API Terms

Effective Date: September 26, 2026

These API Terms (“API Terms”) are Exhibit C to the Terms of Service (“Agreement”) between Customer and Berkman LLC (“Berkman,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). They govern access to and use of the Lextree Customer API and the Lextree MCP server, as provided in Section 3.4 of the Agreement.

Capitalized terms not defined here have the meanings given in the Agreement.

If these API Terms conflict with the Agreement on a matter of API usage, these API Terms control. The applicable DPA and its incorporated transfer terms retain priority on personal data processing and mandatory rights. On all other matters, the Agreement governs.

1. Definitions

“API” means the Lextree Customer API served under /api/v1, the MCP Server, and any related endpoints, schemas, tools, and software Berkman makes available for programmatic access to the Platform, together with the API Documentation.

“API Documentation” means the reference material Berkman publishes for the API, including the interactive reference served with the API and the API sections of the Documentation.

“API Key” means a credential Berkman issues through the Platform that authenticates requests to the API on behalf of Customer’s Subscription.

“MCP Server” means the Model Context Protocol server Berkman makes available, whether hosted by Berkman or run by Customer from a Berkman-provided image, that exposes API endpoints as tools an AI assistant or other MCP-compatible client can call.

“Application” means any software, script, integration, AI assistant, or other client that Customer or a person acting for Customer uses to access the API.

2. Access and Eligibility

2.1 Plans

The API is available on the Subscription Plans identified in the Documentation. Berkman may change which Subscription Plans include the API, and on what terms, as described in Section 3.2 of the Agreement.

2.2 Who May Use the API

Customer may use the API only for the Subscription that issued the API Key. Customer may permit its Authorized Users and its contractors and service providers to use the API on Customer’s behalf, provided each is bound by written obligations at least as protective as the Agreement and these API Terms. Customer is responsible for their acts and omissions as if they were Customer’s own.

2.3 Read-Only Access

The API currently provides read-only access to Customer Data. Nothing in these API Terms obligates Berkman to provide write access, additional endpoints, or any particular feature. If Berkman adds capabilities in the future, these API Terms will apply to them unless Berkman publishes different terms for those capabilities.

3. API Keys

3.1 Issuance

Administrators of Customer’s Subscription create and revoke API Keys through the Platform. Berkman displays each API Key once, at creation. Berkman cannot retrieve a lost API Key; Customer must create a new one.

3.2 Scope of an API Key

An API Key is scoped to Customer’s entire Subscription, not to an individual person. It is not subject to the per-user access groups and permissions that apply to Authorized Users in the Platform. A request made with an API Key can read any Customer Data in every module enabled for Customer’s Subscription, including records that a particular Authorized User could not see in the application. Customer decides who holds an API Key and what Applications use it, and accepts that consequence.

3.3 Security of API Keys

API Keys are Berkman’s Confidential Information and Customer’s credential. Customer will:

(a) store API Keys securely and treat each API Key with the care Customer would give an administrator’s credentials;

(b) not publish API Keys, embed them in client-side or publicly distributed code, or share them with anyone other than persons permitted under Section 2.2;

(d) notify Berkman at team@lextree.ai promptly after discovering any unauthorized use of an API Key.

Customer is responsible for safeguarding its API Keys and activity conducted with them, including unauthorized use resulting from Customer’s failure to protect or revoke a key. This does not make Customer responsible to the extent an incident results from Berkman’s breach of the Agreement, negligence, or misconduct. Berkman may revoke or suspend an API Key without notice if Berkman reasonably believes it has been compromised or is being used in violation of the Agreement or these API Terms.

4. Permitted Use

Subject to the Agreement and these API Terms, Berkman grants Customer a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable right during the Subscription Term to access the API and develop and operate Applications for Customer’s permitted business purposes, including managing client records and compliance work under Section 3.3(d) of the Agreement, and:

(a) synchronizing, reporting on, or backing up Customer Data in Customer’s own systems;

(b) integrating Customer Data with other software Customer uses; and

Customer will use the API in accordance with the API Documentation.

5. Restrictions

Customer will not, and will not permit any person to:

(a) sell, resell, rent, lease, or otherwise make API access or API Keys available to third parties, or offer a service whose primary function is to provide access to the API or Customer Data retrieved through it to persons who are not Customer’s Authorized Users;

(b) use the API to build, train, or improve a product or service that competes with the Platform;

(c) circumvent or attempt to circumvent rate limits, concurrency limits, authentication, plan gating, or other technical restrictions, including by using multiple API Keys or Subscriptions to multiply Customer’s allowance;

(d) access or attempt to access data that does not belong to Customer’s Subscription, or probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of the API without Berkman’s prior written consent;

(e) interfere with or disrupt the API or the systems that serve it;

(f) remove, obscure, or alter any proprietary notices in the API or API Documentation;

(g) use the API in violation of applicable law, the Acceptable Use Policy, or the rights of any person; or

(h) misrepresent an Application’s identity or origin, or represent that Berkman sponsors or endorses an Application without Berkman’s written consent.

6. Rate Limits and Fair Use

Berkman applies rate limits, concurrency limits, and an abuse threshold to the API. The current limits and response headers are described in the API Documentation. Requests that exceed a limit may be queued briefly or rejected with a 429 Too Many Requests response and retry information as documented. Applications must honor rate-limit and retry signals and back off; repeated failure to do so is a violation of these API Terms.

All of Customer’s API Keys, and all traffic through the MCP Server, share one allowance per Subscription. Berkman may change the limits, or throttle or restrict Customer’s access, to protect the stability, security, or fair use of the Platform for all customers. Berkman will make reasonable efforts to publish changes to the limits in the API Documentation in advance.

7. MCP Server and AI Clients

7.1 What the MCP Server Does

The MCP Server is a forwarder: each tool call becomes a request to the API using Customer’s API Key, and it inherits the same authentication, Subscription scope, read-only guarantee, rate limits, and error contract. Customer may use the MCP Server hosted by Berkman or run the Berkman-provided image on Customer’s own infrastructure. If Customer runs it, Customer is responsible for that deployment’s security and configuration.

7.2 Customer’s AI Provider

When Customer connects an AI assistant or other client to the MCP Server, Customer Data returned by the API is delivered to that client and, through it, to whichever AI model provider the client uses. That transmission is Customer’s decision and Customer’s instruction. Berkman does not select, contract with, or control Customer’s AI provider, and that provider is not a Berkman Sub-Processor under the Data Processing Agreement. Customer is responsible for:

(a) choosing an AI provider whose terms, security, and data-handling practices satisfy Customer’s own legal and contractual obligations, including obligations to the individuals whose personal data is in Customer Data;

(b) any processing, retention, or training on Customer Data that the AI provider performs; and

Section 19.2(a) and (e) of the Agreement (Customer’s relationship with AI providers; no endorsement) apply to Customer’s AI provider under this Section as if it were an AI provider connected with Customer AI Keys.

The regional processing commitments for Lextree’s semantic-search service in Section 19.3 of the Agreement do not govern Customer’s independently selected external AI provider or prevent Customer from directing its chosen client to that provider. Berkman remains responsible for its own processing, security, and transmission under the Agreement and applicable DPA.

7.3 AI Outputs

Sections 19.4 (No Guarantee of Accuracy) and 19.5 (Human Review Required) of the Agreement apply to any output an AI assistant produces from Customer Data retrieved through the API. The API returns Customer Data as stored in the Platform; Berkman is not responsible for how an AI assistant summarizes, interprets, or acts on it.

8. Customer Data Retrieved Through the API

8.1 Ownership

Customer Data retrieved through the API remains Customer Data, owned by Customer under Section 4.1 of the Agreement.

8.2 Copies Outside the Platform

Customer is responsible for securing, retaining, and deleting copies retrieved by Customer or its independently chosen Applications or providers, including responding to relevant Data Subject requests. The Platform’s tools do not control those independent copies. Customer Data processed by Berkman or its Sub-Processors remains subject to the Agreement and applicable DPA, including when processed outside the application for hosting, support, backup, or other service functions.

8.3 File Downloads

File download routes in the API resolve to short-lived, presigned storage URLs. Customer will request files through the API’s download route each time rather than storing, embedding, or redistributing presigned URLs.

9. Changes to the API

9.1 Additive Changes

Berkman may add endpoints, fields, filters, tools, and other capabilities to the API at any time without notice. Applications should tolerate additional fields and values in responses.

9.2 Breaking Changes

Berkman will give at least ninety (90) days’ notice before making a change that would break an Application that follows the API Documentation — such as removing or renaming an endpoint or field, or changing an existing field’s type or meaning — by publishing the change in the API Documentation and notifying Customer’s Subscription administrators. Berkman may make a breaking change on shorter notice, or without notice, where required to address a security vulnerability, comply with law, or prevent harm to the Platform or its customers.

9.3 Beta and Preview Features

Any API endpoint, tool, or feature that Berkman labels beta, preview, experimental, or similar is a Beta Service under Section 18 of the Agreement. Section 9.2 does not apply to Beta Services.

9.4 Retirement

Berkman may retire the API or a version of it. Berkman will give at least ninety (90) days’ notice before retiring the API version Customer is using, unless Berkman offers a replacement version and a migration path in the API Documentation, in which case Berkman will give at least ninety (90) days’ notice from the date the replacement is generally available.

10. Availability, Monitoring, and Support

10.1 Availability

Berkman makes the API available on the same basis as the Platform. Berkman does not commit to any specific API uptime or response time under these API Terms. Berkman may suspend or limit API access as provided in Sections 6.6 and 10.3 of the Agreement, or temporarily for maintenance, security, or to address a fault.

10.2 Monitoring

Berkman monitors API usage — including request counts, rate-limit events, and errors — to operate, secure, and improve the API and to enforce the Agreement and these API Terms. Berkman may make usage information available to Customer’s Subscription administrators.

10.3 Support

Berkman provides support for the API as part of the support included in Customer’s Subscription Plan. Berkman does not provide support for Customer’s Applications, Customer’s AI provider, or third-party MCP clients.

11. Intellectual Property

Berkman and its licensors own the API, the API Documentation, and any software Berkman provides for use with the API, including all improvements. Section 11 of the Agreement applies. Customer owns its Applications and its Customer Data. If Customer provides feedback about the API, Section 11.3 of the Agreement applies to that feedback.

12. Disclaimers and Liability

THE API IS PROVIDED SUBJECT TO THE WARRANTIES, DISCLAIMERS, AND LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY IN SECTIONS 13 AND 14 OF THE AGREEMENT, WHICH APPLY TO THE API AS PART OF THE PLATFORM. WITHOUT LIMITING THOSE SECTIONS, BERKMAN DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE API WILL BE COMPATIBLE WITH ANY PARTICULAR APPLICATION, AI ASSISTANT, OR AI PROVIDER, OR THAT ANY OUTPUT AN AI ASSISTANT PRODUCES FROM CUSTOMER DATA WILL BE ACCURATE OR COMPLETE. Berkman’s total liability arising from the API is included in, and does not add to, the limits in Section 14 of the Agreement.

Customer’s indemnification obligations under Section 15.2 of the Agreement apply to third-party claims involving its Applications, independently selected AI providers, or retrieved Customer Data only to the extent caused by conduct covered by that Section. Its exclusions for Berkman’s breach, negligence, or misconduct and the limitations in Section 14 also apply.

13. Term, Suspension, and Termination

13.1 Term

These API Terms apply for as long as Customer has access to the API under the Agreement.

13.2 Suspension

Berkman may suspend Customer’s API access or specific API Keys if Berkman reasonably believes Customer or an Application is violating these API Terms, threatening the security or stability of the Platform, or using the API in a way that exposes Berkman to legal risk. Berkman will notify Customer and, where practicable, give Customer an opportunity to cure before suspending. Enforcement remains subject to Berkman’s express obligations under the Agreement and applicable DPA, and liability is governed by Section 14 of the Agreement.

13.3 Effect of Termination

When the Agreement ends, or Customer’s Subscription Plan no longer includes the API, all API Keys stop working and Customer’s rights under Section 4 end. Customer will stop using the API and delete or securely destroy any API Keys. Copies of Customer Data Customer retrieved before termination remain Customer’s, subject to Section 8.2. Sections 3.3, 5, 7.2, 8, 11, 12, and 13.3 survive.

14. Changes to These API Terms

Berkman may update these API Terms as described in Section 9 of the Agreement. Berkman will post the current version at lextree.ai/legal/api-terms and update the effective date above.

These API Terms are Exhibit C to the Terms of Service. If you have questions about the API or these API Terms, contact us at team@lextree.ai.