Chauncy Privacy Policy

Last updated: March 2026

Overview

Chauncy is a desktop application. It runs on your computer. Your documents, your search index, your embeddings, your annotations, and the connections Chauncy derives from your documents are stored locally on your machine.

Chauncy does not have a user account system. Chauncy does not collect telemetry. Chauncy does not operate servers that receive your data.

This policy describes the limited circumstances in which data leaves your machine and what governs it when it does.

Safety Boundary

Chauncy is not an autonomous agent. It does not browse the web on your behalf, operate third-party accounts, send email, purchase anything, delete files, or perform open-ended background action chains.

Chauncy helps you retrieve, inspect, connect, and curate material you have chosen to add. You remain responsible for deciding what is relevant, accurate, and ready to use.

Data Stored Locally

The following data is stored on your machine only, in a local database:

This data does not leave your machine through any Chauncy mechanism.

AI Features and Third-Party Providers

Chauncy’s AI features — including document summarization and deeper synthesis — are optional. They require you to configure a third-party API provider (such as OpenAI, Anthropic, or Groq) or a local model endpoint and supply your own credentials where required.

When you explicitly use an AI feature, Chauncy sends relevant excerpts from your documents to the API endpoint you have configured. This transmission is governed entirely by the privacy policy of the provider you have chosen, not by this policy.

Chauncy is transparent about when AI features are active. You are in control of which provider you use and when AI features are invoked.

If you require fully local AI processing, Chauncy supports configuration of a local model endpoint such as Ollama or LM Studio. In that case, no data leaves your machine for AI processing.

Purchase and Payment

Chauncy uses Stripe for payment processing. When you purchase Chauncy, your payment information is handled entirely by Stripe. Chauncy does not receive or store your credit card details.

Stripe’s privacy policy governs data collected during purchase: stripe.com/privacy

The only information Chauncy retains from your purchase is your email address, used to deliver your receipt and download link.

Email Communications

If you join the macOS waitlist, your email address is stored for the sole purpose of notifying you when macOS support is available. It will not be used for marketing or shared with third parties.

Compliance-Regulated Environments

Chauncy is not designed for use in compliance-regulated environments, including but not limited to those governed by HIPAA, attorney-client privilege requirements, or federal grant data handling regulations. Do not use Chauncy to store or process data subject to these requirements.

Changes to This Policy

If this policy changes materially, we will update the date at the top of this page. We will not reduce your privacy protections without notice.

Contact

For privacy questions, contact support@chauncy.dev.