Terms of Service
Last updated: November 1, 2026
These terms are an agreement between you and Steel Lantern ("we", "us"). They cover steellantern.com and any payment you make to Steel Lantern for one of our tools. Each tool also has its own terms, listed on Policies at a glance. For anything about a specific tool, that tool's terms come first; these terms cover whatever they don't.
1. Who we are
Steel Lantern builds and runs a group of small software tools: Neverclosed, TownDesk, Carrier Ledger, ClearRoster, Catalog Truth, FluxProof, ProofFetch, TrailTruth, CivicDataForge and Living Stack. Steel Lantern is independently owned and operated by Bryan P Williams (sole proprietor) in Shelby, North Carolina, USA.
2. Eligibility and acceptance
You must be at least 18 and able to form a binding contract. If you accept these terms for a business or other organization, you confirm you can bind it, and "you" includes it. Using the site or paying us means you accept these terms.
3. Accounts
Give accurate information, keep your sign-in details and any API keys private, and tell us quickly at bryan@steellantern.com if you think someone else is using them. You're responsible for what happens under your account.
4. Payments, billing and renewal
Payments are taken by our payment processor, Stripe; we never see or store your full card number. The price, what it buys and how often you're charged are shown before you pay. A subscription renews automatically at the end of each period until you cancel. One-time purchases and credit packs don't renew. Prices don't include taxes unless the checkout says so. If a payment fails, we may pause paid features until it goes through.
5. Cancelling and refunds
You can cancel a subscription at any time from the tool's billing page or the billing link in its emails, or by writing to us. Cancelling stops the next renewal; you keep access until the end of the period you've paid for. Each tool's refund rule is in its own terms and summarized on Policies at a glance. If you're charged in error, write to us first and we'll put it right; you keep any rights the law gives you.
6. Price changes
We may change prices for future periods. We'll tell you by email before a higher price applies to your subscription, and you can cancel before it does.
7. Acceptable use
Don't use the site or any tool to break the law, to deceive people, to send spam, to harm or overload our systems, to test our security without written permission, to get around usage limits, or to copy or resell the tools without our agreement. We may suspend access that breaks these rules.
8. Your content and our results
You keep ownership of what you give us. You let us process it only to run the tool you're using. Our tools work from public records, web pages and other sources; results can be incomplete or out of date, and each tool shows where its answers come from so you can check them. You decide what to do with a result. Nothing we provide is legal, financial or compliance advice.
9. Our property
We own the tools, the site and their content, except material owned by others and any open-source parts, which keep their own licenses. Paying for a tool gives you a personal, non-transferable right to use it under its terms.
10. Privacy
Our Privacy Policy explains what we collect and why. Each tool's privacy terms cover that tool.
11. Other services
The tools rely on other companies for hosting, payments, email and data sources. We choose them with care but don't control them, and their own terms apply to them.
12. No warranties
The site and tools are provided "as is" and "as available". To the extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement, and we don't promise the tools will be uninterrupted or error-free.
13. Limit of liability
To the extent the law allows, we aren't liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue or data. Our total liability for any claim is limited to what you paid us for the tool involved in the 12 months before the claim.
14. Indemnity
You'll defend and hold us harmless against third-party claims that come from your content, your use of a tool in breach of these terms, or your breaking the law.
15. Suspension and ending
You can stop using the tools at any time. We may suspend or end access for non-payment or a serious breach of these terms, and we'll tell you why. If we ever stop offering a paid tool, we'll give you at least 60 days' notice by email, help you take your data with you, and refund any time you've paid for and not used.
16. Governing law and disputes
North Carolina law governs these terms, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Before filing any claim, write to us so we can try to resolve it informally within 30 days. Any dispute that remains goes to the state or federal courts in North Carolina. Claims are brought individually, not as part of a class action, to the extent the law allows.
17. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms. We'll change the date at the top, and for a material change we'll give reasonable notice by email or on the site before it applies. Continuing to use the site or a tool afterwards means you accept the update.
18. General
You can't transfer these terms without our written agreement; we may transfer them as part of a sale or reorganization of the business. If part of these terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies. Not enforcing a term isn't a waiver. Neither of us is responsible for delays caused by events beyond reasonable control. These terms, together with each tool's own terms, are the whole agreement between us about their subject.
19. Contact
Write to bryan@steellantern.com. We reply within one business day.
Steel Lantern is independently owned and operated by Bryan P Williams (sole proprietor) · Shelby, North Carolina, USA. Questions: bryan@steellantern.com.
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