Deadlines
Every commitment has two distinct deadlines. Keeping them apart is what lets you do the work first and document it afterwards.
These docs explain the product in plain language. The Creator Terms, Payment Terms, and other legal documents control if there is a conflict.
Commitment deadline
The commitment deadline — also called the goal deadline — is the moment by which the goal itself has to be done. It is the promise at the heart of the commitment.
- The work must be completed by this moment, not merely started.
- It is fixed at checkout and does not move once the commitment is active.
- Meeting it is what you later prove during the proof window.
Proof deadline
The proof deadline is the last moment to upload evidence. It sits at the end of the proof window, which opens after the commitment deadline so you have time to document what you did.
- The proof window separates doing the goal from documenting it — you can upload after the commitment deadline but before the proof deadline.
- Evidence still has to show the goal was met by the commitment deadline, even if it is uploaded later.
- Miss the proof deadline with no valid proof and the commitment can move toward a failed verdict. See Verdicts.
How the two relate
In order: you hit the commitment deadline by doing the work, then you upload evidence before the proof deadline. Only after the proof window can review issue a verdict, and only a failed verdict — past its dispute and withdrawal windows — can ever lead to a charge.