Braid

Terms of Service

Effective October 17, 2026

Draft: we wrote these terms to match how Braid actually works. A lawyer has not reviewed them yet, and they are not legal advice. Questions? Email support@braidmail.app.

1. Agreeing to these terms

These terms are an agreement between you and Josh Sapirstein, the individual developer who publishes Braid (“Braid”, “we”, “us”). They apply when you download or use the Braid app for macOS, including its updates (the “app”), or visit braidmail.app (the “site”).

By using the app or the site, you agree to these terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don’t agree, don’t use them. If you use Braid for an organization, you confirm you’re allowed to accept these terms for it.

2. The license: Braid is free software

Braid’s source code is free software under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3 (AGPL-3.0). Commercial licenses are also available for anyone who wants to use the code without the AGPL’s conditions. See LICENSING.md.

  • The AGPL governs the code: copying, changing and sharing it.
  • These terms cover your use of the app builds we publish and the site.
  • Nothing in these terms limits any right the AGPL gives you. If these terms and the AGPL ever conflict about the code, the AGPL wins.

The name “Braid”, the Braid logo and icon identify our official builds. The AGPL doesn’t grant rights to use them. If you distribute a modified version, please give it a different name and icon so people don’t confuse it with ours.

The app is free. If we ever charge for something, we’ll tell you the price and terms clearly before you pay.

3. Alpha software, no warranty

Braid is alpha software. It’s still being built. It may have bugs, change without notice, or lose features. It could, for example, show mail incorrectly, fail to sync, or act on the wrong message.

The app and the site are provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, or that the app will be error-free or uninterrupted. This matches the “Disclaimer of Warranty” in the AGPL.

Gmail keeps your mail, not Braid. Still, keep your own backups of anything important. Google offers an export at takeout.google.com.

4. Your Google account

To use Braid, you sign in with your own Google account and give Braid permission to access your Gmail.

  • Your use of Gmail and your Google account stays subject to Google’s terms and policies, such as the Google Terms of Service. We are not Google, and Google doesn’t endorse Braid.
  • You are responsible for your Google account, for keeping your Mac secure, and for everything done with your account through Braid.
  • You can withdraw Braid’s access at any time at myaccount.google.com/permissions.
  • If you use your own Google Cloud client instead of Braid’s, you are responsible for that client and for following Google’s terms for it.

5. Actions Braid takes for you

Braid acts on your Gmail account when you tell it to. Depending on what you do, it can:

  • archive, label, mark, snooze, mute, move to Trash or Spam;
  • permanently delete messages (Delete forever, Empty Trash, Empty Spam). Permanent deletion can’t be undone, by us or by Google;
  • send email, replies, forwards, scheduled mail, calendar replies and unsubscribe emails from your account;
  • save drafts to Gmail;
  • block a sender, which creates a Gmail filter on your account, and remove that filter when you unblock;
  • unsubscribe you from mailing lists by contacting the sender;
  • create labels in your Gmail account.

Some actions keep running once you set them up. For example, mail from a sender you unsubscribed from gets archived automatically, and so do replies to a muted conversation. Braid offers an undo where it can, for example a short window to cancel a send. Not every action can be undone.

You are responsible for the actions you take and the mail you send through Braid.

6. Optional AI features and other services

Braid’s AI features only work if you add your own API key from Jev (TypeSafe) or Anthropic.

  • Your use of those services is between you and that provider. Their terms, policies, prices and usage limits apply.
  • You pay any costs the provider charges for your usage. Braid sorts mail automatically in the background once a key is added, and that uses your account.
  • AI output can be wrong. Sorting can misfile mail, summaries can leave things out, and drafts can contain mistakes. Always review a draft before you send it.
  • The Privacy Policy lists exactly what Braid sends to each provider.

Braid also connects to other services to work, such as GitHub for updates and senders’ websites for logos and unsubscribe links. We don’t control those services and aren’t responsible for them.

7. Acceptable use

Don’t use Braid to:

  • send spam, bulk unsolicited mail, phishing or malware;
  • break any law, or infringe anyone’s rights, including their privacy;
  • access accounts or mail you aren’t authorized to access;
  • abuse, overload or get around the limits of Google’s services or APIs, or break Google’s or any AI provider’s terms;
  • interfere with the site, or with anyone else’s use of Braid;
  • misrepresent a modified build as an official Braid release.

We may block a build or an OAuth client from using Braid’s Google sign-in if it’s being used to break these rules. For example, we might ask Google to restrict it.

8. Updates

Official builds check GitHub for a new version about a minute after launch and then once a day. When there’s an update, Braid downloads it in the background and checks its signature. The update installs when you click “Restart to update”.

Updates may add, change or remove features. We’re not obliged to provide updates or support for any version. Older versions may stop working, for example if Google changes its APIs.

9. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows:

  • We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages. That includes lost data, lost or deleted mail, mail sent in error, lost profits, or business interruption, arising from your use of (or inability to use) the app or the site, even if we were told such damage was possible.
  • Our total liability for any claim relating to the app or the site is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us for Braid in the 12 months before the claim, or US $50.

Some places don’t allow certain warranty disclaimers or liability limits. If you live in one of them, some of the limits above may not apply to you, and you keep the rights your local law guarantees.

10. Indemnity

If someone brings a claim against us because you used Braid in a way that breaks these terms or the law, you agree to cover our reasonable costs from that claim, including reasonable legal fees. This doesn’t apply to the extent we caused the problem.

11. Ending your use

You can stop using Braid at any time:

  1. Revoke Braid’s access at myaccount.google.com/permissions.
  2. Delete the app and its data, as described in the Privacy Policy.

We may stop offering Braid, its Google sign-in, updates or the site at any time. If you break these terms, your permission to use our official builds and Google sign-in ends. Your rights under the AGPL to the source code don’t end because of these terms.

Sections 3, 5 (your responsibility for your actions), 9, 10, 12 and 13 still apply after you stop using Braid.

12. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Maryland, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Any dispute will be handled in the state or federal courts located in the State of Maryland, United States, unless the law where you live gives you the right to bring it in your local courts.

13. Changes and general terms

  • Changes. We may update these terms. We’ll post the new version here and change the date at the top. For significant changes, we’ll also say so in the release notes. If you keep using Braid after a change takes effect, you accept the new terms. If you don’t agree, stop using Braid.
  • Entire agreement. These terms, the Privacy Policy and the AGPL (for the code) are the whole agreement between you and us about the app and the site. A separately signed commercial license takes precedence for what it covers.
  • Severability. If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, the rest still applies.
  • No waiver. If we don’t enforce a term right away, we can still enforce it later.
  • Assignment. We may transfer these terms as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of the project. This does not authorize a transfer of your Google user data; any such transfer requires your explicit prior consent as described in the Privacy Policy. You may not transfer these terms without our consent.

14. Contact

Questions about these terms: support@braidmail.app

Privacy requests: support@braidmail.app

Josh Sapirstein, developer of Braid