# Privacy Policy

**Last updated:** 2026-07-27

Confab is a native macOS app. This document describes what data it handles, where it goes, and what control you have over it.

## Summary

- Confab does not collect analytics, telemetry, crash reports, or usage data of any kind. There is no tracking SDK in the app, and the developer has no visibility into how you use it.
- Everything Confab stores — conversations, settings, command history — stays in a local SQLite database on your Mac, unless you explicitly enable a sync or backup feature.
- The only data that leaves your Mac is data you choose to send: messages sent to the AI provider/model you've selected, and, for optional integrations you turn on yourself (email, Anytype, Paperless-NGX, external MCP servers), whatever those specific features are configured to talk to.
- Confab is free and open source. You can read exactly what it does at **https://gitlab.pm/rune/oai-swift**.

## Data stored locally

Confab keeps its data in a SQLite database at `~/Library/Application Support/oAI/oai_conversations.db`:
- Saved conversations and messages
- App settings and feature toggles
- Command history (last 5,000 entries, auto-pruned)
- Email processing logs, if the email assistant feature is used

Log files (no message content, no credentials) are written to `~/Library/Logs/Confab.log` for troubleshooting.

None of this is sent anywhere by Confab itself. Deleting the database file (or uninstalling the app) removes it.

## API keys and credentials

- Provider API keys (OpenRouter, Anthropic, OpenAI, Google) are stored in the macOS **Keychain**, not the database, and not in plaintext anywhere on disk.
- A small number of other credentials that can't use Keychain directly (e.g. email account password, if you set up the email assistant) are stored **encrypted at rest** in the local database, using a key derived from your Mac's hardware identifier — this key never leaves your device and isn't transmitted anywhere.
- Confab never transmits your API keys or credentials to anyone other than the service they belong to (e.g. your OpenRouter key is only ever sent to OpenRouter's API).

## AI providers — where your messages actually go

Confab is a client for AI providers you choose and configure yourself: OpenRouter, Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Ollama (self-hosted, stays local), and Apple's on-device Foundation Models (macOS 26+, never leaves your Mac). When you send a message, its content — plus whatever conversation history and system prompt context Confab includes — is sent to whichever provider and model you have selected for that conversation.

Each provider handles that data under its own privacy policy, over which Confab has no control:
- OpenRouter: https://openrouter.ai/privacy
- Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/privacy
- OpenAI: https://openai.com/privacy
- Google: https://policies.google.com/privacy
- Ollama / Apple on-device: processed entirely on your own Mac, nothing sent externally

You control which provider and model is used at all times, and can switch or self-host (Ollama) if you want message content to never leave your device.

## Optional features that touch personal data

The following are **off by default** and require you to explicitly enable them in Settings. None of them run, and none of this data is touched, unless you turn them on:

- **Calendar, Reminders, Contacts, Location & Maps** — read via Apple's EventKit/Contacts/CoreLocation frameworks, entirely on-device. This data is only sent externally if you ask the AI a question that requires it, and only to the AI provider/model you have selected at that moment. Creating calendar events/reminders always requires your explicit approval via an on-screen confirmation dialog before it happens.
- **Bash command execution** — lets the AI run shell commands on your Mac. Off by default; when on, can optionally require your approval before each command runs.
- **MCP file access** — lets the AI read/write files in folders you explicitly allow. Includes PDF text extraction. Folder access is scoped to what you approve, nothing outside it.
- **Email assistant (IMAP/SMTP)** — polls a mailbox you configure and can send AI-generated replies. Your mail server credentials and the email content it processes are stored locally as described above; email content is sent to your selected AI provider to generate a response.
- **Anytype / Paperless-NGX integrations** — connect to instances you run yourself (typically on your own network or self-hosted server). Data flows directly between Confab and your own instance.
- **External MCP servers** — you can connect any third-party MCP server of your choosing; Confab has no visibility into or control over what that server does with data passed to it.
- **Semantic search / embeddings** — if enabled, message text is sent to your selected embedding provider (OpenAI, OpenRouter, or Google) to generate vector embeddings, which are then stored locally.
- **Web search** — when online mode is enabled, your query may be sent to DuckDuckGo, Google Search, or included as `:online` context to OpenRouter, depending on configuration.

## Crash reports

Confab does not include any crash reporting or analytics SDK, and does not automatically collect or transmit crash data. If Confab crashes, macOS writes a local crash log to your own Mac (viewable in Console.app), but it is not sent to the developer automatically — Apple's automatic crash-sharing pipeline for Developer ID–distributed apps like Confab (i.e. not sold through the Mac App Store) does not route reports back to the developer. If you'd like to help fix a crash, you're welcome to attach that log when reporting an issue — see `SECURITY.md` / the contact link below for how.

## iCloud backup

If you enable Settings → Backup, your app settings (not conversations) are written to a JSON file in your own iCloud Drive (`~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/oAI/`), which syncs the same way any of your other iCloud Drive files do. **API keys and other credentials are explicitly excluded from this backup** and must be re-entered after a restore.

## Data deletion

Since everything is local, you're always in full control:
- Delete individual conversations from within the app
- Delete `~/Library/Application Support/oAI/` to remove all local data
- Remove entries from the macOS Keychain (search for `com.oai.*`) to remove stored API keys
- Uninstalling the app does not automatically delete this data — remove the folders above if you want a clean slate

## Children's privacy

Confab is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect data from children.

## Changes to this policy

If Confab's data handling changes in a meaningful way, this document will be updated and the date at the top revised. Given the app's local-first design, we don't expect that to happen often.

## Contact

Questions about this policy: **https://confab.no/#contact**
