Terms of Service

Effective August 11, 2026 · Version 1

These Terms govern your use of the GOVENANT standard website (govenantstandard.org), the hosted GOVENANT Audit service (mcp.govenantstandard.org), and any paid offerings — certification, strategy calls, and services. The standard is authored by Scott Fielder and stewarded and operated by iii.partners ("we," "us," the "Provider"). By signing in or using the service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy.

1. What the service is

• The standard is open and free — the GOVENANT specification and audit instrument are published under CC BY. You may implement it, run it, and publish results, forever.
• The free Audit is a hosted tool: your own AI agent gathers read-only, aggregate facts about your system and submits them; we compute a GOVENANT level and return a report. Sign-in (a provider-verified email) is required.
• Paid offerings — a strategy call, certification, and done-for-you services — are optional and described at the point of purchase.

2. Your account & acceptable use

You must be 16+ and use a provider-verified email. You are responsible for activity under your account. You agree not to:

• submit fabricated, falsified, or misleading data to inflate or game an audit result;
• exceed the service's rate limits, disrupt it, or attempt to access data that isn't yours;
• use the service unlawfully, or to build a competing dataset by scraping other users' reports;
• misuse the GOVENANT name, marks, or a badge in a way that misrepresents your conformance.

3. The audit is self-reported — what it is and isn't

The Audit measures what your own agent reports about your system. We compute the level honestly from that evidence, but the result is self-assessed and openly refutable — it is not an independent certification, a guarantee that your agents are correct, secure, or safe, and it is not legal, compliance, or professional advice. You are responsible for the accuracy of the facts your agent submits.

4. Certification

A GOVENANT certificate is an independent, third-party witness that your system meets a GOVENANT level, issued by iii.partners. It is stronger than a self-claim but is still self-reported and consistency-checked, not a guarantee. Certification is issued per project/system. Key terms:

• Payment buys the review, not a pass. We determine the level by the minimum of the load-bearing pillars and may certify a lower level than requested, or decline.
• A certificate cites its probe log, names a version, and expires; it renews on a cadence (annual for lower levels, quarterly for higher).
• We may revoke a certificate if the certified invariant is later violated or a renewal fails, following a procedure with a published appeal path.
• Self-assessment always remains free and available — certification never gates the open standard.

5. Fees, payments & refunds

• Payments are processed by Stripe; we store only Stripe identifiers, never your card details.
• A $99 strategy call is a paid service (a working session and readiness review); it is credited toward any certification or engagement you proceed with.
• Certification fees are charged per certificate and renew on the stated cadence. Services are billed per statement of work.
• Fees are exclusive of taxes, which are added where required. Because the strategy call and certification review are delivered services, they are generally non-refundable once performed — but the $99 is credited forward, and if we decline to certify we will discuss a fair resolution.

6. Data & privacy

Our data practices are stated in full in the Privacy Policy. In short: we collect aggregate metrics about your system's shape and health and your sign-in identity — never your prompts, agent inputs/outputs, customer data, credentials, or secrets. Your report is yours. With your separate, optional consent, de-identified aggregates help improve the open standard. You can export or delete everything we hold about you from your dashboard at any time.

7. Intellectual property

• The GOVENANT specification and audit instrument are open, under CC BY — implement and publish freely.
• The GOVENANT name, logo, and conformance marks/badges belong to the Provider; use them only to accurately represent your own conformance or a certificate we issued.
• Your data and reports are yours. You grant us a license to use the de-identified, aggregated form for research and benchmarks only if you opt into research use.

8. Third-party services

Sign-in uses OAuth providers (GitHub, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, GitLab); payments use Stripe; scheduling uses Cal.com. Your use of those is subject to their own terms. We are not responsible for third-party services.

9. Disclaimers

The service is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind. A GOVENANT level or certificate is a measurement of governance, not a guarantee of your agents' correctness, security, safety, or business outcomes. We do not warrant that the service will be uninterrupted or error-free.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Provider will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages, or lost profits or data. Our total liability for any claim is limited to the greater of the fees you paid us in the 12 months before the claim, or US $100.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify the Provider against claims arising from your misuse of the service, your violation of these Terms, or your submission of data you had no right to submit.

12. Termination

You may stop using the service and delete your data at any time. We may suspend or terminate access for violations of these Terms. Sections that by their nature should survive (IP, disclaimers, liability, indemnity) survive termination.

13. Changes

We may update these Terms; the version and effective date above will change, and material changes will be surfaced at sign-in. Continued use after a change means you accept the updated Terms.

14. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law rules, and the parties submit to the courts located there — except where mandatory local consumer-protection law provides otherwise.

15. Contact

Questions about these Terms: [email protected]. Operated by iii.partners.