Short version: Penflow collects as little as possible. We use privacy-friendly analytics to see what works. No ad networks. No selling your data to anyone.
Here is what that means in practice.
When you visit penflow.dev
We use two privacy-friendly analytics tools, Umami and PostHog, to count visits and see which pages help. They record usage events, not advertising profiles, and we do not run ad pixels or sell data. Beyond that, our self-hosted website and its network providers may keep standard server logs. Account and billing pages use cookies only to keep you signed in.
When you join the waitlist
You give us your email address. That email goes to two places:
- Our mailing list on Resend, stored in the Penflow Waitlist audience. Resend is the service that sends Penflow emails.
- A confirmation email back to you, also sent through Resend.
We use your email only to send news about Penflow. You can unsubscribe any time using the link at the bottom of any Penflow email, or by replying and asking. Unsubscribing removes your email from Resend.
When you use Penflow (the app)
Penflow is in private beta. Here is how your writing moves through the system.
- On your device. The editor autosaves changes to local project files on your computer. The desktop app uses those files as the source of truth.
- On your GitHub, if you turn it on. Optional GitHub backup pushes your project files to a private repo under your own GitHub account. Your local project folder stays the source of truth.
- AI requests. AI is optional and requires Supporter and your own OpenRouter key. Requests pass through Penflow's server to check your license, then go to OpenRouter and the model provider handling the request. Depending on the tool, the request can include selected text, surrounding scenes, codex entries and story notes. It is not limited to the words you type into chat. Penflow's relay does not store or log the prompts, manuscript text or responses.
- Background AI checks. In version 0.2.15, automatic story-note checks are off by default. If you enable them in Account, Penflow can periodically send story notes, an index of your book and recent AI chats for review, using your OpenRouter tokens. The resulting changes are proposals for you to approve. Turning the switch off stops future checks; a request already sent may finish. Manual AI stays available. Earlier versions could run these checks after AI setup. Update the app for the separate switch, or remove your OpenRouter key to stop all AI requests.
- Anonymous app usage and crash reports. The desktop app sends a small amount of anonymous data (crash reports and simple counts like "a novel was created" or "export was used") so we can find and fix bugs. This never includes your manuscript text, titles, or names, and it is not tied to your identity. You can turn it off any time in the app under Account, Privacy.
What we do not do
- We do not sell your data. To anyone. For any reason.
- We do not run ad networks, retargeting pixels, or advertising trackers of any kind.
- Penflow does not collect your manuscript for staff to read. The optional AI relay processes the context described above.
- We do not train AI on your work. When you configure AI, manual requests and any enabled background checks can send book context to OpenRouter and model providers. Their own data policies apply to that processing.
How to delete your data
- Waitlist only: unsubscribe through any Penflow email, or reply and ask to be removed.
- App account: email [email protected] and we will delete account records we hold. Local files on your computer stay under your control.
- All of it: unsubscribe and ask us to delete any account records we hold.
Service providers we rely on
Penflow uses these third parties to operate. Each has its own privacy policy.
- Cloudflare (website traffic and delivery; the website and AI relay run on our own server)
- Supabase (account records and service data)
- Stripe (payments and subscriptions)
- Better Stack (website availability monitoring)
- Resend (waitlist and transactional emails)
- Umami and PostHog (privacy-friendly website and product analytics)
- GitHub (optional backup, only when you authorize it)
- OpenRouter and model providers (manual AI requests and background checks you enable with your own key)
Children
Penflow is not designed for children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has signed up, email us and we will remove the data.
Changes
If this policy changes, we update the "Last updated" date at the top. Meaningful changes also get an email to the waitlist and to active users.
Contact
Questions, concerns, or deletion requests: [email protected].