Privacy policy

Who we are

OpenD’s managed service at opend.app is run by Desktop Machine Shop, 7 Stowe Avenue, Sheffield S7 2GP, United Kingdom (“we”, “us”). We decide how and why the personal data described here is used, except on our customers’ sites (below). For anything in this policy, write to [email protected].

This policy covers the opend.app website, signing up and paying for a site, the OpenD connector for AI assistants, and the documentation sites we host. If you run OpenD yourself, none of your data reaches us.

Our customers’ sites

Each documentation site we host belongs to one of our customers, who decides who may read it and what it contains. For the people who read or edit those sites, the customer is in charge of their data and we process it on the customer’s behalf, only to run the site. If you read a site we host, the customer’s own privacy notice applies too, and requests about your data there are best sent to them first; we help them answer.

What we collect and why

Visiting opend.app

No analytics, advertising or tracking scripts, and no third-party fonts or content. Our server logs record the address of the page requested (without its query), the response status and how long it took: not your IP address or browser. Your IP address is kept briefly in memory to limit how fast requests can be made, and is not stored.

Signing up and paying

To create a site we need your email address, the site’s name and its address. For paid plans, Stripe takes the payment: we send it your email and the site’s details, and your card details go only to Stripe. We keep Stripe’s customer and subscription references and the subscription’s status. We email you about your site: the confirmation link, a welcome email with your administrator link, and billing and trial notices. We use this to provide the service you asked for (our contract with you).

Open-source applications

When you apply for a free open-source site we keep what you sent (project name, site address, email, repository and description), our decision and its reason, so we can review the application and reply.

The connector for AI assistants

When you connect an assistant such as Claude, we keep your email address and how you signed in. With an OpenD account we also keep your password as a salted scrypt hash (never the password itself), whether you have confirmed your email, and a count of failed sign-ins to lock out guessing. With Google or GitHub we receive only your verified email address. If an OpenD account already uses it, we record that Google is linked to that account once you confirm with its password. For each connection we keep which assistant it is, whether you let it propose changes and when it was last used, and, for each site it uses, an API key created on that site for your access, stored encrypted. Site staff see these keys, named after your email, and can revoke them. We use this to provide the connector you asked for.

Running the service

We keep a log of important actions (sites created, connections made, settings changed), which can include the email address of the person who acted, to keep the service secure and to investigate problems (our legitimate interest).

On the sites we host

For our customers, a hosted site stores:

• Its readers and staff: email, name, organisation, and the sign-in provider’s identifier.
• Usage statistics: which pages are viewed and what is searched for, by organisation. These never include who you are, your IP address or your browser, are not recorded at all when your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, and are deleted after 180 days unless the customer chooses otherwise.
• Feedback you choose to leave on a page, including any comment you write.
• Accounts and change history for the people who edit the docs.

Cookies

We only use cookies that the service needs to work, so we do not ask for consent and there is no cookie banner. None is used for tracking or advertising.

• On opend.app: short-lived cookies that tie a GitHub or Google sign-in to the browser that started it (10 to 15 minutes), your account panel session (12 hours), and the operators’ dashboard session.
• On hosted sites: your sign-in session (12 hours), the in-app help panel’s session (1 hour), and short-lived cookies during sign-in (10 minutes).

Who we share it with

We do not sell personal data or use it for advertising. We use these providers to run the service, each only for its part:

• Railway: hosting, databases and file storage.
• Stripe: payments and billing.
• Google: our email, and sign-in with Google when you choose it.
• GitHub: sign-in with GitHub when you choose it, and connecting a site to its repository.
• Cloudflare: our domain’s DNS (it does not see the pages you visit).

We may also disclose data when the law requires it, or to protect the service and its users.

Where it is stored

opend.app and sites on shared hosting run in Railway’s data centre in the Netherlands. A dedicated site runs in the Railway region chosen for it. Some of the providers above may process data in other countries, including the United States, under their own safeguards such as standard contractual clauses.

How long we keep it

• Your site’s content, readers and statistics: until the site is deleted, when its database and storage are deleted with it. We keep a record of the site (its name and your email), billing references and the action log, for our accounts and security.
• Connector accounts and connections: until you ask us to delete them. Access tokens expire within an hour, and sign-in and confirmation links within 15 minutes to a day.
• Usage statistics and feedback on hosted sites: 180 days by default.
• Data received from GitHub about repository changes: 7 days.

Your rights

You can ask us for a copy of your personal data, to correct it, to delete it, to restrict or object to how we use it, or to receive it in a portable form. Write to [email protected]; we answer within one month. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk), or to the data protection authority where you live.

You can disconnect an assistant at any time in the assistant itself, and the staff of any site can revoke its access there.

Security

Secrets and keys are encrypted at rest, passwords are hashed, every connection uses HTTPS, and each dedicated customer site runs in its own isolated project. How we secure the service has the details.

Children

The service is for businesses and is not directed at children under 16.

Changes

When this policy changes we update it here and change the date at the top. If a change matters to how we use your data, we tell customers by email.