Terms of Use

Last updated August 21, 2026

The service

On the Books provides plain-language summaries of, search over, and question-answering about municipal codes, drawn from each town's official published code and cited by chapter and section. It's a reference tool, offered as-is and as-available.

Not legal advice

Nothing on this site is legal advice, and using it doesn't create an attorney-client relationship. Answers are generated with AI from the published code text and can be incomplete, out of date, or wrong. Codes are amended; towns differ in how quickly published text reflects amendments. For any decision that matters — building, buying, disputing a ticket, anything with money or rights attached — verify the cited section at the official source and consult your town clerk or a licensed attorney.

The Town Hall Pass

A Town Hall Pass is a personal license to use unlimited questions and library-wide search for one year from purchase, for $5. It lives as a token in the browser you bought it in and isn't an account; it's for your personal use, not for resale, automated querying, or bulk extraction. Payments are processed by Stripe.

Refunds

If the pass didn't work as described, reply to your Stripe purchase receipt within 14 days of purchase and we'll make it right.

Fair use of the service

Don't abuse the service: no scraping the answer engine, no automated bulk queries, no attempts to disrupt it. We may rate-limit or block abusive traffic. The underlying municipal codes are public law; our summaries, structure, and interface are ours.

Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, On the Books is not liable for losses arising from use of the service, and our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid us in the past twelve months.

Changes

We may update these terms; the date above reflects the current version. Continued use after a change means acceptance.