Terms of Service

1. Identification and Purpose

Harlock Engineering ("Harlock", "we", "us", or "our") is a boutique software engineering and cloud systems lab specializing in high-performance web applications, distributed cloud infrastructures, system optimization, and autonomous AI agent systems.

By submitting an inquiry, booking a sprint, or subscribing to an engineering retainer, you ("the Client") unconditionally agree to be legally bound by these Terms of Service.

2. Scope of Services

Our services encompass, but are not limited to:

• Custom web platform and SaaS development utilizing modern stacks (Nuxt, Vue, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM).
• Cloud infrastructure design, migration, and DevOps automation (GCP, AWS).
• Integration and orchestration of autonomous AI agents and Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers.
• Security auditing, Core Web Vitals optimization, and ongoing preventative maintenance.

Each project, milestone, or sprint is governed by explicit technical specifications documented in writing or logged within our proprietary client portal, Arcadia.

3. Digital Delivery Policy

All deliverables generated under these terms represent intangible digital goods and professional technical services:

• Delivery Timelines: Sprints operate on bi-weekly cycles (14 calendar days) unless otherwise stipulated in writing.
• Delivery Methods: Source code, documentation, and releases are delivered via private version control repositories (GitHub/GitLab), container registries, or automated direct deployments to Client-designated staging/production cloud environments.
• Live Tracking: The Client maintains continuous access to Arcadia to review resolved issues, active pull requests, sprint velocity, and release notes in real time.

4. Pricing, Billing & Stripe Payment Processing

All service fees are denominated in United States Dollars (USD) unless explicitly agreed upon in a formal agreement:

• Payment Processing: All payments, recurring subscription retainers, and milestone invoices are processed securely via Stripe, Inc. Harlock does not store or process unencrypted credit card numbers or sensitive banking credentials on its servers.
• Monthly Retainers: Invoiced and billed on a recurring basis at the commencement of each monthly billing cycle.
• Sprint & Milestone Engagements: Require upfront settlement as defined in the project scope prior to the initiation of development work.

5. Intellectual Property & Ownership

Conditioned upon the full settlement of all corresponding fees and invoices, 100% of all intellectual property rights, copyrights, design tokens, and source code custom-developed for the Client shall be assigned and transferred exclusively to the Client.

6. Limitation of Liability

Harlock commits to industry-standard best practices in software architecture, static typing, and automated testing. In no event shall Harlock be held liable for indirect, consequential, or incidental damages resulting from third-party cloud outages or third-party payment gateway downtime.

7. Legal Inquiries

For contractual inquiries or formal legal notices, please reach us at: [email protected] or through our contact page.