The rules of using Cereal.

These terms cover the hosted service at cereal.run. Self-hosting the open source code is governed by the AGPL-3.0 license instead. If something here is unclear, email us.

Effective: 28 May 2026 · Last updated: 28 May 2026

The short version: Use Cereal for legitimate email management. Don't break the law, abuse our infrastructure, or try to access other users' data. Subscriptions auto-renew until you cancel. Refunds within 14 days, no questions. We can shut down accounts that violate these terms.

1. Agreement

By creating an account or using cereal.run, you agree to these Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, don't use the service.

If you're using Cereal on behalf of an organisation, you confirm you have authority to bind that organisation to these terms.

2. The service

Cereal is an email dashboard. We connect to mailboxes you authorise, route incoming mail to per-business "bowls", and let you read and send mail through those bowls. The full list of what the product does is on the landing page and developer page.

The hosted service runs on cereal.run. Self-hosting is governed separately by the AGPL-3.0 license at github.com/cereal-run.

3. Your account

You need an account to use the hosted service. You're responsible for keeping your login credentials safe. Notify us at hello[at]cereal.run if you suspect unauthorised access.

You must be at least 16 years old to create an account. If you're under 18, you confirm a parent or guardian has read and agreed to these terms on your behalf.

One person or organisation per account. Don't share login credentials. If you need team access, contact us about a team plan (not yet available, but it's planned).

4. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

Use Cereal for sending unsolicited bulk mail, phishing, spam, or anything illegal in your jurisdiction.
Connect mailboxes you don't have authority to access.
Attempt to reverse-engineer, decompile, or extract proprietary parts of the service (open-source parts are governed by AGPL and you can do whatever it permits).
Attempt to access data or accounts belonging to other users.
Run abusive load against our infrastructure, including but not limited to: connecting an excessive number of mailboxes, triggering sync repeatedly, or sending traffic that materially degrades service for others.
Use the service to harass, defame, or harm anyone.
Resell or sublicense the hosted service. (You can use it for your own business; you can't repackage it and charge others. Self-hosting under AGPL is fine.)

We may apply soft limits to prevent abuse: by default, accounts are limited to 5 connected mailboxes and 100,000 stored messages. These limits aren't advertised pricing tiers; they're abuse protection. Real users with legitimate needs above these limits should email us and we'll likely raise them.

5. Mailbox credentials and OAuth

When you connect a mailbox, you authorise us to:

Authenticate against your mail provider using the credentials or OAuth token you provided.
Read mail metadata and bodies on your behalf, as needed for the product to work.
Send mail from those addresses when you initiate a send action.
Store credentials and metadata as described in our Privacy Policy.

You can disconnect any mailbox at any time. For OAuth mailboxes, you can also revoke access from your provider's account settings.

6. Subscriptions and billing

The hosted service offers three plans:

Pro Monthly: $9 per month, billed monthly, cancel any time.
Pro Annual: $79 per year, billed annually, cancel any time (cancellation takes effect at end of current period).
Lifetime: $99 one-time payment for the first 500 customers. After 500 customers have purchased Lifetime, the offer closes permanently.

All prices are in US dollars. Subscriptions auto-renew at the end of each billing period unless cancelled. We'll send a renewal reminder before annual renewals.

Payments are processed by Creem (creem.io) as merchant of record. They handle billing, invoicing, taxes, and refunds. They may add applicable taxes (VAT, GST, sales tax) at checkout based on your location.

7. Refunds

Standard policy: we offer full refunds within 14 days of any payment, no questions asked. Email us at hello[at]cereal.run and we'll initiate the refund through Creem.

For Lifetime purchases: the 14-day refund period applies. After 14 days, Lifetime purchases are non-refundable. If you cancel within the 14-day window and your refund is processed, your Lifetime spot returns to the pool for the next customer.

If we discontinue the hosted service entirely, we'll refund Lifetime customers a pro-rated amount based on time elapsed since purchase, capped at the original purchase price.

8. Cancellation and account termination

You can cancel your subscription or delete your account at any time from the dashboard under Settings. Cancellation stops future billing; deletion removes your data per our Privacy Policy.

If your subscription lapses (payment fails, you cancel without re-subscribing):

Day 0: bowls go read-only. You can still view existing mail but no new mail syncs.
Day 14: background sync stops entirely.
Day 30: final reminder email.
Day 60: account archived. Data preserved but not accessible via the app. Contact us to restore.
Day 90: archived data permanently deleted.

Lifetime customers don't lapse. Period.

9. Account suspension by us

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate Section 4 (Acceptable Use) or that present a clear security or legal risk to the service or other users.

We'll generally email you first and give a chance to resolve the issue. Immediate suspension is reserved for cases like active abuse, payment chargebacks for completed services, or credible reports of illegal use.

Terminated accounts can request data export within 30 days. After that, data is deleted.

10. Open source

Cereal's source code is licensed under AGPL-3.0 at github.com/cereal-run. You can self-host, modify, and redistribute under the terms of that license. Specifically: if you run a modified version as a network service, you must make your modifications available to your users.

Using the hosted service at cereal.run is governed by these terms. The AGPL covers the software itself, not the hosted service.

11. Intellectual property

Cereal, the Cereal logo, and the cereal.run brand are ours. You don't get a license to use them just by using the service. Don't claim to be Cereal or pretend to operate the official service.

You retain all rights to your own data: mailbox contents, bowl configurations, emails. We claim no ownership of anything you put into Cereal. We have a limited license to process your data only as needed to run the service.

12. Disclaimers

Cereal is provided "as is". We do our best to keep it running reliably and securely, but we don't guarantee:

That the service will be available without interruption.
That email sync will catch every message instantly (IMAP and provider limits exist).
That bugs won't occur.
That data won't be lost in the event of catastrophic failure (though we have backups; see Privacy Policy).

If keeping a perfect copy of every email matters legally or commercially to you, do not treat Cereal as your only backup. Your mail provider holds the originals; Cereal just gives you a better view of them.

13. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent allowed by law, Cereal and its operators are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the service. This includes lost profits, lost data (beyond a reasonable best-effort to preserve it), and missed opportunities.

For direct damages, our total liability to you for any claim related to the service is limited to the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim, or $100, whichever is greater.

This limitation doesn't apply where prohibited by law, including for cases of our gross negligence, wilful misconduct, or violation of consumer protection rights you cannot legally waive.

14. Indemnification

You agree to defend and hold us harmless from claims, damages, or expenses arising from: your violation of these terms, your misuse of the service, or your violation of someone else's rights through your use of the service.

15. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the jurisdiction where the Cereal operator is registered. Disputes go to the courts of that jurisdiction first. If you're a consumer in the EU, UK, or another region with mandatory consumer protections, those apply on top of these terms and you can also pursue remedies in your local courts.

Where lawful, we both agree to attempt informal resolution before pursuing legal action: email us first and give us 30 days.

16. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms over time. If we make material changes (anything that meaningfully limits your rights or expands our discretion), we'll email account holders at least 30 days before the change takes effect. Past versions are kept in the Git history of our website.

Your continued use of the service after a change takes effect counts as acceptance. If you don't accept a change, cancel before the effective date.

17. Contact

Questions about these terms: hello[at]cereal.run.

Privacy questions: hello[at]cereal.run (or see our Privacy Policy).