API Terms of Use

The API provides programmatic, read-only access to Melvea's proprietary honey-discovery data, including variety profiles, provenance and terroir context, flavor and tasting data, scoring, and related editorial content that Melvea owns or is licensed to provide. The API Data does not include, and you obtain no rights to, any third-party product content, affiliate or referral links, pricing, or other third-party "program content," which are made available only through Melvea's consumer website under separate terms.

We may add, change, deprecate, rate-limit, or discontinue any part of the API or API Data at any time. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to provide notice of material breaking changes through the API documentation or developer communications.

Subject to your continuous compliance with these API Terms and payment of applicable fees, Melvea grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to call the API and to use the API Data solely to generate real-time responses, recommendations, and information for your own end users in your own product or agent. This is the only authorized use.

You will not, and will not permit any agent, end user, or third party to:

• use the API Data, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, to train, retrain, fine-tune, develop, improve, customize, evaluate, or benchmark any large language model, multimodal model, machine-learning model, or related technology;
• store, cache, or retain API Data beyond the limits stated in the API documentation, or build, populate, or supplement any database, index, or dataset that persists, reconstructs, or substitutes for the API Data;
• redistribute, resell, sublicense, syndicate, sell, rent, lease, or otherwise make the API Data available to any third party, except as the real-time output of your own product or agent serving its own end user;
• create or offer any product or service that competes with, replicates, or substitutes for the API or the Melvea catalog;
• access the API by any means other than the documented interface, including scraping, crawling, or harvesting Melvea properties outside the API;
• remove, obscure, or alter any attribution, source citation, or notice; or misrepresent the source, accuracy, or endorsement of the API Data;
• exceed published rate limits, circumvent access or usage controls, share credentials, or use the API to build a service bureau processing the data of parties other than your own end users;
• use the API in violation of any applicable law, sanctions regime, or third-party right.

Where you surface API Data to an end user, you will attribute Melvea as the source and, where reasonably possible, cite the canonical melvea.com URL for the underlying variety, producer, or content. You will not state or imply that Melvea endorses you, your product, or any third-party product.

Access to the API is usage-based. Fees, metering tiers, and any minimums are as published on Melvea's API pricing page or in an applicable order form, which are incorporated by reference. Fees may be settled in supported stablecoin (including USDC on the Base network via the x402 protocol) or by other payment instruments Melvea makes available, including card or stablecoin settlement processed through Stripe.

Charges accrue per call or per the applicable tier and are due on use. Consumed API calls are non-refundable except where required by law or where Melvea determines a charge was processed in error. We may change pricing prospectively with notice through the API documentation or developer communications; continued use after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance.

The API and API Data are provided "as is" and "as available." Melvea's data reflects flavor, provenance, and editorial assessments that are inherently subjective, change over time, and may contain errors or omissions. Melvea makes no representation or warranty that the API Data is accurate, complete, current, or fit for any particular purpose, and disclaims all warranties to the fullest extent permitted by law. You are solely responsible for evaluating the API Data and for any decision, recommendation, or transaction your product or agent makes in reliance on it. Melvea does not provide health, dietary, or medical advice, and the API Data must not be presented as such.

Free Access Tier. Melvea may make certain endpoints, including a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server and designated public directory endpoints, available at no charge ("Free Tier"). Subject to these Terms, Melvea grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access the Free Tier and to use the data it returns to provide responses to your end users, including via automated agents. The Free Tier is provided "as is" and "as available," without warranty of any kind, and Melvea may rate-limit, modify, suspend, or discontinue it, in whole or in part, at any time and without notice. All limitations, disclaimers, and restrictions in these Terms — including the no-warranty and no-medical-advice provisions and the prohibitions on misuse, scraping beyond the provided endpoints, and model training on the data — apply to the Free Tier in full. No payment creates no additional rights.

Request Logging. To operate, secure, monitor, rate-limit, debug, and improve the API and the Free Tier, Melvea logs technical metadata about requests, which may include the endpoint or tool called, the query or parameters submitted, the resolved location or region, the number of results returned, the request outcome, the user agent, the autonomous system number (ASN), an agent or client identifier, the time of the request, and a salted one-way hash of the originating IP address. Melvea does not store raw IP addresses. This metadata is technical in nature and is not intended to identify any natural person, and Melvea does not request or require end-user personal information to use the API. You must not transmit end users' personal information through the API, including within queries or parameters. Any data you submit may be logged as described above and retained for the purposes stated, and you are responsible for ensuring your use complies with applicable law and with these Terms.

As between the parties, Melvea owns all right, title, and interest in and to the API and the API Data, including all intellectual property rights. No rights are granted except the limited license in Section 2. Melvea may collect and use usage, performance, and aggregated or de-identified data relating to your use of the API to operate, secure, and improve the Service.

Melvea may suspend or terminate your access immediately, with or without notice, if you breach these API Terms, if your use poses a security, legal, or reputational risk, or for non-payment. On termination, the license in Section 2 ends, you must cease all use of the API and delete any retained API Data, and Sections 3, 6, 7, 9, and 10 survive.

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Melvea and its affiliates from any claim arising out of your use of the API or API Data, your product or agent, or your breach of these API Terms. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Melvea's aggregate liability arising out of or relating to the API will not exceed the greater of the fees you paid for the API in the three months preceding the claim or one hundred U.S. dollars, and Melvea will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or exemplary damages.

These API Terms are governed by, and disputes are resolved under, the governing-law, dispute-resolution, arbitration, and general provisions of the Melvea Terms of Service, which are incorporated by reference. We may modify these API Terms as described in the Terms of Service. Questions: hello@melvea.com.