Legal

Terms of Service

Effective 11 August 2026 · Last updated 11 August 2026

HashShelf is a free tool for keeping a reading list and sharing it as a link. These terms are the agreement between you and the people who run it. We've kept them as plain as the law allows.

Plain-language summary (not a substitute for the terms below). Use HashShelf for book lists. Don't use it to store or spread anything illegal, deceptive, or harmful — including malicious links. You're responsible for what you make and share. HashShelf stores none of it — your shelf lives in its link, not on our server — and the Service is provided "as is," with our liability limited.

1 Agreement to these terms

By accessing or using HashShelf (the "Service") — the website at hashshelf.com and everything served from it — you agree to these Terms of Service (the "Terms"). If you don't agree, don't use the Service. If you use the Service on behalf of an organization, you represent that you're authorized to bind it to these Terms.

2 What HashShelf is

HashShelf turns a reading list into a link. There are no accounts, no login, and no profile. Your shelf lives in the link itself: the characters after the # in a HashShelf URL are your books, compressed and checksummed — not a lookup code for a record about you.

Your shelf is shared as a self-contained link. The entire shelf is encoded into the URL fragment — the part after the # — and because browsers never transmit the fragment to a server, the content of a HashShelf link is never received, seen, or stored by us. It exists only on the devices of the people who hold the link. HashShelf stores no shelves and no other user content: there are no accounts, and the only data our server keeps is a disposable cache of public book facts from third-party sources.

Book titles, authors, covers, and subjects are supplied by third-party sources (see Section 10). The Service is provided free of charge and is supported by affiliate links (Section 9).

3 Eligibility

You must be at least 13 years old to use the Service, and old enough to form a binding contract where you live. The Service is not directed to children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their information (see the Privacy Policy).

4 Acceptable use

HashShelf is for creating and sharing book lists. You agree not to use the Service — including any shelf name or comment — to create, encode, transmit, link to, or make available any of the following:

Content that is unlawful, or that promotes, facilitates, or coordinates unlawful activity;
Malicious, deceptive, or harmful links or references — including phishing, malware, scams, fraud, or anything designed to mislead a reader about where a link goes or who is behind it;
Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or any sexual content involving minors — this is prohibited absolutely and will be reported to the authorities;
Threats, harassment, stalking, hate speech, or incitement of violence;
Content that infringes anyone's copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, or other rights;
Private or personal information about another person shared without permission ("doxxing");
Impersonation of any person or organization, or misrepresentation of your affiliation with one;
Spam, or bulk or automated creation of shelves or links.

You also agree not to:

Use the Service as a covert channel to encode or exchange messages or data for purposes unrelated to book lists, in furtherance of any of the above;
Probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the Service, or breach or circumvent its security, rate limits, or access controls;
Access the Service through automated means (bots, scrapers) in a manner that burdens the infrastructure or exceeds reasonable personal use;
Interfere with or disrupt the Service or the servers and networks that run it;
Reproduce, host, or offer the Service (or a substantially similar service) to third parties except as permitted by the code license in Section 8.

We may investigate suspected violations and cooperate with law enforcement. We are not obligated to monitor content, but we may remove or disable access to any content, and restrict or block any user or network, at any time and without notice, when we believe these Terms have been broken.

5 Your content and your responsibility

"Your content" means the shelf names, book selections, ratings, statuses, and comments you create. As between you and us, you retain all rights to your content, and you are solely responsible for it and for the consequences of sharing it. You represent that you have the rights necessary to your content and that it does not violate Section 4.

Because HashShelf does not store your content — it lives in your link, not on our server — you grant us no license to it, and there is nothing of yours for us to retain, sell, or profile from. We never claim ownership of your content.

6 No storage of your shelves

HashShelf does not store your shelves or any other content you create. Earlier versions offered an optional "short link" that saved a copy of a shelf on our server; that feature has been removed, and any previously stored copies have been deleted. Shelves are shared only as self-contained links whose data never reaches our server. The only thing our server stores is a disposable cache of public book facts from third-party sources (Section 10), which contains no information about you.

7 Reporting & copyright (DMCA)

Because HashShelf stores no user content, there is generally nothing hosted on our servers for us to remove — a shelf lives only in a link its holder controls, not with us. Even so, you can reach us with any concern, abuse report, or legal notice at report@hashshelf.com, and we will respond.

Copyright (DMCA)

We respect intellectual-property rights and respond to notices under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act regarding material we actually host (for example, the Service's own pages and assets). If you believe such material infringes your copyright, send a notice to report@hashshelf.com that includes: (a) your physical or electronic signature; (b) identification of the copyrighted work; (c) the URL or location of the material; (d) your contact information; (e) a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized; and (f) a statement, under penalty of perjury, that your notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorized to act on the owner's behalf. Shelves shared as links are not hosted by us and are outside our control.

8 Intellectual property & the code

The name "HashShelf," the logo, and the look and feel of the Service are the property of the Operator. The Service's source code is published for you to read and audit and is licensed under the Elastic License 2.0 — you may view, modify, and use the code subject to that license, but you may not provide the software to others as a hosted or managed service, and you may not remove or obscure its licensing or notices. The license text governs and controls over this summary. Nothing here grants you rights in the HashShelf name or marks.

9 Affiliate disclosure

HashShelf participates in the Amazon Associates Program and may participate in other affiliate programs. "Buy" links next to books are affiliate links, and we may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. This is the Service's only source of revenue. Affiliate links do not influence the book data shown.

10 Third-party services & links

Book information is provided by Open Library, a project of the Internet Archive, and may be inaccurate or incomplete; we present it as-is and don't warrant it. The Service also relies on third-party hosting and network providers, and contains links to third-party sites (such as Amazon). We don't control and aren't responsible for third-party sites, content, or practices, and your use of them is governed by their terms and policies, not ours.

11 Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that book data will be accurate. Because your shelf lives only in its link and nowhere on our servers, you are responsible for keeping your own copy of any link that matters to you. Some jurisdictions don't allow certain warranty exclusions, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

12 Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE OPERATOR WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, PROFITS, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR USE OF (OR INABILITY TO USE) THE SERVICE, OR TO CONTENT SHARED THROUGH IT — WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER THEORY, AND EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE OPERATOR'S TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (USD $100). Because the Service is free, this reflects the agreed allocation of risk between us. Some jurisdictions don't allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

13 Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the Operator from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or connected with your content, your use of the Service, or your violation of these Terms or of any law or third-party right.

14 Suspension & termination

You may stop using the Service at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access, and remove or disable any content, at any time and for any reason, including to enforce these Terms or to protect the Service or others. Sections that by their nature should survive termination (including Sections 5, 8, and 11–17) will survive.

15 Changes to the Service and these Terms

We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time. We may also update these Terms; when we do, we'll revise the "Last updated" date above, and material changes will be reflected on this page. Your continued use of the Service after changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms.

16 Governing law & disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of [GOVERNING JURISDICTION — e.g., your U.S. state of residence or the state where the operating entity is formed], without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Before filing anything, you agree to first contact us at report@hashshelf.com and try in good faith to resolve the dispute informally for at least 30 days. Any dispute that isn't resolved will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in [VENUE — county/state], and you consent to their jurisdiction. Nothing here prevents either party from seeking injunctive relief for misuse or infringement.

17 Miscellaneous

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and the code license, are the entire agreement between you and the Operator about the Service. If any provision is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect and the unenforceable part is limited to the minimum extent necessary. Our failure to enforce a provision isn't a waiver. You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them to a successor (for example, an entity formed to operate the Service). These Terms create no third-party beneficiaries. Headings are for convenience only.

18 Contact

Questions, reports, and legal notices: report@hashshelf.com. HashShelf is operated by [OPERATOR — "ZackBot98," or your legal name/entity once formed].

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