Terms of Service

Effective 18 September 2026 · Applies to the Gray Hole browser extension, the grayhole.tech site and related services · The Chinese version governs

This document exists in Chinese and English. The Chinese text is authoritative and forms the agreement between you and the operator; where the two differ, the Chinese version governs. For how data is handled, see the Privacy Policy and Permissions & network.

1. Acceptance

By downloading, installing or using Gray Hole (the “software”), or by using the grayhole.tech site and its cloud sync service (together, the “service”), you confirm that you have read, understood and accepted these terms. If you do not accept them, please do not use the service.

The service is operated by an individual developer. Using it creates no employment, agency, partnership or joint venture relationship.

2. The service

The software is a web clipping tool for desktop Google Chrome and compatible browsers. Its core function is to save content you deliberately select on a web page to your browser's local storage, and to provide organising, searching, exporting and sharing on top of that.

It runs in purely local mode by default and needs no account. Cloud sync is an optional extra, used to align clips across multiple devices or browser profiles.

The software is distributed through the Chrome Web Store. Installation, updating and removal are all handled by Chrome; we no longer publish a standalone download package.

3. Licence and restrictions

Subject to these terms, we grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to install and use the software on devices you own or control.

The software ships without an open-source licence, so all rights are reserved by default. You may read the source to verify what it does — we encourage that — but without written permission you may not:

To request any of the above, write to us.

4. Accounts and security

Cloud sync requires an account. You agree to:

Please understand one consequence of the local-first architecture: if you forget your password and lose access to the registered email address, the cloud mirror cannot be recovered. Local data is unaffected and remains in your browser. We recommend exporting a JSON backup regularly.

5. Your content is yours

Rights in the content you clip with the software remain yours or those of the original rights holder. We claim no ownership over your clips.

To provide cloud sync, you grant us a licence strictly limited to operating that feature: to store, transmit and return the clip data you upload. That licence does not include any right to use it for advertising, to train models, or to provide it to third parties. You can end it at any time by deleting your account.

You are responsible for making sure that what you clip and save does not infringe anyone's copyright or other rights, and that your use complies with the law where you are and with the terms of the site the content came from. The existence of a clipping feature is not an authorization to clip anything at all.

6. Acceptable use

You agree not to use the service to:

If any of the above occurs, we may suspend or terminate your account.

7. Fees and changes

The service is currently free, with no feature walls and no trial period on the full feature set.

We reserve the right to introduce paid items in the future. If we do, we will:

Since no paid items exist today, this site involves no payment processing, refund policy or subscription management.

8. Provided “as is”

The service is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy and non-infringement.

We do not warrant that:

Keep your own backups. Uninstalling the extension, clearing site data, switching browser profiles or moving to a new device can all lose local clips. Make a habit of using the JSON export to keep a full backup.

9. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages arising out of or relating to your use of, or inability to use, the service — including but not limited to lost data, lost profits or business interruption — whether the claim is based in contract, tort or any other theory, and whether or not we were advised of the possibility of such damages.

Because the service is currently provided free of charge, our aggregate liability is capped at CNY 100 or the total amount you have actually paid, whichever is greater.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

10. Service changes and termination

You may stop using the service at any time: export your data, uninstall the extension, delete your account. No notice to us is required.

We may modify, suspend or discontinue all or part of the service as operational needs require. If we decide to shut down cloud sync, we will announce it on this site and by email at least 90 days in advance, and keep a reasonable export window open before it closes. Purely local features are unaffected by that.

11. Intellectual property

Rights in the software's code, interface design, the brand name “Gray Hole”, the logo and the site copy belong to us or to the respective rights holders. These terms grant you no trademark rights.

Third-party components that may be included remain the property of their owners and are governed by their own licence terms.

12. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the People's Republic of China, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules.

Any dispute arising from these terms or the service should first be resolved through good-faith negotiation; failing that, it shall be submitted to a competent People's Court.

Cross-border storage: the cloud sync database is located in the western United States (Oregon). By registering an account and using cloud sync, you acknowledge and agree that your email address and clip mirror will be transferred to and stored in that region. If your jurisdiction imposes additional requirements on data leaving the country, please assess for yourself whether to use cloud sync — without an account, every feature runs on your own machine and no data crosses any border.

If you are outside the People's Republic of China, please note that the service is operated by an individual developer based in China, and that we have not adapted the service's content or data handling for any particular jurisdiction.

13. Changes to these terms

We may revise these terms from time to time. Material changes will update the effective date at the top of the page and be posted on the site's home page for at least 14 days. Continuing to use the service after a change takes effect means you accept the revised terms; if you do not accept them, stop using the service and delete your account.

14. Contact

Questions about these terms: [email protected]
Data and privacy requests: [email protected]

For a full account of how data is handled, see the Privacy Policy.