Privacy policy
Effective
Contexel is a shared memory for AI apps. You save things, and your AI apps look them up later. That means we hold what you save. This page explains what we collect, why, who else handles it, how long we keep it, and what you can do about it. "We" and "us" mean Contexel, the company that runs it.
The short version
- We store what you save so your AI apps can find it again. We don't sell it, and we don't use it for advertising.
- Search runs on our own servers. The one feature that sends your notes to an outside AI company, AI distillation, is shown for each workspace in the console, and the workspace owner can turn it off.
- By default we keep a copy of your encryption key, so we can technically access your data. You can bring your own key instead.
- You can download everything you can read and delete a workspace yourself. To delete your whole account, email us.
- Don't save passwords, health records or payment card numbers in Contexel.
What we collect
Your account
We use WorkOS to sign you in. You can sign in with an email address, Google or GitHub. WorkOS confirms who you are and tells us your user ID, your organization ID, your email address and your name.
On our servers we keep your user ID and organization ID, the access you have to each workspace, and which workspaces you own. We don't keep your name or email in our database. They sit in a cookie in your browser so the console can show who is signed in. The sign-in screen also remembers the last email you typed, in your browser only, so you don't have to type it again.
One exception: when you invite someone to a workspace, we store that person's email address with the invitation, so the workspace owner can see who has access.
Access tokens
If you create an access token to connect an app, we keep the name you give it and the access it grants. We store only a scrambled form of the token itself (a one-way hash), never the token.
What you save
- Memories: the notes, decisions and documents you or your AI apps save, stored as plain text files in your workspace, with a version history.
- Notes waiting to be filed: quick notes your AI app captures. They are later turned into tidy memories, and the original notes stay in the workspace.
- Suggested changes: edits waiting for someone to approve them, and a record of past ones.
- Where each memory came from: each saved memory records which account or access token saved it, and when.
- A search index built from your memories, so search is fast.
- Feedback from your AI apps: which results helped, which didn't, and words your AI said were missing. We use this to show you searches that found nothing.
- Copies of GitHub repositories, only if you connect one.
An activity log
We keep a tamper-evident log of who did what and when: saves, approvals, exports, access changes and settings changes. It records account and token IDs, workspace names, counts and times. It never records the text of your memories, your searches or your notes.
Error reports
When something breaks on our servers, we send an error report to Sentry. It holds technical details of the error, the address path that failed, and IDs. We remove request bodies, cookies, sign-in headers, access tokens and web address query strings before anything is sent.
What we don't collect
Our website has no advertising or analytics trackers. Contexel's own code does not record your IP address. Our pages load fonts from Google Fonts, so your browser contacts Google when you visit.
How we use it
- To run the service: store what you save, search it, and show it to you and the people you share a workspace with.
- To sign you in and check what each person and app is allowed to see and change.
- To file your notes into tidy memories (see AI distillation below).
- To keep the service secure and working: the activity log and error reports help us spot misuse and fix problems.
Search runs entirely on our own servers, including the part that works out what your words mean. Your searches are not sent to an AI company.
We don't sell your data, we don't use it for advertising, and we don't use it to train AI models.
AI distillation
AI distillation turns the quick notes your AI apps capture into tidy, searchable memories. When it runs with an outside provider, the text of the notes being filed is sent to that provider, which returns a draft memory. It runs shortly after new notes arrive, or when someone asks for it.
- You can see it. The console shows, for each workspace, whether AI distillation is on and which service it uses.
- You can turn it off. A workspace owner can switch it off for that workspace. When it is off, notes are filed by simple rules on our own servers and nothing is sent anywhere.
- The default: when we make AI distillation available, it is on for standard workspaces. For a workspace using your own encryption key, it stays off until the owner turns it on and agrees to the specific model.
- It is logged. Every time notes are sent, the activity log records that it happened, how many notes went, and which model. It never records the notes.
Encryption and who can read your data
Your data travels to our servers over an encrypted connection (HTTPS). Each organization's data is kept separate from every other's.
By default, we hold the key. The hosted service is custodial today. Encryption is off until you turn it on, and by default we keep a copy of the key so search can run for you. That means we can technically access your data, and we'd rather tell you than hide it.
Or hold it yourself. Keep a key only you hold. While your space is locked, Contexel has no way to decrypt your documents or your search index. Lose the key and the data is gone for good.
Passwords, secrets and sensitive information
When your AI app saves a note, suggests a change, or when we copy a connected GitHub repository, Contexel first looks for common secrets and replaces them with a marker. It catches private key blocks, AWS access keys, GitHub and Slack tokens, JSON web tokens, passwords inside connection strings and web addresses, and secret-looking values written next to names like password, api_key, token or secret.
This is a safety net, not a guarantee. It won't catch every secret, and it does not remove personal details such as names, phone numbers or health information. Please don't save passwords or other credentials in Contexel.
Contexel is not designed for protected health information (such as patient records) or payment card data. Don't store either in it.
How long we keep it
- What you save: for as long as the workspace exists. Notes stay in the workspace after they are filed.
- Deleting a workspace: a workspace owner can delete it in the console. That permanently removes its memories, search index and notes waiting to be filed, and removes other people's access to it. Earlier versions of those memories can remain in your organization's version history until your whole account is deleted.
- Deleting your account: there is no delete button for a whole account yet. Email us at privacy@contexel.ai and we will delete your organization's data from our servers and your sign-in account from WorkOS, and confirm when it is done. We aim to finish within 30 days.
- Backups: our hosting provider keeps short-term copies of our disk for recovery. Deleted data can stay in those copies for up to 5 days before it is gone.
- Activity log: kept for 6 years, including after a workspace is deleted, because it is our security record. It holds IDs, counts and times, never your content.
- Feedback from your AI apps: kept until your account's data is deleted.
- Sign-in cookies: the session cookie lasts 8 hours and the cookies that keep you signed in last 30 days. Signing out clears them.
- Error reports: kept by Sentry for the limited period set in our Sentry account, then deleted.
Your choices and rights
- Download your data. "Download my data", in the console's encryption settings, gives you every workspace you can read as plain text files, even when encryption is on. You can also email us for a copy.
- Delete a workspace you own, in the console.
- Turn off AI distillation for a workspace you own.
- Turn on encryption, or bring your own key.
- Remove access: revoke access tokens, remove people from a workspace, or disconnect a GitHub repository. Disconnecting deletes our copy of that repository.
- Ask us. Email privacy@contexel.ai to see, correct or delete the personal information we hold about you, or to object to how we use it. We answer within one month and don't charge for it.
Depending on where you live, data protection laws (such as the GDPR in Europe and the UK, or state privacy laws in the United States) give you these rights. We offer them to everyone. If you are in Europe or the UK and not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to your local data protection authority.
Where your data is stored
Contexel's servers are in the United States. If you use Contexel from another country, your data is transferred to and stored in the United States. Our providers may process data in other countries under their own safeguards.
Children
Contexel is not meant for children. You must be at least 13 to use it, or 16 if you live in the European Economic Area or the UK. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children under those ages. If you believe a child has given us personal information, email privacy@contexel.ai and we will delete it.
Changes to this policy
When we change this policy, we will post the new version on this page and update the effective date at the top. If a change affects how we handle data you have already given us, we will tell account holders in the console or by email before it takes effect.
Contact us
Questions or requests about your privacy go to privacy@contexel.ai. Contexel is responsible for your information.