Privacy Policy

1. What we collect

Account data — when you sign in, our authentication provider (Clerk) shares your name, email, and a user ID.

Content — your questions, the generated answers with citations, bookmarks, and Agora comparisons, stored so your history works. Anonymous use is keyed to a random identifier in your browser; it is linked to your account if you later sign in.

Usage data — message counts for enforcing plan limits, and product analytics (pages visited, features used) via PostHog, including session replays in which everything you type and every philosopher answer is masked.

Technical data — Cloudflare (our host) processes IP addresses and runs Turnstile bot checks on anonymous messages.

Payments — handled entirely by Dodo Payments, our merchant of record. We receive subscription status, never your card details.

2. How your questions are processed

To answer you, your question is converted to an embedding (Cloudflare Workers AI) and sent, along with the retrieved passages, to a language model via OpenRouter (or via your own provider if you use your own key). These processors handle your question text to generate the response; we do not use your conversations to train models. To monitor quality and cost, request traces (your question, the retrieved passages, and the generated answer) are recorded in Langfuse (US), our LLM observability provider.

3. Bring-your-own-key

If you add your own API key, it stays in your browser (session storage by default; persistent storage only if you opt in). It is sent directly with your inference requests and is never logged or stored on our servers.

4. Where data lives

Conversations and account-linked data are stored with Convex in the EU (eu-west-1). Analytics are processed by PostHog in the US. Authentication data is processed by Clerk. Infrastructure is provided by Cloudflare. Each provider processes data under its own data-protection terms; transfers outside your country are made with appropriate safeguards.

5. Retention and deletion

Your content is kept while your account exists so your history works. You can delete conversations and bookmarks in the app. To delete your account and associated data, email support@asktheancients.app from your account email — we will complete deletion within 30 days. Aggregated, non-identifying usage statistics may be retained.

6. Cookies and local storage

We use strictly-necessary browser storage: your session (Clerk), your anonymous identifier, preferences, and — if you opt in — your own API key. PostHog sets an analytics identifier. We do not run third-party advertising trackers.

7. Your rights

Depending on where you live (including under India’s DPDP Act and the EU GDPR), you may have rights to access, correct, export, or delete your data, and to object to certain processing. Write to support@asktheancients.app and we will honour these requests. The Service is not directed at children under 13.

8. A note on sensitive conversations

People ask philosophers personal questions; treat your conversations accordingly and avoid including information you would not want stored (like government IDs or financial details). If a message suggests a crisis, the app steps out of character and shows crisis resources; it is not a substitute for professional help.

9. Changes and contact

We will update this policy as the Service evolves and note the date above; material changes will be flagged in the app. Contact: support@asktheancients.app.