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Terms of Service

Effective July 4, 2026

The most important part: nothing you type is saved on our servers. Story Distiller has no user accounts and no database. Your queries are processed in memory to generate a summary and are never written to storage.

1. What Story Distiller is

Story Distiller is a free tool that generates AI-powered distillations of books and topics. When you enter a title, it is sent to an AI model (Anthropic's Claude) which produces an original summary — a thesis, framework, takeaways, and action plan. If you use the Listen feature, the summary text may also be sent to a text-to-speech provider (OpenAI) to generate narration.

Story Distiller also covers movies. When you enter a movie title, it is checked against a third-party movie database (OMDb) to confirm the title and pull basic facts (year, genre, plot summary), then sent to Claude to generate a spoiler-free pitch — premise, tone, themes, and comparable titles. If you've unlocked the paid Where to Watch feature and request it, the title is also checked against a streaming-availability provider (the Streaming Availability API, from Movie of the Night) to show real streaming, rental, and purchase options.

Summaries and movie pitches are AI-generated interpretations, not excerpts or reproductions of the underlying books or films. They may contain errors, omissions, or characterizations the author or filmmakers would dispute. They are provided for general information and education only, and are not a substitute for reading the book, watching the film, or for professional, medical, legal, or financial advice. Streaming availability is provided on a best-effort basis and may be inaccurate or out of date — always confirm on the streaming service itself before purchasing or renting.

2. Your data is not stored

To be explicit about how the service handles what you type:

No accounts, no database. There is nothing to sign up for and nowhere your queries are permanently recorded.
Transient processing only. Your query is forwarded to the AI provider solely to generate your summary, and results are held in short-lived server memory (up to 24 hours) so identical requests are faster. This cache is never written to disk and disappears automatically.
Your history stays in your browser. The "Recent" list on the home page is stored only in your own browser's local storage, on your device. We cannot see it, and you can erase it anytime by clearing your browser data.

For full details, see the Privacy page.

3. Acceptable use

Use the service lawfully and reasonably. Automated scraping, bulk querying, attempts to circumvent rate limits, or use of the service to generate content for unlawful purposes are not permitted. We may throttle or block traffic that degrades the service for others.

4. No warranty

The service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied — including accuracy, availability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. AI output can be wrong; verify anything you intend to rely on.

5. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Story Distiller and its creator shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, or special damages arising from your use of the service, or for decisions made in reliance on AI-generated content.

6. Changes

These terms may be updated from time to time; the effective date above will change when they are. Continued use of the service after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.

7. Contact

Questions about these terms? Reach out via the Feedback page.