Terms of Service

Last updated: 17/05/2026

Effective from: 17/05/2026

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the Techne Skills marketplace, the techneskills.ai website, the Techne Skills command-line interface ("CLI"), and any related services (collectively, the "Service"). By creating an account, browsing the marketplace, purchasing a Skill, or submitting a Skill for sale, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

If you do not agree to these Terms, you must not access or use the Service.

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1. About These Terms

1.1 Who we are

The Service is operated by Techne Skills (referred to as "Techne", "we", "us", or "our"). Techne Skills currently trades as a sole-trader operation in the United Kingdom. We can be contacted at hello@techneskills.ai.

1.2 What these Terms cover

These Terms cover three categories of user:

• Buyers — individuals or organisations who purchase Skills through the marketplace
• Creators — individuals who submit Skills for sale through the marketplace
• Founding Creators — Creators who have been admitted to our Founding Creator Programme, which carries additional terms set out in Section 7

Some users may be both Buyers and Creators. Each role is governed by the corresponding section of these Terms.

1.3 Acceptance

You accept these Terms when you create an account or, where applicable, when you click an acceptance control on the website (for example, a checkbox during sign-up or checkout). If you continue to use the Service after we publish updated Terms, you are deemed to have accepted those updated Terms in accordance with Section 12.

1.4 Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old to use the Service. By accepting these Terms, you confirm that you are at least 18 and have the legal capacity to enter into a binding agreement.

If you are using the Service on behalf of an organisation, you confirm that you have authority to bind that organisation to these Terms, and references to "you" mean both you and that organisation.

1.5 Your account

You are responsible for keeping your account credentials secure and for all activity that occurs under your account. You must notify us promptly at hello@techneskills.ai if you suspect unauthorised access.

You may not share your account credentials with any other person. Each Buyer must hold their own account; team and site licences (Section 5.3) allow multiple users to access purchased Skills under specific terms, but they do not permit account sharing.

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2. Definitions

In these Terms:

• "Skill" means a packaged set of instructions, prompts, configuration files, and supporting assets, distributed as a ZIP archive, intended for use with an AI coding agent.
• "Listing" means a Skill as published on the Techne Skills marketplace, together with its title, description, pricing, and other metadata supplied by the Creator.
• "Purchase" means a transaction in which a Buyer pays for a Licence to a Skill.
• "Licence" means the right to install and use a Skill on the terms set out in Section 5, in accordance with the specific tier purchased.
• "Licence Tier" means one of the three licence types defined in Section 5.3 (Personal, Team, Site).
• "Payout" means a transfer of funds from Techne to a Creator's Stripe Connect account in respect of Creator earnings.
• "Sale Proceeds" means the gross amount paid by a Buyer for a Purchase, before any deductions.
• "Creator earnings" means the amount payable to the Creator in respect of a Purchase, calculated in accordance with Section 6.9.
• "Founding Creator" has the meaning given in Section 7.

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3. Your Account

3.1 Account creation

You may create an account by signing up via the techneskills.ai website. You must provide accurate, current information and keep it up to date.

3.2 Security of credentials

You are solely responsible for the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity that takes place under your account. We are not liable for any loss arising from your failure to keep your credentials secure.

3.3 Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate your account, with or without notice, if we reasonably believe that you have:

• Breached these Terms
• Engaged in fraudulent activity
• Submitted a chargeback or payment dispute that we determine to be unjustified
• Distributed, redistributed, or made available outside the scope of your Licence any Skill purchased through the Service (see Section 8)
• Submitted content that violates Section 6 (if you are a Creator)
• Caused or threatened harm to other users, the Service, or third parties

We may also terminate your account if the Service is discontinued or if we cease to operate the marketplace.

On termination, your right to access purchased Skills ends immediately. Your data may be retained for the period set out in our Privacy Policy.

3.4 Appeal procedure

If your account is suspended or terminated, you may submit a single written appeal to hello@techneskills.ai within 30 days of the action. We will review the appeal and respond within 14 days. Our decision following appeal is final.

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4. Acceptable Use

You must not:

• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose, or in violation of any applicable law or regulation
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code from the Service (other than your own purchased Skills, which you may inspect for your own use)
• Bypass, disable, or attempt to bypass any access control, authentication mechanism, watermark, fingerprint, rate limit, or technical protection used by the Service
• Use automated tools (scrapers, bots) to access the Service except for documented public APIs and published RSS or sitemap endpoints
• Interfere with the operation of the Service, including by submitting malicious code, denial-of-service attempts, or excessive automated traffic
• Impersonate any other person or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity
• Use the Service to harass, threaten, defame, or harm any other person

We may remove content, suspend accounts, and pursue legal remedies for any breach of this Section 4.

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5. Buyer Terms

This Section 5 applies to your use of the Service as a Buyer.

5.1 Purchases

When you purchase a Skill, you pay the price displayed on the Listing at the time of Purchase. Prices are displayed in pounds sterling (GBP) and are inclusive of any applicable VAT.

Payment is processed via Stripe. By submitting payment, you authorise us (and our payment processor) to charge the payment method you provide. We may decline a transaction at our discretion.

5.2 Licence grant

On successful Purchase, the Creator grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable Licence to install and use the Skill on the terms of the Licence Tier you purchased.

The Licence remains in effect for the lifetime of your account, subject to these Terms. Termination of your account ends your Licence.

5.3 Licence Tiers

We offer the following Licence Tiers:

Personal Licence

• One natural person may install and use the Skill
• The Skill may be installed on any device used personally by that individual
• The Skill may not be used by any other person, including colleagues, contractors, or members of the same household

Team Licence (3 / 5 / 10 / 25 seats)

• The Skill may be used by the specified number of named individuals within a single organisation
• Each named individual must hold a Techne Skills account
• Seats are not transferable between individuals within a single billing period without our consent

Site Licence

• The Skill may be used by any individual within a single legal entity ("the Licensee Company")
• The Licensee Company means the single registered legal entity that purchased the Licence; it does not extend to parent companies, subsidiaries, or affiliates unless explicitly purchased
• Use is permitted only by individuals who are employees, contractors, or directors of the Licensee Company

The specific number of seats and the definition of "Licensee Company" are confirmed at checkout and recorded in your Purchase record.

5.4 No transfer or resale

Licences are personal to you (or to your organisation in the case of Team and Site Licences). You may not transfer, sell, sublicence, lend, lease, or otherwise make a Licence available to any other person.

You may not extract Skills from your installed environment and redistribute them, whether for payment or for free.

5.5 Refunds

Skills are digital content delivered immediately on Purchase. At checkout, you will be asked to consent to the immediate supply of the digital content and to acknowledge that, by consenting, you waive your right to cancel under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 once the download has begun.

Once a Skill has been downloaded, the Purchase is final.

We will, at our sole discretion, consider refunds, replacements, or credit in the following circumstances:

• The Skill is materially broken — it does not install or run as described, despite reasonable steps by the Buyer
• The Skill is materially misrepresented — the Listing does not accurately describe what the Skill does or how it should be used
• The Skill has been removed from the marketplace shortly after your Purchase for reasons of policy violation, infringement, or material defect

To request a discretionary refund, email hello@techneskills.ai within a reasonable time of Purchase. Each case is reviewed individually. We will not offer refunds where you have changed your mind, where you find a similar Skill elsewhere, or where you have downloaded a Skill but elected not to use it.

5.6 Prohibited use of Skills

You must not use any purchased Skill for any unlawful purpose, in connection with any activity prohibited by Section 4, or in any manner inconsistent with the Licence Tier you purchased.

You are responsible for compliance with any third-party terms of service applicable to the AI agent or tools you use the Skill with.

5.7 Loss of access on account closure

If your account is terminated by you or by us, you lose access to purchased Skills. Skills you have already extracted from the Service to your local device may continue to function within the scope of your Licence at the time of termination, but you receive no further support, updates, or replacement downloads.

We are not obliged to provide a final download of purchased Skills following account termination.

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6. Creator Terms

This Section 6 applies to your use of the Service as a Creator.

6.1 Eligibility to sell

To list Skills for sale, you must:

• Hold a Techne Skills account in good standing
• Have completed Stripe Connect onboarding through our partner integration
• Have agreed to these Terms, including this Section 6

We may decline to allow you to sell at our discretion, for example if you cannot complete identity verification through Stripe.

6.2 Submission and review

When you submit a Listing, we review it before publication. Review may involve checks for technical correctness, accuracy of description, content rules (Section 6.4), quality, and conformance with these Terms.

We may, at our discretion:

• Approve the Listing for publication
• Request changes before approval
• Reject the Listing with reasons

Approval is not an endorsement of the Skill, a warranty of merchantability or fitness for purpose, or a certification of safety. You remain responsible for the Skill you submit.

6.3 Content requirements

Every Skill you submit must:

• Be packaged as a single ZIP archive
• Contain a file named SKILL.md at the root of the archive
• Be accompanied by an accurate Listing description, title, and pricing
• Comply with all applicable laws and the prohibitions in Section 6.4
• Not violate the intellectual property or other rights of any third party

You must promptly update Listings if information becomes inaccurate.

6.4 Prohibited content

You must not submit any Skill that:

• Contains malicious code, including malware, backdoors, code intended to exfiltrate data, or code that operates outside the documented scope of the Skill
• Infringes any third party's copyright, trademark, patent, or other intellectual property right
• Contains personally identifiable information about third parties, or secrets such as API keys, credentials, or private keys
• Is designed to scrape, attack, or otherwise interact in an unauthorised way with any third-party service
• Is designed to facilitate violations of the terms of service of any AI agent or third-party API on which the Skill depends
• Is designed to bypass safety guardrails or content filters of any AI model or system
• Contains sexual, sexually suggestive, or adult content
• Constitutes gambling activity, a gambling product, or facilitates gambling
• Constitutes financial advice or investment advice, or operates as a financial product
• Constitutes medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment
• Promotes violence, discrimination, or unlawful activity

For the avoidance of doubt: Skills designed to assist with code, writing, productivity, technical work, or general-purpose tasks for users who are professionals in regulated industries (such as healthcare or finance) are permitted, provided the Skill itself does not give regulated advice.

6.5 Quality requirements

We may reject or remove a Listing where it:

• Fails to install or run as described on its declared compatible agent(s)
• Contains misleading or inaccurate descriptions
• Contains examples or "example prompts" that are broken, irrelevant, or do not produce the stated outcome
• Falls materially below the quality standards we apply to the marketplace

6.6 Repeat violations

We operate the following enforcement framework for violations of Sections 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5:

• First violation (non-malicious): written warning and removal of the offending Listing
• Second violation (non-malicious): temporary suspension of selling privileges
• Third violation, or any violation involving malicious code or wilful infringement: permanent termination of selling privileges

We retain discretion to apply more severe action where the violation is serious, repeated within a short period, or causes harm to other users.

6.7 Compliance with third-party terms

If your Skill depends on or interacts with any third-party API, tool, or service (for example, Stripe CLI, the OpenAI API, the Anthropic API, a database, or a cloud provider), you warrant that:

• Your Skill complies with the terms of service of those third parties
• Your Skill does not encourage or enable Buyers to violate those terms
• You will update or withdraw the Skill if those third-party terms change in a way that renders the Skill non-compliant

6.8 Intellectual property — ownership and licence to us

You retain ownership of the intellectual property in any Skill you submit.

You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to:

• Host, store, and display your Skill on the marketplace
• Process, repackage, and modify your Skill solely to deliver it to Buyers in accordance with our delivery mechanism (including, without limitation, the insertion of watermarks, fingerprints, or licence metadata)
• Sublicence the Skill to Buyers under the Licence Tier they purchase, on the terms set out in Section 5
• Use your Listing content (title, description, screenshots, captions, demo videos) to market the marketplace, including in promotional materials and on third-party platforms

This licence terminates when your Listing is withdrawn from the marketplace, except that:

• Licences already granted to Buyers prior to withdrawal remain in effect indefinitely
• We may retain copies of withdrawn Skills for compliance, audit, and dispute-resolution purposes

6.9 Revenue share

For each Purchase of your Skill, we calculate the Creator earnings as follows:

• Sale Proceeds = the gross amount paid by the Buyer.
• Platform fee = 15% of Sale Proceeds for standard Creators, or 10% of Sale Proceeds for Founding Creators (see Section 7).
• Payment-processor fees = the fees charged by our payment processor, Stripe. At the time of these Terms, these comprise:
  • A card-processing fee of approximately 3.25% of Sale Proceeds plus £0.20 per transaction (Stripe's standard international card rate). For payments made on cards denominated in a currency other than pounds sterling, an additional currency-conversion surcharge of approximately 2% may apply.
  • A payout fee of approximately 0.25% of the transferred amount plus £0.10 per transfer to your Stripe Connect account.
• Creator earnings = Sale Proceeds minus Platform fee minus Payment-processor fees.

Two worked examples:

Example A — a £10.00 Purchase from a standard Creator:

Example B — a £19.00 Purchase from a Founding Creator:

The Stripe fee rates quoted above are Stripe's published rates at the time these Terms were last updated. They may change in line with Stripe's actual fee schedule from time to time, and Creator earnings will reflect the rates Stripe charges at the time of each transaction.

We may from time to time absorb processor fees, run promotions that vary the Platform fee for specific Purchases, or adjust the Platform fee. Any permanent change to the standard Platform fee applies only to Purchases made after the change becomes effective. We will notify Creators of permanent changes via email and in their Creator dashboard.

6.10 Minimum Listing price

The minimum permitted Listing price is £5.00 GBP. Listings priced below this minimum will be rejected.

The minimum price reflects the realities of payment-processor fees on low-value transactions and protects Creators from disproportionately low effective revenue shares at sub-£5 price points.

6.11 Payouts

We hold Sale Proceeds on your behalf until they become eligible for Payout. The eligibility rules are:

• Hold period: 30 days from the date of the Purchase. During the hold period, the funds appear in your dashboard as "Pending".
• Minimum threshold: £50.00 GBP. Funds become eligible for Payout once your accumulated eligible balance reaches the minimum threshold.
• Frequency: Payouts are processed on a rolling basis once funds become eligible and the minimum threshold is met. We do not commit to a specific payout day or interval.
• Method: Payouts are made via Stripe Connect to the bank account associated with your Stripe Connect profile.

We may review and adjust the hold period and minimum threshold from time to time. Any change applies only to Purchases made after the change becomes effective.

6.12 Refund reconciliation

If a Buyer is granted a refund for a Skill prior to the funds becoming eligible for Payout, the refunded amount is deducted from your pending balance. If a Buyer is granted a refund after the funds have been paid out, the refunded amount is deducted from your next eligible Payout, or recovered from your Stripe Connect account if no future Payout is anticipated.

We will not reverse a Creator Payout in respect of a Purchase where the Buyer is found to have redistributed the Skill in breach of these Terms (see Section 8).

6.13 Listing removal

You may not unilaterally remove your own Listing from the marketplace. To remove a Listing, you must request removal via the Creator dashboard or by emailing hello@techneskills.ai. We will review the request and, in the absence of any compliance, dispute, or technical issue, approve the removal.

On removal:

• The Listing ceases to be visible on the marketplace
• New Purchases are not possible
• Existing Buyers retain their Licences and continue to have access to the Skill within the scope of their Licence
• Any pending Payouts for prior Purchases remain payable to you on schedule

6.14 Tax

You are solely responsible for any tax obligations arising from your sales through the Service, including but not limited to income tax, VAT, sales tax, and self-assessment. We do not provide tax advice and do not withhold taxes from Payouts (other than where required by applicable law).

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7. Founding Creator Programme

7.1 What it is

The Founding Creator Programme is a limited-capacity programme that admits Creators who help launch the marketplace and contribute to its early growth.

7.2 Application and admission

Membership is by application, reviewed by us. We assess applications against criteria including (but not limited to) the quality of the applicant's prior work, the relevance of their proposed Listings, and the capacity of the Programme.

We may approve or reject applications at our discretion. Approval is not transferable.

7.3 Benefits

Founding Creators receive:

• Lower Platform fee: 10% of Sale Proceeds, in place of the standard 15%. All other deductions described in Section 6.9 (Stripe payment-processing and Connect payout fees) apply unchanged.
• Founding Creator badge displayed on the Creator's profile and Listings
• Featured placement on the marketplace, at our reasonable discretion
• Direct contact line to the marketplace operator for support, feedback, and escalation

The Founding Creator revenue share applies to all Purchases of the Founding Creator's Skills made while their Founding Creator status is active.

7.4 Programme capacity

The Programme is currently capped at 100 active Founding Creator places. We may increase the cap in the future at our discretion. Once the cap is reached and the Programme closes, the Founding Creator status remains a historical marker for those admitted.

7.5 Duration and revocation

Founding Creator status is granted indefinitely, subject only to revocation for breach of these Terms. We will not revoke Founding Creator status for inactivity alone.

Where revocation is appropriate, we will give you written notice and a single opportunity to remedy the breach (where remediable) before revoking status.

On revocation:

• Your Platform fee reverts to the standard 15% for Purchases made after the date of revocation
• Founding Creator badging is removed from your profile and Listings
• All other terms of these Terms continue to apply

7.6 Relationship to general Creator Terms

Founding Creators are subject to all the general Creator Terms in Section 6, except where this Section 7 expressly modifies them.

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8. Anti-Piracy and Enforcement

8.1 Traceability

Every Skill delivered through the Service contains traceable identifiers that tie each download to the purchasing account and the device that initiated the download. These identifiers are retained for the duration of the relevant Licence. We do not publish the technical details of this system.

8.2 Prohibited redistribution

You must not, without our prior written consent:

• Make any purchased Skill available to any person who has not purchased a separate Licence for it (other than within the scope of your Licence Tier, in the case of Team and Site Licences)
• Upload, post, publish, share, or otherwise distribute any purchased Skill to any public or private platform, repository, file-sharing service, or messaging channel
• Resell, sublicence, or transfer any purchased Skill
• Strip, modify, or otherwise tamper with the traceable identifiers embedded in a purchased Skill

8.3 Reporting unauthorised redistribution

Creators or Buyers who become aware of unauthorised redistribution of a Skill may report it by emailing hello@techneskills.ai with a description of the suspected redistribution and any supporting evidence.

We commit to acknowledging reports within 2 business days and to taking initial investigative action within 5 business days of receipt.

8.4 Enforcement actions

Where we conclude on the balance of probabilities that unauthorised redistribution has occurred, we may take any combination of the following actions:

• Issue a takedown notice to the platform hosting the redistributed material, on behalf of the Creator
• Suspend or terminate the redistributing Buyer's account (Section 3.3)
• Revoke other Licences held by the redistributing Buyer
• Cooperate with legal proceedings or regulatory investigations
• Pursue legal remedies on our own behalf, including injunctive relief and damages

We do not commit to undertaking active surveillance for redistribution. Our enforcement is primarily reactive, based on reports received from Creators, Buyers, or third parties, supplemented by audit data we maintain.

8.5 First and subsequent offences

For Buyers found to have engaged in unauthorised redistribution:

• First offence: suspension of the account; suspension may be lifted at our discretion if the Buyer cooperates with our investigation and agrees in writing not to repeat the behaviour
• Second or further offence: permanent termination of the account and revocation of all Licences held by the account

We reserve the right to apply more severe action (including immediate permanent termination on first offence) where the redistribution is wilful, large-scale, commercial, or causes material harm.

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9. Disputes

9.1 First-line resolution

If you have a complaint about the Service, please contact us at hello@techneskills.ai before initiating any formal dispute. We will respond within 14 days and will make a good-faith effort to resolve the matter.

9.2 Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

You agree that the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms or the Service. Nothing in this clause limits any statutory right you may have as a consumer to bring proceedings in your country of residence under applicable law.

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10. Liability

10.1 Nothing excluded

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability for:

• Death or personal injury caused by our negligence
• Fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation
• Any liability which cannot lawfully be excluded or limited under applicable law

10.2 Limitation of liability

Subject to Section 10.1, our total liability to you for any claim arising out of or in connection with these Terms or the Service, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), or otherwise, is limited to the greater of:

• £100; or
• The total fees paid by you to Techne Skills in the 12 months preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

10.3 Excluded losses

Subject to Section 10.1, we are not liable to you for:

• Any indirect, consequential, special, incidental, or punitive damages
• Any loss of profit, revenue, business, anticipated savings, goodwill, or data
• Any loss arising from any third-party Skill, service, or content (including but not limited to a Skill submitted by a Creator), regardless of how that loss arose

10.4 Marketplace, not contract counterparty for Skills

We operate a marketplace through which Creators sell Skills to Buyers. The contract for the supply of a specific Skill is between the Creator and the Buyer. Subject to Section 10.1, we are not a party to that contract and are not liable for the performance, quality, accuracy, or fitness for purpose of any Skill. The Buyer's remedy for a defective Skill is governed by Section 5.5.

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11. Indemnification

11.1 By Creators

You (as a Creator) will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Techne Skills, its operators, employees, and agents from and against all claims, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in connection with:

• Any claim that your Skill infringes the intellectual property or other rights of any third party
• Any breach by you of Section 6 (Creator Terms), including breach of Section 6.4 (Prohibited content)
• Any claim arising from a Skill that causes harm to a Buyer or any third party, except to the extent the claim is caused by our negligence or wilful misconduct

11.2 By Buyers

You (as a Buyer) will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Techne Skills, its operators, employees, and agents from and against all claims, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in connection with:

• Your use of any Skill in a manner not permitted by your Licence
• Your unauthorised redistribution of any Skill (Section 8)
• Any breach by you of Section 4 (Acceptable Use) or Section 5 (Buyer Terms)

11.3 Process

Where we seek indemnification under this Section 11, we will:

• Give the indemnifier prompt written notice of the claim
• Reasonably cooperate with the indemnifier in the defence of the claim
• Retain the right to participate in the defence at our own cost, including the right to instruct our own legal advisers

The indemnifier may not settle any claim in a way that imposes any obligation or admission on us without our prior written consent.

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12. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will:

• Update the "Last updated" and "Effective from" dates at the top of the document
• Maintain a version history accessible from the legal pages of the website
• Notify existing account-holders by email and by means of an in-product notification

The updated Terms apply to:

• All new Purchases and Listings made after the effective date
• Continued use of the Service by existing account-holders, who are deemed to have accepted the updated Terms by continuing to use the Service after the effective date

You will see a notice in your dashboard inviting you to review the updated Terms. You are encouraged to accept the updated Terms through the in-product control; doing so creates a clear record of your acceptance. If you continue to use the Service without accepting through the control, your continued use constitutes acceptance.

If you do not agree to the updated Terms, you must stop using the Service and may request deletion of your account.

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13. Contact

For any questions about these Terms, please contact us at:

hello@techneskills.ai