Terms & Conditions
Effective date: 15 May 2026
These supplementary terms govern your use of our software, including Concepticon and any future products in the Thinking Tools Software suite. They apply alongside the purchase terms of our merchant of record, Lemon Squeezy, who handles your purchase contract directly. Where these supplementary terms and Lemon Squeezy's terms cover the same subject, Lemon Squeezy's terms take precedence for the purchase contract itself; these supplementary terms govern your use of our software once installed.
By installing or using any product published by Thinking Tools Software, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not install or use our software.
1. Who we are
Thinking Tools Software is an indie software business based in Australia. "We", "us", and "our" mean Thinking Tools Software in this document. "You" means the person or organisation using the software. You can reach us at hello@thinkingtools.software.
2. License to use the software
When you obtain a paid license through Lemon Squeezy, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to install and use the software product covered by that license, on the devices and under the terms specified in your purchase, for as long as your license remains active. If your license is a recurring subscription, active means your subscription is in good standing through the current billing period; if your license is a perpetual license, active means it has not been terminated for breach of these terms.
Where a product ships with a free mode, that free mode is available to anyone without a paid license, with a reduced feature set as described on the relevant product page. Currently, Concepticon ships with a free mode. You may use any free mode under these same terms.
You may not: redistribute our software as your own product; remove or circumvent the license-validation mechanism; resell or sublicense our software outside its installed form; or use our software in a way that violates applicable law. You may freely share the files and artefacts you create with our software, including with people who have only the free mode of the relevant product.
3. License activation
Our software validates paid licenses against Lemon Squeezy's license-validation endpoint when you activate or use it. Validation checks your license key against Lemon Squeezy's records and confirms it is active. The activated license is stored encrypted on your device. A short offline grace period lets our software continue to work if validation cannot reach the network temporarily.
You may deactivate a license from one device and activate it on another through the application's licence panel.
4. Free modes
Where a product ships with a free mode, the free mode is governed by these same terms. The features available in a free mode are described on the relevant product page; for example, Concepticon's free mode allows you to view, navigate, import, and explore concept maps; to use AI-assisted features with your own API key (see section 5); and to share files with others. We do not undertake to keep specific features in any free mode forever — we may move features between free and paid in future versions, with reasonable notice on our marketing site.
If you cancel a paid license, you continue to have full use of the free mode where one exists for that product, and your existing files remain fully readable in any version of the software you used to create them and (where the file format is plain text) in any plain-text editor.
5. AI-assisted features and third-party services
Where our software offers AI-assisted features, those features call third-party AI APIs directly from your machine, using an API key you provide. The specific provider list for each product is described on its product page; for Concepticon at the time of writing, supported providers include OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama, and LM Studio. We do not perform AI inference ourselves. When you use these features, you are using a third-party service under that provider's own terms; you are responsible for complying with those terms and for any fees the provider charges you for your usage. We have no visibility into the content of your prompts or the responses you receive.
You may choose not to use AI features at all by leaving the API key blank. The AI features will remain dormant.
6. Your files and your data
The files you create with our software are yours. We do not claim ownership of your content, do not store it on our servers (we have no such servers in your content path), and do not collect or analyse it. We will never sell, share, or use your content for our own purposes.
Our software uses plain-text or other open file formats wherever practical. Where the file format is plain text, you can read and edit your files in any text editor, version-control them, back them up how you choose, and migrate them away from our software at any time without our involvement.
7. Software updates
We may release updates to our software — bug fixes, new features, security improvements, or other changes. Our products check for updates against our release infrastructure and notify you when one is available; updates are not installed automatically without your consent. We may, from time to time, require an update to maintain compatibility with Lemon Squeezy's license-validation endpoint or with third-party AI providers; we will give reasonable notice of such requirements.
8. Refunds
Refund processing is handled by Lemon Squeezy under their merchant terms. As a small business that wants you to be a happy customer rather than a stuck one, our supplementary refund posture is straightforward:
- If our software doesn't work as described — for example, it fails to launch, the license-validation cycle is broken, or a feature promised in our marketing copy is missing — write to us at hello@thinkingtools.software describing the issue. We will work to resolve it; if we cannot, we will support a refund through Lemon Squeezy.
- For recurring subscriptions, you can cancel at any time from your Lemon Squeezy billing portal. Cancellation stops future renewals; the current billing period continues to run.
- For perpetual (one-time-purchase) licenses, where applicable, we offer a fourteen-day refund period from the date of purchase for any reason, processed through Lemon Squeezy.
Refund eligibility ultimately depends on Lemon Squeezy's policies as the merchant of record; if there is any conflict, please contact us first and we will help arrange the refund.
9. Affiliates
If you participate in our affiliate programme (managed within Lemon Squeezy at twenty-five percent recurring commission, ninety-day attribution cookie, monthly payout), the programme's mechanics and your obligations as an affiliate are governed by Lemon Squeezy's affiliate terms together with these supplementary terms. You may not make false claims about our products, spam recipients, or use the affiliate programme to bid on our brand keywords in paid advertising without our written consent.
10. Provided as is
We provide our software with care, but we provide it as is and without warranties beyond those that cannot be excluded under applicable consumer-protection law. We do not warrant that our software will be free of bugs or that it will meet every specific requirement you have. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, our liability to you for any claim arising out of these terms or your use of our software is limited to the amount you have paid us for any license to our software in the twelve months before the claim arose.
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits any consumer right that cannot be excluded or limited by law in your jurisdiction.
11. Termination
You may terminate your use of our software at any time by uninstalling it and, if you hold a recurring license, cancelling through your Lemon Squeezy billing portal. Your local files remain yours and remain fully readable.
We may terminate your license if you materially breach these terms — for example, by attempting to circumvent the license-validation mechanism, or by redistributing our software as your own product. We will give reasonable notice except where the breach is grave enough that immediate termination is necessary.
12. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia. Any dispute that cannot be resolved by good-faith discussion will be heard in the courts of Victoria, Australia, except where applicable law in your jurisdiction grants you the right to bring proceedings in the courts of your own jurisdiction.
13. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms from time to time — for example, when we add features that need new clauses, or when our merchant or infrastructure arrangements change. The effective date at the top of the page will reflect the most recent revision. Material changes will be summarised at the top of the page for at least sixty days after they take effect. Your continued use of our software after a change takes effect constitutes your acceptance of the updated terms.
14. Contact
For any question about these terms, write to hello@thinkingtools.software.
Thinking Tools Software, Australia.