Terms & Conditions

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing, browsing, or utilizing Pathubs (accessible at pathubs.com, referred to as the “Platform” or “Service”), you enter into a legally binding agreement and agree to be bound by these Terms & Conditions (“Terms”).

These Terms constitute an agreement between you (“User”, “Learner”, or “you”) and the operators of Pathubs (“we”, “us”, or “our”). If you disagree with any portion of these Terms, you must discontinue using the Platform immediately.

Your access is also governed by our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, which explain how we handle your learning data, browser storage, and cookies.

2. Operator Status & Eligibility

Pathubs is an independent educational digital project originating and maintained in India.

To access and use Pathubs:

• You must be at least 18 years of age (or the legal age of majority in your jurisdiction) to agree to these Terms independently.
• If you are a minor over the age of 13, you may use the Platform only with the involvement, supervision, and express consent of a parent or legal guardian who agrees to be bound by these Terms.
• You confirm that you have not been previously suspended or barred from accessing Pathubs.

3. Description & Scope of Service

Pathubs is a free-to-access educational platform delivering curriculum roadmaps and practical self-study materials, including:

• Interactive Career Roadmaps: Structured, sequenced visual guides across software engineering, data analytics, cloud architecture, and related fields.
• In-Depth Topic Workspaces: Comprehensive learning modules featuring technical explanations, system architecture diagrams, interactive sandboxes, and milestone quizzes.
• Data Analyst Studio: An educational analytical workbench allowing learners to run SQL queries (via DuckDB-Wasm), execute Python scripts (via a WebAssembly runtime), manipulate spreadsheet matrices, and submit analytical missions for objective grading.
• Nova Learning Companion: A deterministic, rule-based in-browser learning assistant designed to answer curriculum questions and guide topic exploration.
• Educational Blog: Technical articles, case studies, and engineering breakdowns.

4. Accounts, Authentication & Cloud Sync

An account is not required to browse roadmaps, read guides, execute client-side sandboxes, or use Nova. However, registering an account enables cross-device cloud persistence of your learning progress.

• Guest Progress vs. Cloud Sync: If you use Pathubs without logging in, your topic checkmarks and bookmarks are saved strictly in your local browser's localStorage. Local data will be lost if you clear browser site data. Authenticated learners have their progress synchronized with our Supabase database across devices.
• Automatic Guest Data Migration: If you start as a guest and subsequently register or log in on the same browser, your local guest progress and bookmarks are automatically migrated into your authenticated cloud account.
• Registration & Credentials: Registration is supported via Google OAuth and email/password through Supabase Auth. You agree to provide accurate information. Passwords are encrypted by Supabase; you are solely responsible for safeguarding your login credentials.
• Account Transferability: Accounts are personal to the individual learner and may not be transferred, assigned, shared, or resold.

5. Acceptable Use & Platform Integrity

You agree to use Pathubs exclusively for legitimate, personal educational purposes. You agree not to:

1. Deploy automated scrapers, crawlers, harvest scripts, or botnets to systematically extract curriculum content, quizzes, diagrams, or mission datasets without prior written consent.
2. Bypass, probe, or attempt to circumvent security controls, authentication gates, Cloudflare Turnstile verification challenges, or rate-limiting thresholds.
3. Overwhelm, disrupt, or launch denial-of-service (DoS) attacks against our edge proxies, serverless functions, or database infrastructure.
4. Submit malicious, abusive, vulgar, defamatory, or unlawful material through our feedback widgets or support contact forms.
5. Commercialize, mirror, republish, or redistribute Pathubs original educational text, visual illustrations, or proprietary workspace tools for profit without express written authorization.
6. Impersonate any individual, organization, or Pathubs administrator.
7. Use the Platform for any purpose that violates local, state, national, or international law.

6. Intellectual Property & Proprietary Rights

A. Proprietary Nature of Pathubs

Pathubs is a proprietary educational platform. Pathubs is not an open-source project. All original curriculum text, custom visual diagrams, interactive workspace logic, quiz questions, mission briefings, evaluation rubrics, branding, and user interface designs are the intellectual property of Pathubs.

The “Pathubs” name, logo, domain, and associated distinctive brand features are proprietary trademarks and service marks of Pathubs. They may not be copied, imitated, or used without prior written authorization.

B. Personal Educational License

We grant you a personal, limited, non-exclusive, revocable, non-transferable license to access, read, and interact with Pathubs educational materials solely for your own individual, non-commercial learning and self-study. You may not republish, sell, sublicense, or mass-distribute our original curriculum content.

7. Third-Party Software, Licenses & External Resources

A. Open-Source Libraries

Pathubs incorporates and benefits from respected open-source libraries and frameworks. We do not claim ownership over these third-party components, which remain governed by their respective open-source licenses:

• Next.js & React: Licensed under the MIT License (Copyright © Vercel, Inc. and Meta Platforms, Inc.).
• @duckdb/duckdb-wasm: Licensed under the MIT License (Copyright © DuckDB Foundation).
• @supabase/supabase-js: Licensed under the MIT License (Copyright © Supabase, Inc.).
• UniverJS Core & Sheets: Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (Copyright © DreamNum Inc.).
• Apache ECharts: Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (Copyright © The Apache Software Foundation).
• Lucide Icons: Licensed under the ISC License (Copyright © Lucide Contributors).
• Pyodide / Python WebAssembly Runtime: Licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0 and Python Software Foundation License.
• Upstash Redis & Ratelimit: Licensed under the MIT License (Copyright © Upstash, Inc.).

B. Third-Party Trademarks & Technologies

Pathubs references technologies, languages, and tools (including Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, SQL, PostgreSQL, Docker, AWS, Google Cloud, Excel, Git, Linux, and others) for context and identification. All third-party trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners. Their mention does not imply endorsement, affiliation, or sponsorship.

C. External Links

Roadmaps and topic modules link to official documentation, third-party tutorials, and video resources. We do not control or endorse the content, uptime, or privacy practices of external websites. Accessing external links is at your own discretion.

8. Data Analyst Studio Terms

The Data Analyst Studio provides an educational analytical environment. By using Studio, you acknowledge that:

• Fictional Synthetic Datasets: Datasets provided within Studio (such as “NovaCart Q1 2026”) are synthetic and created solely for educational exercises. They do not represent real companies or individuals, and any resemblance to actual entities is coincidental.
• Local Execution Environment: Everyday exploratory SQL, Python, and spreadsheet analyses execute in-memory inside your local browser via WebAssembly engines. You are responsible for managing your local computing resources.
• Server-Side Mission Evaluation: Formal mission grading sends your SQL query, executive report text, and evidence payload to our server (POST /api/studio/evaluate). Submissions are graded against public and confidential validation datasets. Hidden evaluation datasets and grading logic are confidential and will not be disclosed to learners.
• Not for Production Processing: Studio is designed for educational learning. It is not an enterprise database or analytics warehouse and must not be used to process real personal, financial, confidential, or sensitive production data.

9. Nova Companion Limitations & Rewards Gate

Nova is a hybrid learning assistant subject to the following operating conditions:

• Educational Guidance Only: Nova combines local pattern matching against Pathubs's curriculum knowledge registry with an optional AI technical mentor (/api/companion/chat) for coding, SQL, Python, and career roadmap questions. Responses are generated for educational guidance only, may occasionally contain inaccuracies, and do not constitute professional, legal, security, or financial advice.
• No Persistent Server-Side Chat Storage: Nova does not store persistent server-side chat logs. Conversation history is held in temporary client memory and cleared when you reset the chat or reload the page.
• Companion Quest Rewards Inactive: While database structures exist, the server-side quest reward claiming endpoint (/api/companion/quests/claim) is feature-gated off by default (COMPANION_REWARDS_ENABLED=false). Virtual XP, reward streaks, and quest claims are currently disabled and do not constitute an active service or entitlement.

10. User Submissions & Feedback

We welcome bug reports, curriculum corrections, and feature suggestions through our feedback channels:

• Feedback License: Any feedback, suggestions, or ideas submitted to Pathubs are non-confidential. You grant Pathubs a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable license to use, adapt, implement, and incorporate your feedback into the Platform without any obligation of compensation, accounting, or attribution.
• Ownership of Original User Deliverables: You retain ownership of original analytical reports or notes you write within Data Analyst Studio. You grant Pathubs only the operational license necessary to process, store, and grade your submissions.

11. Voluntary Financial Contributions

Pathubs is offered completely free of charge. Users who wish to support server hosting and development costs may make voluntary contributions via our Support Us page.

• Voluntary Gift: Contributions are strictly voluntary gifts. They do not constitute an investment, an acquisition of equity, or a commercial purchase of goods or services.
• No Commercial Entitlement: Making a contribution does not unlock private courses, preferential support, or commercial privileges. All learning content remains equally open to all learners.
• Non-Refundable: Because contributions are immediately applied to ongoing infrastructure costs, voluntary gifts are non-refundable, except where required by mandatory consumer protection laws.
• Payment Processing: Transactions are handled by Razorpay. If funds are deducted due to a banking network failure without completing a transaction, banking gateways typically reverse the charge within 5 to 7 business days. For payment inquiries, contact supportpathubs@gmail.com with your Razorpay Payment ID.

12. Service Availability, Maintenance & Modifications

We strive to keep Pathubs available and reliable, but we cannot guarantee uninterrupted, 100% continuous uptime:

• The Platform may experience scheduled maintenance, updates, hosting provider outages, or emergency downtime.
• We reserve the right to modify, restructure, update, or deprecate roadmaps, topic guides, Studio tools, quizzes, or companion features at our sole discretion without prior notice.
• We shall not be liable to you or any third party for any modification, suspension, or discontinuation of the Service or any part thereof.

13. Educational Disclaimers & No Employment Guarantees

• No Career or Job Guarantee: Completing Pathubs roadmaps, quizzes, or Studio missions does not guarantee employment, job interviews, compensation increases, or certification. Employment decisions rest entirely with hiring employers.
• Technical Evolving Landscape: Software and data tools evolve rapidly. While we strive to maintain high-quality curriculum, materials may contain typographical errors, inaccuracies, or become outdated. Code examples must be reviewed before use in real-world production environments.

14. Account Termination & Self-Service Deletion

You may stop using Pathubs at any time. Authenticated learners can permanently delete their account and wipe their cloud-stored learning progress at any time:

• Self-Service Erasure: Navigate to My Progress and use the Delete Account option (POST /api/user/delete). Entering the required confirmation string permanently erases your personal profile, progress records, quiz scores, bookmarks, and Studio workspaces, and removes your authentication record from Supabase.
• Termination by Pathubs: We may suspend or terminate your account access if you breach these Terms, attempt to compromise platform security, or engage in abusive conduct.
• Survival: Sections regarding Intellectual Property, Third-Party Software, Educational Disclaimers, Warranty Disclaimers, Limitation of Liability, and Governing Law shall survive any account termination.

15. Disclaimer of Warranties

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, THE PATHUBS PLATFORM, CONTENT, ROADMAPS, WORKSPACES, STUDIO TOOLS, AND COMPANION FEATURES ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.

WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, ACCURACY, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, ACCURATE, OR ERROR-FREE, OR THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED.

16. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL PATHUBS, ITS OPERATORS, MAINTAINERS, CONTRIBUTORS, OR SERVICE PROVIDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, USE, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING FROM OR RELATING TO:

• YOUR ACCESS TO, USE OF, OR INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICE;
• ANY INACCURACIES, OMISSIONS, OR ERRORS IN OUR CURRICULUM OR EDUCATIONAL GUIDES;
• UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS, USE, OR ALTERATION OF YOUR TRANSMISSIONS OR LEARNER DATA; OR
• CONDUCT OR CONTENT OF ANY THIRD-PARTY WEBSITE LINKED FROM PATHUBS.

TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR YOUR USE OF THE PLATFORM SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE TOTAL AMOUNT, IF ANY, YOU HAVE VOLUNTARILY CONTRIBUTED TO PATHUBS IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM.

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability for death, personal injury caused by gross negligence, intentional fraud, or any liability that cannot be disclaimed under applicable law.

17. Governing Law, Complaints & Dispute Resolution

These Terms, and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them or their subject matter, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India, without regard to its conflict of law principles.

18. Changes to These Terms

We may revise these Terms periodically to reflect evolving platform features, technical integrations, or legal requirements. When revisions occur, the “Last Updated” date at the top of this document will be updated.

For significant updates that materially alter learner obligations or platform terms, we will provide prominent notice on the platform. Your continued use of the platform after revised Terms become effective constitutes your acceptance of the changes.

19. Contact Information

For questions concerning these Terms, copyright permissions, or platform policies: