your notes never
leave your device.

who runs outl

outl is an open-source project maintained by Thiago Avelino (@avelino on GitHub). the source code lives at github.com/avelino/outl under the MIT license. there is no company behind it.

the CLI, TUI and macOS desktop app

the outl binary you install via cargo install or brew install outl@beta, and the outl.app macOS desktop you install via brew install --cask outl-desktop@beta, run entirely on your machine.

• no analytics, no telemetry, no phone-home.
• no network calls except the ones you trigger yourself (e.g. fetching a URL in an executable code block, or running outl import from a remote source).
• your .md files and the .outl sidecar live in the workspace folder you chose. we never read them.
• the macOS desktop dmg is currently unsigned. on first launch Gatekeeper will block it — right-click outl.app and choose "Open", or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/outl.app. signing + notarisation land with 1.0.

if you don't believe us, the source is public — grep for it.

the iOS app (TestFlight beta)

the iOS app stores your notes locally on the device and (optionally) inside your iCloud Drive container, so they sync across your own Apple devices via iCloud. we do not run a sync server. iCloud sync is between your devices and Apple.

what the iOS app does not do:

• no third-party analytics SDK.
• no advertising identifiers.
• no contact list, photo library or location access (unless you explicitly grant it for a feature that needs it, and we tell you why at the prompt).
• no account creation. no login.

because the beta is distributed through Apple's TestFlight, Apple collects crash reports, install/uninstall events and basic device info on their side. that data is governed by Apple's privacy policy, not by us — we only see the aggregate counts Apple shows in App Store Connect.

the MCP server (second brain)

when you point an LLM client like Claude Desktop, Cursor or ChatGPT at outl's MCP server, the server runs on your machine and reads your local workspace. outl itself does not send your notes anywhere.

be aware though: the LLM client you connect to (Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, etc.) will see the note content that gets returned through MCP. that data goes to their servers under their privacy policy. if you don't want a particular note to be visible to the LLM, don't query it.

the website (outl.app)

outl.app is a static site (Astro) hosted on Netlify. when you visit it:

• hosting (Netlify) records standard server logs: IP address, user-agent, requested URL, timestamp. these are retained for a short window for abuse prevention. see Netlify's privacy policy.
• Google Analytics measures aggregate traffic (pages viewed, country, browser, referrer). IP addresses are anonymized by Google. we do not have any custom identifier that links a visit back to a person. see Google's privacy policy.
• fonts (Google Fonts) are loaded from Google's CDN, which means your browser hits Google. if you want to avoid that, block the request — the site still works.
• local storage is used for one thing only: remembering your dark/light theme choice (outl-theme). it never leaves your browser.

we do not set any tracking cookies of our own. we do not run ad networks. we do not sell any of this data, nor share it for marketing.

contact (email / support)

if you email us or open a GitHub issue, we get whatever you wrote and the address/handle you sent it from. we use it to reply, and that's it. issues are public on GitHub by design — don't paste secrets in them.

your rights (GDPR / LGPD)

since outl doesn't hold a copy of your notes, there is almost nothing for us to access, export or delete on your behalf — that data lives on your device. for the limited data described above (Google Analytics aggregates, Netlify logs, email correspondence), you can ask us to delete what we control or to clarify what we have. write to the address below.

children

outl is not directed at children under 13. we don't knowingly collect data from them.

changes to this policy

if anything material changes — a new SDK, a sync server, a real backend — we'll update this page and bump the "last updated" date at the top. the history lives in git at github.com/avelino/outl-site, so you can diff it.