Credits & Acknowledgements

Last updated: August 1, 2026 - everything below is something PodsCool actually runs on today.

PodsCool is a small team standing on a great deal of other people's work. This page lists the platforms, APIs, and open-source software the Service is built with, and identifies the trademarks that belong to their owners. Nothing here implies that any company listed endorses, sponsors, or is affiliated with PodsCool.

We keep this page honest: if something appears below, it is in the running product. Tools we evaluated and dropped are not listed.

1. Google

In plain English: Google runs our sign-in, our database, our servers, and the class calendar. Cloudflare stores the files people upload. If a teacher creates a Google Doc through PodsCool it lives in their own Drive, which we can only add to - never browse.

PodsCool depends on Google Cloud and Google Workspace platforms more than on anything else. Google LLC is not affiliated with PodsCool and does not endorse it.

Firebase (Google Cloud)

Firebase Authentication - every account on PodsCool, including Sign in with Google. We never see or store your Google password.
Cloud Firestore - the database behind pods, enrollments, classwork, grades, and messages.
Cloud Functions for Firebase (2nd generation, Node.js 22) - all server logic. Billing, grading, payouts, and every security rule run here, never in your browser.
Firebase Hosting - serves this website and the admin portal.
Firebase Cloud Messaging - class notifications.
Cloud Scheduler - the timed jobs: monthly renewals, the payout run on the 10th, and day-off reminders.

Google APIs

Cloudflare R2 - object storage. Every file uploaded through PodsCool - pod banners, syllabi, class materials, profile photos, and student work - is stored here, in the United States. Files are private by default: they are not publicly listable, and opening one requires a link PodsCool generates for a signed-in person who is allowed to see it.
Google Drive API - used with the drive.file scope only, so a teacher can create and attach Google Docs through PodsCool. That scope is deliberately the narrowest one Google offers: PodsCool can create and manage only the files it creates itself, and has no ability to see, open, or list anything else in that Drive.
Google Calendar API - used with the calendar.events scope to put each pod's sessions on the teacher's calendar and to generate the Google Meet link families join class through.

Those two scopes are the complete list. PodsCool requests no other Google permissions. Our use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements.

Google Fonts

DM Sans by Colophon Foundry, Jonny Pinhorn and Indian Type Foundry - the typeface you are reading now.
Poppins by Indian Type Foundry, Jonny Pinhorn and Ninad Kale - headings.

Both are released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1 and served through Google Fonts.

Trademarks: Google, Google Cloud, Firebase, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Meet, Google Workspace, Google Fonts and the Google logo are trademarks of Google LLC.

2. Payments

In plain English: Stripe moves all the money. We never touch or store a card number.

Stripe - card processing, receipts, and subscription billing for monthly tuition.
Stripe Connect - the marketplace layer that pays independent teachers directly. Teachers onboard with Stripe, and Stripe holds their banking and tax details, not us.

Card numbers and bank credentials are entered on Stripe's own pages and never reach PodsCool's servers. Stripe and Stripe Connect are trademarks of Stripe, Inc.

3. Email

Mailchimp - the early-access announcement list. Mailchimp is a registered trademark of Intuit Inc.

4. Course drafting

In plain English: When a teacher asks PodsCool to draft a course, an AI model writes the first version. The teacher reads every session, edits what they want, and approves it before a student ever sees it. Nothing about a child is sent.

Claude (Anthropic) - drafts course outlines, session documents and quiz questions inside Course Builder, at a teacher's request. Claude and Anthropic are trademarks of Anthropic PBC.

What we send is the pod's own description - subject, grade range, session count and length, cadence, dates - together with any directions the teacher types. We do not send student names, enrolment records, grades, or anything else about a family. A draft is never published automatically: the teacher approves each session, and the whole course, by hand.

5. Open-source software

PodsCool's server runs on open-source software released by its authors under permissive licenses. We are grateful to everyone who maintains it.

Node.js (v22) - the JavaScript runtime our server code executes on. Node.js is a trademark of the OpenJS Foundation.
Firebase Admin SDK for Node.js - Apache License 2.0.
Firebase Functions SDK - MIT License.
Google APIs Node.js Client (googleapis) - Apache License 2.0.
Stripe Node.js Library - MIT License.

The PodsCool website itself is written in plain HTML, CSS, and modern JavaScript modules. There is no front-end framework, no analytics tracker, and no advertising software of any kind on this site.

6. What we deliberately do not use

In plain English: No ad networks, no trackers, no selling data. On a site used by children, the things we left out matter as much as the things we put in.

No advertising networks or ad SDKs.
No third-party analytics or behavioral tracking, and no tracking pixels.
No data brokers. We do not sell, rent, or trade anyone's information - see our Privacy Policy.
No biometric collection and no government ID collection from students.

7. Thanks

To the teachers who ran the first pods before there was a platform to run them on, and to the families who trusted an idea. You shaped this more than any of the software above.

Spotted something missing or credited incorrectly? Tell us at support@podscool.com and we will fix it.