Privacy policy

This policy covers the dotPen app for Mac, the dotpen.app website, and any email you send us about dotPen.

dotPen is made and owned by Dotbrain LLC (“Dotbrain”, “we”, “us”), and Dotbrain is responsible for your information. You can reach us at support@dotbrainhq.com.

The short version: dotPen has no account, no ads, no analytics and no tracking. What you read, write and comment on stays on your Mac, and we never see it.

What the app keeps on your Mac

• Only the folders you choose. dotPen reads the folders and files you pick, through the file access macOS gives it. The App Sandbox keeps it out of everything else.
• Its own records. Your settings, comments, reading history, and a copy of each file as you last read it, which is how dotPen marks what changed without git. All of it stays in dotPen’s own storage on your Mac.
• Your files stay as they are. dotPen doesn’t change your files, with one exception: when you tick a task box, it writes the tick to the file.
• Agent session logs, if you allow them. When you turn this on in Settings, dotPen reads the Claude Code and Codex session logs on your Mac (~/.claude/projects and ~/.codex/sessions) to show which agent wrote a file. Nothing from them leaves your Mac, and you can turn it off at any time.
• Spotlight. Watched files are added to your Mac’s Spotlight index so you can search them. macOS keeps that index on your Mac.

What can leave your Mac

dotPen sends nothing to us or to anyone else. A few things can still reach the internet, and each one happens only because of something you do:

• Images from the web. If a Markdown file includes an image hosted online, dotPen loads it from that address, the way a browser does. That server can see your IP address and that the image was requested.
• The agent bridge. This is a small server that listens only on your Mac, at 127.0.0.1. Agents running on your Mac connect to it to read and resolve your comments. It doesn’t accept connections from other computers.
• Sharing and exporting. When you copy, export or share a file, it goes wherever you send it.
• Links. Links in a file open in your browser.

Apple and the App Store

The App Store handles downloads and updates under Apple’s own privacy policy. Apple gives us only the summary reports every developer gets, such as download counts. If you choose to share analytics with app developers in your Mac’s settings, Apple may also send us crash reports that don’t identify you. We use them only to fix bugs.

The website

• No cookies. The site doesn’t set any.
• No analytics or trackers. No Google Analytics, pixels, heatmaps or anything like them.
• No third-party fonts or embeds. The site uses your device’s own fonts, so loading a page doesn’t tell anyone else you visited.
• Server logs. Our hosting provider, Netlify, keeps standard request logs (IP address, browser type, the page requested and the time) to deliver the site and protect it from abuse. We don’t use these logs to profile anyone. Netlify’s policy explains how long it keeps them: netlify.com/privacy.

When you email us

If you write to us, we receive your email address, your name if you include it, and whatever is in your message. We use that only to reply and to help you. We keep the conversation as long as it’s useful for supporting you, and we delete it sooner if you ask.

Who else sees it

Only the services we need:

• Netlify hosts this website.
• Our email provider stores the messages you send us.
• Apple runs the App Store.

We never sell, rent or trade your information, and we never use it for advertising. We’ll share information with authorities only if the law requires it.

Why we can use it

If you’re in the European Union or the United Kingdom, here’s the legal basis for each use. We reply to your emails because you asked us to. We keep website logs and read crash reports because we have a legitimate interest in keeping the site safe and the app working.

Keeping and deleting

What dotPen stores stays on your Mac until you delete it. To remove everything, quit dotPen, move it to the Trash, and delete its folder in ~/Library/Containers.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

• tell you what information we have about you,
• correct it,
• delete it,
• or stop using it.

Write to support@dotbrainhq.com and we’ll answer within 30 days. The app keeps its data on your Mac and never sends it to us, so we have none of it to show or delete. If you’re in the European Union, the United Kingdom or California, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

Children

dotPen and this website aren’t directed at children under 13, and we don’t knowingly collect information from them. If you think a child has sent us information, write to us and we’ll delete it.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we’ll update the date at the top. If a new version of dotPen ever needs to handle information differently, we’ll update this page before that version ships.

Contact

Questions about this page go to Dotbrain LLC, by email or by post.