. Legitimate Use Cases

WebPeel is designed for legitimate use cases, including but not limited to:

• Research and academic studies
• Personal knowledge management and note-taking
• AI agent context gathering (Claude, Cursor, VS Code, etc.)
• Accessibility improvements (text extraction for screen readers)
• Content monitoring and archiving (with permission)
• Web development and testing

5. Enforcement & Termination

We reserve the right to:

• Suspend or terminate accounts: Accounts found in violation of this Policy may be suspended or terminated without prior notice.
• Investigate violations: We may investigate suspected violations and cooperate with law enforcement when required.
• Modify this Policy: We may update this Policy at any time. Continued use of WebPeel after updates constitutes acceptance of the revised Policy.

6. Reporting Violations

If you believe someone is using WebPeel in violation of this Policy, or if you believe WebPeel is being used to scrape your website without permission, please contact us immediately:

7. Disclaimer

WebPeel provides a tool for fetching publicly accessible web content. You are solely responsible for how you use this tool. WebPeel does not endorse, approve, or take responsibility for your use of the Service.

By using WebPeel, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless WebPeel, its operators, and contributors from any claims, damages, or liabilities arising from your use of the Service.

8. Open Source & Self-Hosting

WebPeel is open source software (AGPL-3.0 License). If you self-host WebPeel, you remain subject to this Acceptable Use Policy. You are also responsible for ensuring your instance complies with all applicable laws.

9. Contact & Questions

If you have questions about this Policy or need clarification on what constitutes acceptable use, please contact us:

• General inquiries: support@webpeel.dev
• Abuse reports: abuse@webpeel.dev
• Legal: legal@webpeel.dev