Overview
Beside is built as local-first software. The app is designed so your captures, transcripts, embeddings, wiki pages, and memory index live on your own device by default. We do not operate a Beside cloud account system, analytics pipeline, or hosted sync service for your app data.
This policy explains what we collect through the website and support channels, what the app stores locally, and what may leave your machine only when you configure another service.
Website data
When you visit the Beside website, standard hosting infrastructure may process basic request information such as IP address, browser type, requested URL, referring page, and timestamps for security, reliability, and abuse prevention.
The website does not require an account and does not intentionally use product analytics cookies to track your use of Beside.
Local app data
Beside stores app data on your computer, including screenshots or other captured signals you enable, OCR text, audio transcripts, summaries, embeddings, SQLite indexes, logs, and generated Markdown wiki files. Those files are controlled by you and are not uploaded to Beside.
The technical details and configuration controls are documented in the privacy and data residency guide.
Optional third-party services
If you configure Beside to use a hosted model, embedding provider, plugin registry, update feed, MCP-compatible agent, or other third-party service, information you send to that service is handled by that provider under its own terms and privacy policy. Beside cannot control how those providers process the information you choose to send.
The default local setup is intended to avoid sending your raw app data to Beside or to any hosted provider unless you explicitly configure that path.
Support and contact
If you email us or open a GitHub issue, we receive whatever contact information and message content you provide. We use it to respond, troubleshoot, improve Beside, and maintain project records.
Retention
Local app data remains on your device until you delete it or configure Beside retention settings to remove it. Support messages and public GitHub activity may be retained as long as needed for project operations, security, legal compliance, and open-source maintainership.
Your choices
You can delete local Beside data from your machine, change capture exclusions, reduce retention windows, run local models, disable optional integrations, and stop using the app at any time.
For privacy questions, contact hello@beside.so.
Changes
We may update this policy as Beside changes. When we do, we will update the date above and publish the revised policy on this page.