# Terms of Service Last updated November 9, 2026. Lexicon Garden ("Lexicon Garden," "we," "us," "our") is an index of lexicon schemas on the Atmosphere, the open network built on the AT Protocol that Bluesky and a growing number of other apps use. It runs at `lexicon.garden`. It is privately owned and operated by Nick Gerakines, an individual in the State of Ohio, USA, through the identity @lexicon.garden. These Terms apply to all of Lexicon Garden: the website, its XRPC methods, and its MCP server. You don't need an account to browse, search, or validate lexicons. When you sign in, you agree to these Terms and the other policies on this site. If you don't agree, don't sign in. > [!SUMMARY] Lexicon Garden indexes the lexicon schemas published on the Atmosphere and gives developers tools to read, compare, build, and publish them. It works directly with your account: what you publish through it is written to your own repository, on your own PDS, under your name, and you're responsible for it. Lexicon schemas are public by design. Don't use Lexicon Garden to squat names, impersonate other publishers, or publish harmful content; if you do, we can stop indexing your lexicons and take your sandboxes or your account off Lexicon Garden. We run it carefully, but we don't promise any particular uptime. These Terms are governed by Ohio law. ## 1. You must be an adult to sign in You must be 18 or older (or the age of majority where you live) to sign in to Lexicon Garden. Lexicon Garden is a tool for developers. It isn't designed for children, and no part of it targets anyone under 18. By signing in, you confirm that you're an adult. ## 2. What Lexicon Garden is, and what it isn't Lexicon Garden reads lexicon schemas (`com.atproto.lexicon.schema` records) from the network, indexes them, and shows them: their documentation, the raw schema, version history, comparisons between versions, and how often records use each lexicon. It also offers tools: a validator, an OAuth scope builder, a lexicon builder, publishing to your own PDS, and sandboxes under `garden.lexicon`. Lexicon Garden provides raw, direct access to AT Protocol services and is intended for power users and developers. - **We don't host your account.** Your account, your identity, and your repository live with your provider: Bluesky, another provider, or your own server. Their own terms apply to them. - **We don't run the apps that use lexicons.** Apps decide for themselves which lexicons they read and write. - **We don't vouch for lexicons.** We don't check that a lexicon is correct, safe, or fit for any purpose, or that the people who publish it are who they say they are. ## 3. Signing in You sign in with your Atmosphere account through AT Protocol OAuth, so you sign in with your provider and Lexicon Garden never sees your password. Lexicon Garden asks your account for three permissions: to know who you are, to write `com.atproto.lexicon.schema` records, and to create or update one `garden.lexicon.policy.acceptance` record. It asks for nothing else. Before your first session starts, you accept these policies. Your acceptance is a record in your own repository that names the exact version of this site you read. When the policies change, you're asked to accept the new version. If you delete your acceptance, you stay signed in, but publishing and sandboxes stop working until you accept again. You're responsible for what happens through your account on Lexicon Garden. If you think someone else has used it, sign out, revoke Lexicon Garden's access at your provider, and tell us. ## 4. What you publish When you publish through Lexicon Garden, it writes `com.atproto.lexicon.schema` records to your repository, on your PDS, under your name, with the permission you granted. **You're responsible for what you publish.** Publish only lexicons you have the right to publish, under names you control or under a sandbox assigned to you. ## 5. Public by design Lexicon schemas are public, on purpose: that's what lets anyone resolve, validate, and build on them. When your PDS publishes a record, relays, apps, search services, and archives that we don't control can copy it, and may keep it after you delete it. Lexicon Garden indexes it like any other lexicon. Deleting it from your PDS stops new copies, but Lexicon Garden keeps the versions it has already indexed in that lexicon's history. Your policy acceptance, your sandboxes, and the DNS records Lexicon Garden creates for them are public too. Treat everything you do through Lexicon Garden as public. ## 6. Your content, and the permission you give us You own the lexicons you write. By publishing one where Lexicon Garden can read it, you give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to copy, store, index, analyze, and display it, and to serve it through our website, XRPC methods, and MCP server, for the sole purpose of running Lexicon Garden. ## 7. The rules Lexicon Garden is run by one person. It isn't a neutral utility, and we don't pretend to be one. **You may not use Lexicon Garden to publish, or to have us index or show, lexicons whose names, descriptions, or documentation:** - attack, degrade, or dehumanize people based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or immigration status; - promote, celebrate, or provide material support for hate groups, violent extremism, or terrorism; - harass, threaten, or incite violence against anyone; - sexualize minors in any way; - publish private information about someone without their consent; or - deceive people in ways that cause real harm. **You also may not use Lexicon Garden to:** - publish lexicons designed to deceive or harm the apps and people that use them; - claim, hold, or rename lexicons to squat names, or to keep them from the people who should have them; - impersonate another publisher, or mislead people about who published a lexicon; - use sandboxes in ways the [Sandbox Policy](/sandboxes/) doesn't allow; - spread malware, run phishing, or attack other people's accounts or computers; - get around rate limits, use many accounts to multiply a limit, or put more load on the service than ordinary use would; - interfere with Lexicon Garden or the wider network, or try to reach data or accounts that aren't yours; or - come back under a new account after we've taken one down, unless we've agreed to it. **We may also decline to index or show anything else we find seriously objectionable.** We'd rather tell you plainly that this discretion exists than pretend the lists above are complete. ## 8. Sandboxes Sandboxes let you publish under `garden.lexicon` without owning a domain. The [Sandbox Policy](/sandboxes/) covers how names are assigned, the limits, how long a sandbox resolves, and what happens when it expires. ## 9. Moderation We may stop indexing a lexicon, a namespace, or an account's lexicons, and we may take down a sandbox or take an account off Lexicon Garden, when something breaks these Terms or the law, or creates a real risk to Lexicon Garden or to other people. The [Moderation Policy](/moderation/) explains what each action does, how we decide, how to report a problem, and how to ask us to look again. A takedown never touches your PDS: your records stay in your repository, exactly as they were. ## 10. The API and the MCP server Lexicon Garden's XRPC methods and its MCP server are public and free to use within their rate limits. They can change. We'll try to keep them stable and to announce changes, but we don't promise either. ## 11. Availability We make a **best effort** to keep Lexicon Garden available, but we don't promise any particular level of uptime. Lexicon Garden is run by one person, and there will be times when it is slow, degraded, or down, whether for maintenance, problems on our end, or problems upstream that we don't control. We may change, pause, or end any part of it. Because what you publish lives in your own repository, ending Lexicon Garden wouldn't take it away from you. Sandboxes depend on Lexicon Garden's DNS, so a sandbox stops resolving if Lexicon Garden ends. ## 12. Other services [Highport](https://highport.space/) is a website hosting service run by the same person as Lexicon Garden, but it's a separate service with [its own policies](https://policies.highport.space/). It serves this policies site. Signing in to Lexicon Garden doesn't sign you up for Highport. Your provider, the apps you use, and every other service your account touches have their own terms, and we're not responsible for what they do. ## 13. Disclaimers and liability Lexicon Garden is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind. To the fullest extent the law allows, we aren't liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, for loss of data or profits, or for lexicons you or others publish. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that can't be limited by law, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud, and nothing in these Terms removes rights you have under consumer law that you can't sign away. ## 14. Governing law and where disputes go These Terms are governed by the laws of the **State of Ohio, USA**, and applicable US federal law, and disputes will be handled in the state or federal courts located in **Ohio**. **If you're a consumer, your local law still protects you.** Choosing Ohio law doesn't take away rights you have under the consumer law of the place you live that you can't sign away. Where your local law gives you stronger protection than Ohio law, your local law wins, and you may be able to bring proceedings in your local courts. We don't require arbitration. ## 15. Changes to these Terms We may update these Terms. A change is a new version of this site, and the next time you sign in, or try to publish, you'll be asked to accept it. When we make a major change, we'll announce it from @lexicon.garden on Bluesky at least 30 days before it takes effect, unless the law or an urgent safety or security problem requires a faster change. ## 16. Contact Questions about these Terms go to @ngerakines.me or @lexicon.garden on Bluesky.