1. The short version
- These terms apply when you bind a node to your Gao ID. They add to the Terms of Service.
- You run your node independently, on your own infrastructure, at your own cost and risk.
- Your node makes and keeps its own key. Keep the computer it runs on secure.
- Your node sees some information about other people's traffic. Use it only to run the node.
- Running a node is unpaid. There is no token, reward, staking or payment of any kind.
2. Eligibility
You must be at least 18 years old, able to form a binding contract, and allowed by the laws that apply to you to run a node, including sanctions and export laws. If you run a node for an organization, you confirm that you may accept these terms for it.
3. You operate independently
You choose whether, where and how long to run a node. You are not our employee, agent, partner or contractor, and you may not act or speak for us. Gao does not run, manage or supervise your node.
You are responsible for your host: its hardware, operating system, network, domain name, TLS certificate, and the terms of your hosting, cloud or internet provider. You pay your own costs.
4. Your node and its key
When your node first starts, it makes its own key. The public half is its NodeID. The key never leaves the node, and nothing on our websites ever asks for it. Never copy, share or publish it. If you lose the key, you lose that NodeID; if someone else gets it, they can act as your node.
Run only the signed releases published for the network, and verify them as the installation guide describes. Releases are not updated automatically: keep your node up to date yourself.
5. Binding, admission and leases
Binding links your NodeID to your Gao ID. Your node signs the binding itself to prove it holds its key, and the node registry records your Gao ID as the owner. Bind only nodes you control, and keep the information your node reports accurate.
A serving node then joins the network by itself: no one approves it by hand. Joining requires a verified binding and a working HTTPS endpoint, and the network limits how many nodes are admitted at once. Admission and shard leases expire and must be renewed by the node. Admission is not guaranteed, and a lease is not a promise of traffic.
6. Information your node handles
Applications send data through serving nodes. What your node can see depends on the profile:
mailbox.v2andgroup-object.v1payloads are end-to-end encrypted by the application. You cannot read them.queue.v1payloads are protected only in transit to your node. You can read them.- For every profile, your node sees client IP addresses, timing, opaque recipient routes, opaque sender identifiers and delivery identifiers.
You may use this information only to operate your node. Do not inspect, log beyond what the node software does, keep, analyse, correlate, sell or disclose it, and do not try to identify the people behind it. Let the node delete deliveries when they are acknowledged or expire, and do not keep backups of mailbox.v2 data.
Your node publishes aggregate usage summaries on its public endpoint. Those summaries are public by design.
If you receive a legal demand about information on your node, you are responsible for responding to it under the law that applies to you. Tell us at legal@gao.global if it concerns the network as a whole.
7. Contribution nodes
Desktop, Android and Cloudflare nodes contribute by checking serving nodes from the outside (probe.v1). They open no public endpoint and carry no application data. Sections 2 to 5, 8 and 9 still apply to them.
8. No payment, token or reward
Running a node is voluntary and unpaid. Gao DePIN has no live token, reward, payment, staking, bonding or validator earning. The network may measure what nodes contribute. Those measurements create no right to any payment, token or reward. If an economic programme is ever offered, it will come with its own terms.
9. Software
The node software is distributed through the Gao developer site. Third-party components inside it are licensed by their authors under their own licenses, which the developer site lists.
10. Suspension, removal and stopping
You may stop your node at any time. Its records stay in the node registry, as the Privacy Policy explains.
We may refuse, suspend or end a node's admission, or remove its binding, if we reasonably believe that it breaks these terms or the Acceptable Use Policy, puts the network or its users at risk, or that the law requires it. Where it is reasonable and lawful, we will tell you why and give you a way to respond.
11. Disclaimers, liability and indemnity
The disclaimers and the limitation of liability in the Terms of Service apply to running a node. In particular, we are not responsible for costs, damage, data loss or claims that arise from your host, your provider or the traffic your node carries.
To the extent the law allows, you agree to cover us against claims brought by others, and the reasonable costs of dealing with them, that arise from your node, your host, or your breach of these terms.
12. Changes, law and contact
We may update these terms. The date they were last updated is shown at the top of this page, and the date they take effect will be shown there once they are published. Section 18 of the Terms of Service (governing law and disputes) applies.
Legal: legal@gao.global · Security: security@gao.global · Support: support@gao.global