County Desk

Terms of use

Version 2026-11-06. These terms govern the County Desk website, its downloads, its API and its MCP server (together, "the service"). By using the service, or by buying or using an API key, you accept them. If you do not accept them, do not use the service.

1. What the service is

County Desk republishes public records that North Carolina counties, cities, sheriffs and state agencies have already released, as those agencies released them. North Carolina law makes these records the property of the people (G.S. 132-1). County Desk is not a government agency, is not affiliated with or endorsed by any agency it draws on, and is not the official record. Each record links to or names its source; the agency's own record is the authority.

2. We never alter or remove the public record

County Desk does not edit, suppress or remove records at anyone's request, and never charges to do so. A record changes here only when the source agency changes it and the change reaches us in the agency's own release. If a record is wrong, contact the agency that keeps it. An arrest or a charge is not a conviction; a lien, case or appeal reflects the state of the source when it was gathered and may since have changed.

3. No warranty

The service and every record are provided "as is" and "as available", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including accuracy, completeness, timeliness, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Records are gathered automatically and may contain errors made by the source or in gathering, parsing or matching them. You must verify any record with its source before relying on it.

4. Uses you agree not to make

You agree that you will not use the service, or any information obtained from it, to:

  1. decide, or help anyone decide, a person's eligibility for employment, housing or tenancy, credit, insurance, a license or any other purpose covered by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.) or a similar state law. County Desk is not a consumer reporting agency and does not furnish consumer reports;
  2. harass, stalk, threaten, intimidate, defame, dox or abuse any person, or to locate a person in order to do any of those things;
  3. discriminate unlawfully against any person, including on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, familial status or any other protected characteristic;
  4. contact people in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Do Not Call rules, the CAN-SPAM Act, North Carolina's telephone solicitation law (G.S. 75-100 et seq.) or any other solicitation, marketing or privacy law;
  5. offer or demand payment to remove, suppress or alter any record, here or elsewhere;
  6. break any other federal, state or local law;
  7. share, sell or publish an API key, or let anyone else use it; get around metering, rate limits or payment; or access the website by automated means at a volume that degrades it for others; or
  8. interfere with, probe or attack the service or the systems behind it.

5. Your responsibility

You alone are responsible for how you use the service and any information from it, and for complying with every law that applies to that use, including any law that applies because of who you are, where you are or what you do with the information. Any use in breach of these terms or of the law is yours, not ours. You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless County Desk and its operators, owners, employees and suppliers from every claim, loss, liability, penalty, cost and expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from your use of the service or information obtained from it, or from your breach of these terms.

6. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, County Desk and its operators, owners, employees and suppliers will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data or goodwill, arising from or related to the service or any record, however caused and on any theory of liability, even if advised of their possibility. Our total liability for any claim related to the service is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose, or ten US dollars if you paid nothing.

7. Paid access

MCP and API access is paid in advance with credits on an API key; every call spends credits at the rates on the API page, which may change for future purchases. Credits are not money, are not refundable except where the law requires, are not transferable, and expire 24 months after purchase. Payments are processed by Stripe on our behalf. We may suspend or revoke a key, without refund, if it is used in breach of these terms. A key is shown once at purchase; keep it secret, and tell us at once if it is exposed.

8. Termination and changes

We may change, suspend or end any part of the service at any time. We may change these terms; the version in force is the one on this page, and continuing to use the service after a change means you accept it. Sections 3 to 6 and 9 survive any ending of your use.

9. General

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of North Carolina, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules, and any dispute will be decided by the state or federal courts located in North Carolina, to whose jurisdiction you consent. If any part of these terms is unenforceable, the rest remains in force. Not enforcing a term is not a waiver of it. These terms are the whole agreement between you and County Desk about the service.

Questions: records@countydesk.org.