Terms of Service

1. About Hatch

Hatch is a free educational service that teaches the Python programming language, available at hatch.staraep.fun and as an iPhone and iPad app. It is run by an independent developer operating as StarAEP (“we”, “us”). Contact: info@staraep.fun. Our Privacy Policy and Cookies and local storage notice explain how we handle data.

2. Who can use Hatch

• You must be at least 13 years old.
• If you are 13 to 15, your parent or guardian must approve your account by entering a code we email them. By approving, they agree to these terms on your behalf and confirm they have read the Privacy Policy.
• You must give us accurate age information. Giving a false age is a breach of these terms and we may delete the account.
• You need an account to use Hatch. One person, one account. Do not share your login.

3. Your account

Keep your password and any two-factor recovery codes safe. You are responsible for what happens under your account unless it is caused by our failure to protect it. Tell us at info@staraep.fun if you think someone else has got in. We recommend turning on two-factor authentication under Profile.

4. Using Hatch fairly

Please do not:

• break the law, or use Hatch to harm, harass or impersonate anyone;
• choose a username or display name that is offensive, sexual, hateful, a slur, or someone else’s identity or personal information. We block many such names automatically and may change or remove any name, and suspend accounts, that break this rule;
• use friend requests to pester, bully or contact someone who does not want to hear from you. Blocking is always available, and we may remove accounts that abuse it;
• try to cheat the leaderboard, for example by sending forged progress to our servers;
• probe, overload or attack our servers, bypass rate limits or security, or access other people’s accounts or data;
• scrape, copy or redistribute the lessons in bulk, or build a competing service from them;
• use automated tools to create accounts.

The Python you run in lessons and the Playground runs inside your own browser or device, in a sandbox. Please only write code you are allowed to write.

5. Your content and our content

The code you write and your progress belong to you. You give us permission to store them and show the limited parts the leaderboard needs (username, display name, avatar, weekly XP) in order to run Hatch for you. This permission ends when you delete your account.

The lessons, exercises, text, design, logo and software of Hatch belong to us or our licensors. You may use them for your own learning. Other uses need our written permission. Open-source components we use, such as Python, Pyodide and CodeMirror, stay under their own licences. “Python” is a trademark of the Python Software Foundation; Hatch is not affiliated with or endorsed by it.

6. Learning, not guarantees

Hatch is educational material. We work to keep it accurate, but we do not promise it is error-free or that it will give you a particular skill, grade, job or result. Do not rely on code from lessons in safety-critical, medical, financial or security-sensitive systems without your own checking.

7. The service can change

Hatch is free and provided as a hobby-scale project. We may change, pause or stop features, or the whole service, and we will try to give notice and a chance to save your progress when we can. We do not promise it will always be available or free of interruptions or errors.

8. Ending your account

You can delete your account at any time in the app (Profile, then Delete account). We may suspend or delete accounts that break these terms, are inactive and unverified, or are created in breach of our age rules. We may stop a person using Hatch if needed to keep others safe.

9. No warranty

To the fullest extent the law allows, Hatch is provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Some places do not allow some of these exclusions, so they may not apply to you.

10. Limit of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost progress, data, profits or opportunities, arising from your use of Hatch. Because Hatch is free, our total liability for any claim relating to it is limited to US$50. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or fraud, or any rights you have as a consumer that cannot be waived.

11. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, USA, and applicable United States federal law, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Disputes that cannot be settled informally go to the state or federal courts located in Texas, unless the law of your home country gives you the right to use your local courts. We would much prefer to solve a problem informally: write to info@staraep.fun first and give us 30 days to put it right. If you live in the EU, the UK or another place with mandatory consumer protection law, nothing here removes the protection those laws give you, including your right to bring a claim in your home courts.

12. iPhone and iPad app

The app is licensed to you under Apple’s standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement. These terms are between you and us, not Apple. Apple has no obligation to provide support or maintenance for the app, and is not responsible for claims relating to it. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of Apple’s licence agreement and may enforce it against you.

13. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. When the change matters, we will update the date above and tell you in the app or by email. If you keep using Hatch after a change takes effect, you accept it; if you do not agree, you can delete your account.

14. Contact

info@staraep.fun