SheafpressSheafpress privacy policy
Last updated: 4 October 2026
[TEMPLATE: written to match how Sheafpress 1.0 actually behaves. Have counsel review it, and add your legal entity name, before you publish it.]
Sheafpress is local-first. Your manuscript, story bible, notes and settings stay on your computer. We run no cloud service, have no user accounts, and collect no analytics, crash reports or advertising data.
What Sheafpress stores on your computer
- Your books, in your user data folder (on Windows,
%APPDATA%\Sheafpress). Sheafpress autosaves there and keeps a rolling backup copy. - Your window size and position, your license key, a small marker recording the date your trial began (in your user folder and, on Windows, in a registry value, so reinstalling does not restart the trial), and, only if you add one, your AI API keys (one per provider), encrypted with your operating system's secure storage.
- Project files you choose to save (
.sheafpress) and files you export, wherever you tell Sheafpress to put them.
The browser build, if you use it, keeps your work in that browser's local storage only.
When Sheafpress uses the internet
Sheafpress works offline. It connects only in these cases:
- AI features, only if you add your own API key and click an AI button. You choose the provider: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint you enter (including a model running on your own computer, in which case nothing leaves it). The text needed for that action (for example a chapter, your story bible entries, or reference excerpts) is sent from your computer directly to that provider using your key. It does not pass through any Sheafpress server. The provider's terms and privacy policy apply to that request.
- The trial check, only while you have no license. Each time Sheafpress starts, it sends a one-way hash of your operating system's machine identifier and the app version to sheafpress.com. Our server stores the hash and the date it first saw it, so reinstalling does not restart the 14-day trial. We cannot work out the original identifier from the hash, and nothing about you or your writing is sent. Cloudflare, our host, sees your IP address as part of any web request. Once you activate a license the check stops. If you are offline it is skipped.
- Opening links. "Buy a license", "Privacy" and "Email support" open your browser or mail app.
- Update checks. If your copy of Sheafpress was built with an update feed, it asks that feed for the latest version number, which shares your app version and operating system with the feed's host, as any download does.
Sheafpress does not upload your writing for any other purpose.
Licenses
License keys are checked on your computer against a public key built into the app. Activating a license sends nothing anywhere. If you buy through our checkout provider, that provider processes your payment and email under its own privacy policy.
Your control
You can export or delete your work at any time. Uninstalling Sheafpress and deleting its user data folder removes everything it stored. Removing your API key in Settings deletes the stored key.