These Terms of Service set the rules for using Blinkhop: the website at blinkhop.com, short links on zou.sh, the API at api.blinkhop.com and the MCP server at mcp.blinkhop.com. In these terms, “we” and “us” mean Blinkhop, and “you” means anyone who uses it.
1. Accepting these terms
By using Blinkhop, you agree to these terms and to our Acceptable Use Policy, which is part of them. Our Privacy Policy explains what data we collect and why. If you don’t agree, please don’t use Blinkhop.
If you use Blinkhop for an organization, you accept these terms on its behalf and confirm that you’re allowed to.
2. The service
Free use without an account
You can create short links on blinkhop.com, through the API or through the MCP server without an account or a key. Each link lives on zou.sh, comes with a QR code and has a public preview page: add + to any link, like https://zou.sh/launch+, to see where it goes. There are no ads.
Short links have no expiry date. They keep working unless they’re disabled under these terms or the service changes as described in section 7.
Good to know about links created without an account:
- They’re public. Anyone who has or guesses a short link can see its destination, creation date and total clicks.
- They aren’t tied to you. Shortening a URL that already has a link (without a custom ending) returns that same link to anyone, with its shared click count.
- You can’t edit or delete them yourself. If you need a link taken down, for example because it exposes private information, ask us through /contact and we’ll review the request.
- Custom endings are first come, first served. Some words are reserved, and we may disable an ending that’s misleading or infringes someone else’s rights.
Rate limits
To keep Blinkhop free and fair, we limit how fast anyone can create links. Without a key, the current limits per IP address are:
- website and API: 20 new links per minute and 300 per day (in a bulk request, each URL counts);
- MCP server: 120 calls per minute and 5,000 per day.
API responses include headers that show how many requests you have left. We may change these limits at any time.
Accounts and paid plans (early access)
Accounts and paid plans are in early access and not available yet. You can join the list on the pricing page and we’ll let you know when they open. Joining doesn’t create an account or commit you to pay, and announced features and prices may change before launch. When they launch, we’ll update these terms to cover them, including billing and cancellation.
3. Acceptable use
You must follow our Acceptable Use Policy and the laws that apply to you. In short: don’t use Blinkhop for phishing, malware, scams, spam, illegal content, harassment or impersonation, and don’t try to get around our limits or safety checks.
4. Your responsibility for links
You’re responsible for every link you create, including links your apps, scripts or AI agents create for you, and for how you share them. Only shorten URLs you have the right to share.
We don’t host, control or endorse the pages that short links point to. The owner of a page can change it at any time, even after it was shortened.
Don’t shorten URLs that contain personal information, passwords, access tokens or private sharing links. Short links are public, and the preview page shows the full destination.
You keep any rights you have in the URLs you submit. You allow us to store and check them, turn them into short links and QR codes, and show them on preview pages and in API and MCP responses, so that we can run the service.
5. Our right to disable links
We may disable any link, refuse to create one or block a destination, at any time and without notice, if we believe it breaks these terms or the Acceptable Use Policy, puts people at risk, or must be removed by law. Most often, that’s because the destination is on our phishing and malware blocklist, or because someone reported the link and we confirmed the problem.
A disabled link stops redirecting. Visitors see a “This link was disabled” page with HTTP status 410 instead. If you think we got it wrong, you can appeal through /contact, as explained in the Acceptable Use Policy.
6. Using the API and MCP server
The API and the MCP server are free to use without a key, within the rate limits. When you use them:
- Respect the limits. If you get a
429response, wait for the number of seconds in theRetry-Afterheader before trying again. - Don’t work around the limits by spreading requests over many IP addresses, machines or networks.
- Own what your software does. You’re responsible for the requests your app, script or AI agent sends, including on behalf of other people, as if you had made them yourself.
- Check what AI agents create. An assistant connected through MCP acts on your instructions. Review the links it makes before you share them.
We may change the API and the MCP server, including endpoints, tools, fields and limits. We post notable changes in the changelog.
7. Availability and changes to the service
We aim to keep Blinkhop fast and reliable, and you can check live status at /status. But unless we’ve signed a separate written agreement with you, such as an Enterprise agreement, we don’t promise that Blinkhop or any link will always be available, uninterrupted or error-free.
We may add, change or remove features, change limits, or suspend part or all of the service, for example for maintenance, security or legal reasons. We can’t guarantee that short links will keep working forever, for example if we ever have to stop running Blinkhop.
8. Intellectual property
The Blinkhop name, logo, website, software and documentation belong to us. These terms don’t give you any rights to them, except that:
- you can use the Blinkhop name and logo to refer to Blinkhop, for example to say that your app works with it, using the files and guidance on our brand page;
- you can’t use them in a way that suggests we sponsor, endorse or partner with you, or in a name, logo or domain that could be confused with ours.
You can freely use the short links and QR codes you create, on screen and in print. If you send us feedback or ideas, we may use them without any obligation to you.
9. Disclaimers
Blinkhop is provided “as is” and “as available”. To the fullest extent the law allows, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. In particular:
- Our safety checks reduce risk but can’t catch every harmful site. A link that passed them isn’t guaranteed to be safe.
- Click counts are estimates. We filter out bots and link previews, but no filter is perfect.
- We’re not responsible for the content, safety or availability of the sites that short links point to.
Some places don’t allow these disclaimers. If you live in one of them, they apply only as far as your local law allows.
10. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent the law allows, Blinkhop won’t be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data or goodwill, arising from your use of Blinkhop or your inability to use it.
To the fullest extent the law allows, our total liability for all claims relating to Blinkhop is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us for Blinkhop in the 12 months before the claim, or US$100.
These limits don’t apply where the law doesn’t allow them, for example to liability for fraud, gross negligence, willful misconduct, or death or personal injury caused by negligence. Nothing in these terms limits rights you have as a consumer that can’t be waived under the law that applies to you.
11. Termination
You can stop using Blinkhop at any time. Links you created keep working after you stop, unless they’re disabled under these terms.
We may suspend or end your access to all or part of Blinkhop if you break these terms or the Acceptable Use Policy, if your use puts the service or other people at risk, or if the law requires it. We can do this by refusing or blocking your requests and by disabling links you created.
Sections 4, 5, 8, 9 and 10 continue to apply after your use of Blinkhop ends.
12. Changes to these terms of service
We may update these terms from time to time. We’ll post the new version on this page, change its date, and mention significant changes in the changelog. The new version applies once it’s posted. If you keep using Blinkhop after that, you accept it. If you don’t agree, stop using Blinkhop.
13. Contact
Questions about these terms? Use the form on /contact. To report a harmful link, use /abuse or the “Report this link” form on the link’s + preview page. To report a security vulnerability, use /security. We don’t publish email addresses: every request goes through these forms.
