Busco

End User License Agreement

Version 1.0 · Effective date: July 21, 2026

This End User License Agreement (the “Agreement”) is a legal agreement between you (“you”) and Looking Glass Labs LLC, a New York limited liability company doing business as Busco(“Busco,” “we,” “us”), governing your use of the Busco desktop application, its bundled local backend, and the busco command-line tool.

Please read this Agreement carefully. By clicking “I agree,” installing, or using the Software, you agree to be bound by this Agreement. If you do not agree, do not install or use the Software. If you are using the Software on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that organization.

This Agreement governs the Software (the desktop application, its local backend, and the CLI). Your account and subscription are governed separately by the Terms of Service, and our handling of personal data is described in the Privacy Policy. Together these form the complete agreement between you and us.

1. Definitions

  • Software — the Busco desktop application, the local Python backend it runs, and the busco command-line tool, including updates and bundled components.
  • Service — the Busco online endpoints operated at busco.dev for authentication, billing, and software updates.
  • Content — your own files, and the indexes, text, transcripts, embeddings, and other data the Software derives from them, all stored locally on your device.
  • Output — search results, transcripts, recognized text, and embeddings the Software produces.
  • Free / Pro— the Software’s usage tiers. Some features require a Pro subscription.
  • Device — a single computer identified by a per-installation identity, used to enforce the Pro one-active-device limit.

2. License grant

Subject to your compliance with this Agreement, we grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to install and use the Software on devices you own or control. Commercial use is permitted — you may use the Software for personal, business, enterprise, and automated (AI-agent) purposes.

This license is per user. Pro features are device-bound: an active Pro session is limited to one device at a time, enforced by the Service. You may move your Pro session between your own devices, subject to that limit.

3. License restrictions

You agree not to, and not to permit any third party to:

  • reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or otherwise attempt to derive the source code or the structure of the Software, except to the limited extent this restriction is prohibited by applicable law;
  • extract, decrypt, copy, or redistribute the bundled model weights or other bundled assets. Bundled AI models are encrypted at rest, and Pro models are unwrapped only under a per-user device key; extracting or redistributing decrypted weights breaches both this Agreement and the upstream model licenses;
  • circumvent, disable, or interfere with tier gating, Pro enforcement, licensing, or security features, or share, reuse, or transfer session tickets or model keys across devices or users;
  • sell, rent, lease, sublicense, distribute, or host the Software as a service to third parties;
  • remove, alter, or obscure any proprietary notices, license text, or attributions in the Software; or
  • use automated means to abuse the Service endpoints (authentication, billing, referral, or updates).

4. Open-source and third-party components

The Software includes third-party open-source software and AI models, each under its own license. Attribution and the full license texts are provided in the Software’s offline Licenses screen and accompanying notices. Notable components include: CLIP via open_clip (MIT), Whisper via faster-whisper (MIT), RapidOCR / PP-OCRv4 (Apache-2.0), and EmbeddingGemma (Google, under the Gemma Terms of Use). On macOS, the Software decodes video using Apple’s built-in operating-system frameworks (AVFoundation / VideoToolbox) and bundles no ffmpeg. Any future Windows or Linux build — not offered today — would instead bundle ffmpeg (LGPL), and its notice would be added to the Licenses screen for that build. Where a bundled component’s license grants you rights or imposes conditions, those terms govern that component and, to the extent of any conflict about that component, control over this Agreement.

The model weights are not included in the download. On first run the Software fetches them unmodified from Hugging Face and stores them on your device; that download exposes your IP address to Hugging Face and carries no file content, file metadata or search queries (see the Privacy Policy). For models provided under the Gemma Terms of Use, the associated Gemma Prohibited Use Policy is incorporated into this Agreement by reference and flows down to you; you agree not to use the Software in any manner those terms prohibit. The Gemma Terms state that Google claims no rights in model Outputs, and you are solely responsible for your use of Outputs.

5. Your content and privacy

You own your Content and Output. We claim no ownership of, and no license to, your files, indexes, embeddings, or search results.

The Software is local-first: your file content, file metadata, indexes, embeddings, and search queries are processed entirely on your device and are never transmitted to us or to any third party. All AI models run locally.

Personal data associated with your account, subscription, and update checks is handled as described in the Privacy Policy.

6. AI and model output disclaimer

Search and related features are probabilistic. Outputs — including search results, transcripts, and recognized text — may be inaccurate, incomplete, or irrelevant, and must not be relied upon for high-stakes decisions. Outputs are provided “as is,” and you are solely responsible for your use of them.

7. Software updates

The Software may check for and install updates through the Service. Update checks are anonymous and contain no account identifiers. Updates are provided free for all tiers. We may publish updates, change features, and discontinue support for older versions at any time, and we are under no obligation to maintain backward compatibility.

8. Tiers and subscriptions

Using Busco requires a Busco account on every tier — there is no anonymous use. The Software offers a Free tier and paid Pro features; Pro features additionally require an active subscription, which is governed by the Terms of Service. This Agreement licenses the Software regardless of tier.

9. Intellectual property

The Software, its user interface, and the Busco brand are owned by Looking Glass Labs LLC and protected by intellectual-property laws. “Busco” is our trademark. Except for the license expressly granted here, we reserve all rights in the Software.

10. Warranty disclaimer

THE SOFTWARE AND ALL OUTPUTS ARE 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, and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Software will be error-free, that search results will be accurate, or that the Service (authentication, billing, or update endpoints) will be available or uninterrupted.

11. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, our total liability arising out of or relating to the Software or this Agreement will not exceed the amounts you paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim (which may be zero for Free users). We will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits or loss of data. The Software reads your files only to index them locally; you remain responsible for maintaining your own backups.

12. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Looking Glass Labs LLC from any claims, damages, and expenses arising out of your misuse of the Software, any unlawful content you index or search, and your violation of this Agreement or of any incorporated third-party model license (including the Gemma Prohibited Use Policy).

13. Term and termination

This Agreement is effective until terminated. You may terminate it at any time by ceasing use of the Software and uninstalling it. We may terminate it if you breach it. Upon termination or lapse of a Pro subscription, Pro model features stop functioning once your cached session expires (an offline grace period of roughly three days); Free features continue to work; and your local indexes and Content remain on your device. Sections 3–6 and 9–16 survive termination.

14. Export controls and sanctions

The Software includes cryptographic functionality and is subject to United States export control laws (including the Export Administration Regulations). The Software is intended for mass-market distribution. You represent that you are not located in, and are not a national or resident of, any country or region subject to a U.S. embargo or comprehensive sanctions, and that you are not on any U.S. government restricted-party or sanctions list (including the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals list). You agree not to export, re-export, or use the Software in violation of applicable export or sanctions laws.

15. Governing law and disputes

This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. You agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in New York for any dispute arising out of or relating to this Agreement.

16. Changes to this Agreement

We may update this Agreement from time to time. Each version carries a version number and effective date. When we make a material change, we will present the updated Agreement and ask you to accept it before you continue to use the Software (for example, at the next launch or upon a major version upgrade). Your continued use after acceptance is governed by the version you accepted.

17. Early access

The Software is pre-1.0 early-access software and access is currently invitation-based. Features may change or be removed, there is no service-level guarantee, and you use the Software at your own risk during early access.

18. Miscellaneous

  • Entire agreement. This Agreement, together with the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, is the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Software.
  • Severability. If any provision is held unenforceable, the rest remains in effect.
  • Assignment. We may assign this Agreement (for example, in connection with a merger or acquisition); you may not assign it without our consent.
  • Waiver. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.
  • Force majeure. Neither party is liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond its reasonable control.
  • Contact. Questions about this Agreement: manny@busco.dev.