Service and supported market
These Website Chat Terms supplement the ARC Terms of Service and EULA when a business enables Website Chat. The initial supported market is businesses based in the United States; visitors may connect from any country. The business must assess the laws that apply to its visitors and use. These terms do not provide a general certification of privacy, AI, or international data-transfer compliance. The data-processing addendum governs ARC’s processing of personal information for the business.
Hosted conversations and staff access
Messages travel through ARC Cloud and are stored there so authorized staff can read history and reply. The business controls allowed website origins, authorized responders, greetings, knowledge, hours, and optional AI. Staff can join when local ARC is connected and the configured staff hours permit. AI may continue outside staff hours or while local ARC is disconnected if enabled. Availability depends on ARC Cloud, network connections, the configured AI provider, and the selected options; no particular response time or uninterrupted service is promised.
Notices and appropriate use
Before collecting messages, provide an accessible privacy notice identifying your business, hosted chat processing, the use of AI when enabled, and how visitors can contact you or exercise privacy rights. Obtain consent when required and respect withdrawal and other applicable choices. Authorize staff access appropriately. Do not collect payment-card details, passwords, government identifiers, health information, or other sensitive data through the widget, or knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Website Chat is not an emergency channel.
Optional AI and your provider account
You supply and control the selected OpenAI or Anthropic API key. ARC sends the selected conversation and page context, business knowledge, and instructions needed to generate replies using that account. Provider fees are your responsibility. Keep supplied facts and instructions current, review automated replies as appropriate, and provide a way to contact your team. AI can produce inaccurate or unsuitable answers and does not replace your judgment. Do not opt Website Chat content into optional provider model-training or data-sharing programs. Using your own key does not remove ARC’s responsibilities for its handling of the data. Selecting a saved ARC integration for Website Chat authorizes ARC Cloud to retain an encrypted copy of that integration’s key for this service, including while local ARC is offline. Key changes synchronize when local ARC can connect to Cloud; a pending removal does not yet remove the Cloud copy.
The selected provider processes these requests under the business’s provider account and applicable provider terms. OpenAI’s data controls and Anthropic’s API retention documentation describe account-dependent processing and retention. ARC does not promise zero provider retention or that an ARC deletion request erases records independently retained by the provider.
Retention, exports, and deletion
The deployment retention period defaults to 30 days from creation of a conversation, including an active conversation. ARC’s deployment setting is bounded from 1 to 90 days and is not a per-business setting. Closing a conversation, inactivity closing, or disabling chat does not itself delete its records. Settings, business knowledge, and the encrypted provider key remain until deleted. Contact [email protected] to confirm the current period or request an export or deletion as a verified business administrator. Ask for deletion of the entire Website Chat configuration if you also want its settings and credentials removed.
Exports you download and copies held by your staff, visitors, or connected provider are outside ARC’s conversation retention control. ARC will identify applicable legal-retention exceptions or operational backup limitations when responding to a request. Do not use chat as your only archive of business records.
Providers and connected services
Railway: hosts ARC Cloud’s Website Chat service and persistent conversation database, including delivery of the widget and its fonts. OpenAI or Anthropic, as selected: processes optional AI requests using the business’s provider account. Website Chat uses Railway’s public networking and does not use Cloudflare Turnstile. Other ARC features may use different providers under their own terms.
Infrastructure and AI providers may process information in more than one country. A United States deployment does not guarantee that every provider operation, support activity, or backup stays in the United States. The business is responsible for assessing its visitor obligations and connected-provider arrangements. Contact support for current provider information. ARC will update this notice when it appoints or changes a provider materially involved in hosted Website Chat personal-information processing and will give any additional notice required by law or contract.
Privacy roles and contact
Visitors should direct conversation and privacy requests to the business operating the website. ARC assists verified business administrators under the data-processing addendum. ARC’s Privacy Policy also explains its own account, security, and support processing. Service questions may be sent to [email protected].