Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing, browsing, or using shorten.dev ("the Service"), including by creating an account, using the API or CLI, clicking any shortened link, or otherwise interacting with the Service in any way, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, you must immediately stop using the Service.

You represent and warrant that you are at least 13 years of age and, if you are between 13 and the age of majority in your jurisdiction, that your parent or legal guardian has reviewed and agreed to these Terms on your behalf. If you are using the Service on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that organization to these Terms.

2. Description of Service

shorten.dev is a free URL shortening service that provides link shortening, click analytics, a REST API, a command-line interface (CLI), and MCP server integration. The Service is provided at no cost to users.

Because the Service is provided free of charge, it is offered without any service level agreement (SLA), uptime guarantee, performance commitment, or support obligation. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time, with or without notice, for any reason, and without liability to you or any third party.

3. User Accounts

You may create an account by authenticating via a supported third-party OAuth provider (currently GitHub and Google). You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials, API keys, and access tokens. You must not share your API keys with unauthorized parties.

You are responsible for all activity that occurs under your account, whether or not you authorized that activity. You must notify us immediately if you become aware of any unauthorized use of your account. We may suspend or terminate your account at our sole discretion, at any time, with or without cause, and with or without notice.

4. Acceptable Use

You agree not to use the Service to:

• Distribute malware, viruses, phishing links, ransomware, or any other harmful or malicious content
• Engage in spam, fraud, scams, phishing, or deceptive practices of any kind
• Distribute, link to, or facilitate access to illegal content, including but not limited to child sexual abuse material, content that violates export controls, or content prohibited under applicable law
• Harass, threaten, stalk, or intimidate any person or entity
• Infringe on the intellectual property rights of others
• Collect, scrape, or harvest personal data from other users or link visitors without their consent
• Attempt to disrupt, degrade, or overload the Service infrastructure, including through denial-of-service attacks or excessive automated requests
• Circumvent, disable, or interfere with rate limits, abuse prevention measures, or any security features of the Service
• Use the Service in any manner that violates any applicable local, state, national, or international law or regulation
• Impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity

We reserve the right to disable any shortened link, revoke any API key, or suspend or terminate any account that we reasonably believe violates these Terms, without prior notice. We may cooperate with law enforcement authorities in the investigation and prosecution of users who violate these Terms or engage in illegal activity.

5. Link Creation & Ownership

All shortened links created through the Service remain under the full control of shorten.dev. Creating a shortened link grants you a revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use that link. Shortened links are not your property. You do not acquire any ownership interest in any slug, URL, or other identifier created through the Service.

We reserve the right to revoke, disable, suspend, modify, reassign, or redirect any shortened link at any time, for any reason or no reason, at our sole and absolute discretion, without prior notice and without liability to you or any third party. Reasons for link action may include, but are not limited to, abuse reports, automated detection, content moderation, legal obligations, policy changes, or operational decisions.

You acknowledge that links may cease to function at any time and that you have no right to the continued availability, accessibility, or functionality of any shortened link.

6. No Production Use Guarantee

The Service is provided free of charge and is not designed, intended, or warranted for use in mission-critical, production, high-availability, or latency-sensitive environments. You acknowledge and agree that:

• The Service may experience downtime, slowdowns, errors, or complete outages at any time without notice
• Shortened links may become temporarily or permanently unavailable without notice
• There is no guarantee of redirect speed, latency, availability, or accuracy
• Analytics data may be delayed, incomplete, or inaccurate
• API endpoints may change, break, or be removed without notice or backward compatibility

You assume all risk associated with relying on the Service for any purpose. If your use case requires guaranteed uptime, latency, or reliability, you should not use this Service.

7. Destination Content

shorten.dev acts solely as a redirect intermediary. We do not control, monitor, endorse, sponsor, or assume any responsibility for the content, accuracy, legality, safety, or availability of any destination URL. Users are solely responsible for ensuring that the content at their destination URLs complies with all applicable laws, regulations, and third-party rights.

Visitors who click on shortened links do so at their own risk. We are not responsible for any damages, losses, or harm resulting from accessing destination URLs through the Service.

8. Rate Limits & Fair Use

The Service enforces rate limits and usage quotas to ensure fair and equitable access for all users. We reserve the right to lower, adjust, or otherwise modify rate limits at any time, with or without prior notice, for any reason, at our sole discretion. Excessive, abusive, or automated usage that degrades the experience for others may result in temporary throttling, permanent rate limit reductions, API key revocation, or account termination, at our sole discretion.

9. Link Removal & Content Moderation

We may remove, disable, or modify any shortened link at any time, for any reason or no reason, at our sole discretion, including but not limited to:

• Links reported as abusive, malicious, or harmful
• Links flagged by automated abuse detection systems
• Links that violate these Terms or applicable law
• Links subject to a valid legal request, court order, or law enforcement inquiry
• Links subject to a DMCA takedown notice or other intellectual property complaint
• Operational, technical, or policy-related decisions

If you believe your content has been wrongly removed, you may contact us at legal@shorten.dev. We will review requests at our discretion but are under no obligation to reinstate any link.

To submit a DMCA takedown notice, send a written notice to legal@shorten.dev containing: (a) identification of the copyrighted work, (b) identification of the infringing link, (c) your contact information, (d) a statement of good faith belief that the use is unauthorized, (e) a statement under penalty of perjury that your notice is accurate, and (f) your physical or electronic signature.

10. API & CLI Usage

Access to the shorten.dev API and CLI is a privilege, not a right. API keys may be revoked at any time for any reason. We do not guarantee backward compatibility of API endpoints, response formats, or CLI commands. Changes may occur without prior notice or migration period.

You must not use the API to build a competing service, resell access to the Service, or use automated means to create links in volumes that exceed fair use expectations. All API usage is subject to the rate limits and acceptable use policies described in these Terms.

11. Intellectual Property

The Service, including its design, branding, user interface, source code, documentation, and all related intellectual property, is owned by the operator of shorten.dev. Nothing in these Terms grants you any right, title, or interest in the Service beyond the limited right to use it in accordance with these Terms.

By creating links and using the Service, you grant shorten.dev a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, process, display, and transmit your link data and associated analytics data as necessary to provide the Service.

12. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, SHORTEN.DEV AND ITS OPERATOR SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, USE, GOODWILL, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, MISSED TRAFFIC, LINK DOWNTIME, REDIRECT FAILURES, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), STRICT LIABILITY, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, ARISING FROM OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE.

Because the Service is provided free of charge, you agree that our total aggregate liability to you for any and all claims arising from or related to the Service shall not exceed zero dollars ($0.00 USD). You acknowledge that this limitation of liability is a fundamental element of the agreement between us, and the Service would not be provided to you without such limitation.

Without limiting the foregoing, we are not liable for: (a) the content, accuracy, or availability of any destination URL; (b) any actions taken by third parties; (c) any loss of data, including link data or analytics data; (d) any interruption or cessation of the Service; (e) any damages resulting from unauthorized access to your account; or (f) any consequences of links being disabled, modified, or removed.

13. Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, TITLE, ACCURACY, OR QUIET ENJOYMENT.

WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT: (A) THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE; (B) ANY SHORTENED LINK WILL CONTINUE TO RESOLVE OR REDIRECT CORRECTLY; (C) ANY DATA OR ANALYTICS PROVIDED THROUGH THE SERVICE WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, OR RELIABLE; (D) THE RESULTS OBTAINED FROM USE OF THE SERVICE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS; (E) THE SERVICE WILL BE COMPATIBLE WITH ANY PARTICULAR HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, OR NETWORK ENVIRONMENT; OR (F) ANY ERRORS OR DEFECTS IN THE SERVICE WILL BE CORRECTED.

SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN SUCH JURISDICTIONS, OUR WARRANTIES ARE LIMITED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

14. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless shorten.dev and its operator from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from or related to: (a) your use of the Service; (b) any links you create and their destination content; (c) your violation of these Terms; (d) your violation of any applicable law or regulation; (e) your infringement or misappropriation of any third-party rights, including intellectual property rights; (f) your API or CLI usage; or (g) any dispute between you and a third party relating to the Service.

15. Dispute Resolution & Governing Law

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware, United States of America, without regard to its conflict of law principles.

Before filing any formal dispute, you agree to first attempt to resolve the matter informally by contacting us at legal@shorten.dev. We will attempt to resolve the dispute within 30 days. If the dispute is not resolved informally, you agree that any legal action or proceeding shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in the State of Delaware, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of such courts.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, YOU AGREE THAT ANY DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEEDING WILL BE CONDUCTED ONLY ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS AND NOT IN A CLASS, CONSOLIDATED, OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION. YOU WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT OR CLASS-WIDE ARBITRATION AGAINST SHORTEN.DEV.

16. Severability & Waiver

If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid, unenforceable, or illegal by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect. The invalid provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid and enforceable while preserving its original intent.

Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of that right or provision. Any waiver of any provision of these Terms will be effective only if in writing and signed by us.

17. Entire Agreement & Changes

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and shorten.dev regarding the Service and supersede all prior or contemporaneous agreements, communications, or understandings, whether oral or written.

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Your continued use of the Service after any modification constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms. It is your responsibility to review these Terms periodically. If you do not agree to any modification, you must stop using the Service.

18. Contact

For questions or concerns about these Terms, contact us at legal@shorten.dev.