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Privacy

What stays local and what leaves your device

A plain-language map of Chronicle files, AI inputs, keys, accounts, reporting, logs, and offline behavior.

6 minute readReviewed July 27, 2026
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Your version library stays on this device

Original watched files, captured version bytes, previews, the local database, AI summaries, tags, embeddings, settings, and queued work are stored on your device. Chronicle does not provide cloud storage for the creative version library.

AI sends task inputs to your provider

When you enable AI, Chronicle's local AI service sends only the inputs required for that task, such as the current and previous image, filename, or annotation text, to the provider you selected. The provider's terms, privacy policy, and retention rules apply.

Provider keys

Provider keys are encrypted locally with Electron safe storage and are not readable back through the normal interface. Optional passphrase-encrypted key sync is separate, requires sign-in, and remains off until you enable it.

Optional account, sync, and reporting

Continue local requires no account. If you sign in, Chronicle can sync portable preferences but not local paths, projects, files, or version history. Content-free usage reporting can include app version, operating-system family, coarse counts, timings, provider/model identifiers, and sanitized failures. It excludes filenames, paths, project names, file contents, summaries, tags, embeddings, search queries, and credentials.

Offline behavior and deletion

Capture, cached history, restore, and keyword search work offline. AI annotations, semantic indexing, account sync, and reporting wait for a connection. Removing a Chronicle project does not delete your original working files; local Chronicle history and cloud account data have separate deletion controls.

One local deletion happens on its own: when a watched file leaves your disk, Chronicle keeps its stored history under Removed files for 30 days and then deletes it permanently. You can delete that history sooner from the same place. See files you deleted, renamed, or moved.

Read the full Chronicle Privacy Policy for the authoritative detail.

Was this guide not enough?

Tell us the Chronicle version, operating system, exact message, and the steps you tried. Never share an API key or creative file.

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