AccountyCat is a desktop application that runs on your Mac. The vast majority of what it does happens locally — on your machine, in your memory, with no intermediary. This document explains what data the app touches, why, and where it ends up.
The short version
- Screenshots: taken periodically, sent to a model (local or your configured remote), then discarded. Never stored permanently.
- Active app name: read via macOS Accessibility, used for the nudge decision, never logged.
- Your typed messages and goals: stored locally only, in
~/Library/Application Support/AC. - No analytics. No telemetry. The app does not phone home.
- No AccountyCat servers are involved when you use Local mode or BYOK mode. Requests in BYOK mode go directly from your Mac to OpenRouter.
What data is processed
Screen content (Screen Recording permission)
When AccountyCat decides to make a check, it captures a screenshot of your current display. The screenshot is then handed to the model:
- Local mode: the screenshot is processed by
llama.cpprunning inside the AccountyCat process. It never leaves your Mac. After processing, it is freed from memory and not written to disk. - BYOK mode (OpenRouter): the screenshot is sent over HTTPS directly from your Mac to OpenRouter, using your API key. All requests are made under OpenRouter's Zero Data Retention (ZDR) policy: providers are contractually barred from logging or training on your data. Once OpenRouter returns a response, the screenshot is freed from memory and not written to disk.
Active app name (Accessibility permission)
macOS Accessibility is used to read the name of the frontmost application (e.g. "Safari", "Xcode"). This name is fed into the same decision pass as the screenshot. It is not stored, not logged, not sent anywhere except as part of the model request described above.
Typed messages, goals, profiles, settings
Anything you type into AccountyCat — chat messages to your companion, what you said you're working on, profile names — is stored locally on your Mac under ~/Library/Application Support/AC. None of this leaves the device unless you explicitly export it.
What is sent to third parties
Local mode: nothing. AccountyCat in local mode does not make any outbound network requests for inference.
BYOK mode: when you have configured an OpenRouter API key, individual inference requests (containing the screenshot, the active app name, and a short system prompt) are sent over HTTPS to openrouter.ai. AccountyCat does not proxy these requests through its own servers. We have no logs of your requests, because we never see them.
Update checks: AccountyCat may occasionally check GitHub Releases for a new version. This contacts api.github.com and exposes only your public IP and the request itself (no identifiable account data is sent).
Permissions, in plain English
| Permission | Why | Fate |
|---|---|---|
| Screen Recording | Periodic screenshots for context-awareness. | Analyzed by the configured model, then discarded. Never stored. |
| Accessibility | Read the name of the active application. | Used for the nudge decision. Never logged. |
Data deletion
All AccountyCat data lives under ~/Library/Application Support/AC. Quitting the app and deleting that directory completely removes everything. There is no account, no remote profile, nothing else to delete.
Waitlist
If you join the Managed mode waitlist, we store your email address. We use it for a single purpose: to notify you when Managed mode is available. We don't add you to a newsletter, share the list, or use it for anything else. Reply to that one email and we'll remove you, or email hi@accountycat.app at any time.
Children
AccountyCat is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect data from them.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes in any meaningful way, we'll update the date at the top and call it out in the next release notes.
Contact
Questions, concerns, or you spotted something the source code does that we haven't disclosed here? Open an issue on GitHub or email hi@accountycat.app.