Privacy and security

Runs on your machine

The built-in AI, your files, and your history all stay on your computer. Switch the optional reporting off, turn off looking for new versions, and leave approving from another device off, and Kernl itself makes no network requests at all. You do not have to take our word for that: watch it with your own firewall.

Files you ask for go to your Documents folder, under Kernl, where you can see them. Kernl’s own working files stay in its app folder, and Settings, Data & Storage shows and clears them.

You approve what cannot be undone

At Kernl’s default safety setting, Standard, it can edit files and run commands inside the folder you opened without asking each time. It asks before reaching outside that folder, sending data off your machine, or making a workspace-wide deletion. Trusted is available to everyone: it allows network use and commands Kernl cannot prove read-only without asking, and still asks before anything destructive. Data that has been sent cannot be recalled. Unleashed is an unsupported developer setting that asks for nothing; it is not part of Plus and is not offered in the ordinary product.

Your keys go straight to the provider

If you connect a cloud account, the request goes from your machine to that company directly. It does not pass through anything of ours, so we cannot log it or store it. The key itself is kept in your computer’s own password store.

Where your data goes

“Straight to the service you chose” means the request goes from your computer straight to the cloud AI you chose, using your key. Kernl is never in the path. Use a model on your own machine and none of your content leaves. This table is about where your content goes. What Kernl stops and asks you about before it acts is set out on the security page.

Data Controller

Kernl is developed and operated by Kernl Labs LLC, based in New York, United States. For privacy inquiries, contact privacy@getkernl.ai.

What the Kernl app sends us

Three things, kept separate. None of them contains anything you wrote. Each has its own switch, and Airplane Mode stops all three at once: with it on, Kernl itself sends nothing off your network at all, and a report that would have gone out is dropped rather than saved for later. The one thing Kernl still reaches with it on is a server you added yourself, in Settings, at a private address on your own network. Usage counts also stop on their own if your system asks applications not to track you; Health reports are sent by the engine of Kernl and do not currently read that system setting. The switches live in Settings, Privacy: Product analytics for usage counts, Health reports for the reliability counts Kernl’s engine sends. The update check has its own switch in Settings, About.

Looking for a new version (on by default)

When Kernl starts it asks our download server whether a newer release exists, before it opens anything of yours. The request carries the version you already have and the kind of computer it is running on, and nothing else. It happens whether or not you have paid, and it is separate from your license: a free copy has no license to check.

Turn it off with the auto-update switch in Settings, About. With that off, Kernl makes no update request at all unless you press the button yourself. Airplane Mode stops this check too, the button included.

Linking a download to an install

When you download Kernl, this site makes up a short random code, twelve characters long, and puts it in the file name. The app reports that same code once, the first time it starts. That is the only thing connecting the download to the install, and it lets us see whether people who download Kernl actually get it working.

The code is random and refers to nothing. It is not derived from your computer, your address, or anything you did, it is never reused, and by itself it identifies nobody. Nothing you type, no file, and no account detail travels with it. If you would rather it did not happen, the Health reports switch in Settings, Privacy stops the app from sending it, and the code in the file name is inert on its own.

Counts of what happened (on by default)

All of it is counters. Something happened, how often, and roughly how long it took. Nothing you wrote, no file names, no paths, and nothing it handed to a program.

Kernl does not work out where you are: the setting that turns an address into a country and city is switched off, so those fields are empty on everything the app sends. Your address does reach PostHog the way it reaches any server you connect to, and is kept with the event for the same 24 months. If you would rather it were not, the two switches in Settings, Privacy stop the whole stream: Product analytics for what you do in the app, Health reports for what Kernl’s engine counts.

What gets counted: crashes and quarantines, whether Kernl’s engine came up, that a part of the app failed to start or had to restart, whether an install or an update failed, that the app was opened and which version on which operating system, that a tool ran and which one, that a request finished and how it ended, that a message was sent and a reply came back, that a reply or a scheduled task failed, that something you wrote could not be saved, that a model was downloaded or loaded and that a request went to it, that a model answered, which model and provider it was, how long it took, roughly how much text went in and out, and whether it failed, how far you got through setup, that a trial or license changed, that Kernl first finished a job for you and roughly how long after install, and that you reached for a paid feature the license did not cover, and which kind.

To learn whether Kernl is worth paying for, it also counts: on its first start, how much memory and graphics memory the computer has, in rough ranges such as 16 to 32 GB, never the exact figure; how each request ended, as finished, partly done, failed or stopped, whether it ran on this computer or online, and roughly how many actions it took, for at most fifty requests a day; that you came back to Kernl on a later day and roughly how many days after installing, at most once a day; and, each time the app opens, how many phones you have paired and how many jobs they have sent, as two numbers. The first time Kernl answers you, it also sends one report of that first run: how long it took from the install, how many bytes of a model it had downloaded by then, whether you chose your own key, whether Windows showed its SmartScreen warning during the install (only when the installer recorded that, and nothing otherwise), whether Kernl’s engine file was missing from where the installer put it, and the computer’s graphics memory and free disk space in whole gigabytes.

Also counted: whether the checks Kernl runs before its first start passed, with rough free disk space and graphics memory rather than exact figures, and how many of those checks failed; that Kernl asked your permission and what kind of action it was for; whether you allowed it, refused it, or never answered; that Kernl blocked or paused a tool on its own, which tool it was, and which rule stopped it; that Kernl’s engine went away while you were working, and whether it came back; that a model was found, brought in from a file, or failed to load, and which model from the built-in list it was, or just the word custom for a file of your own; that you left setup part way through, which step you stopped at, and roughly how long before you came back; which setup option Kernl offered you and which one you picked, and why it was offered, without any detail of your machine beyond whether it found a graphics card, and whether another app on your computer (Ollama, LM Studio or Jan) already held a model Kernl could use, which of those apps and how many models, never their names; whether signing in to that service finished, and which service it was, never anything you typed there; whether you opened one of the explanations on the setup screen, and which one; which of the example ideas on an empty chat you picked, by its position in the list rather than anything it says; that a file Kernl made was opened or exported, its extension, roughly how big it was, and whether that worked; that you pressed the same button several times and nothing happened, and which part of the app you were in; that a scheduled task ran and how it ended, how it was started, and roughly how long it took; how a message ended, including one that answered nothing or hung, how long before the first words appeared, how long the whole thing took, how many updates arrived, and whether it was a retry; and that the key for a cloud provider started failing, ran out of quota, or began working again, naming the provider but never the key; that a download started, paused, finished or failed, whether it was a built-in model or a part of Kernl rather than any address or file name, whether you, the app closing, or a restart caused it, and roughly how much had arrived; that a model about to start fit the graphics card, had to share memory, would not fit, or runs on the processor; which kind of install a first start was (a developer’s, an automated test’s, one of ours, a reinstall, or none of those), never who you are; and that a skill you asked to run would not start, naming the ready-made job and the reason it gave, from a fixed list of nine; and how often an answer cites a link it did not open, or credits a folder on your computer that nothing read from, kept as a count next to how many sources it did read, never the links or the folder names themselves. One click turns all of it off.

The detailed set (off until you turn it on, and the app asks once)

Also counters, and we do not collect them unless you say yes: which individual features and settings you touch, which theme you picked, when a session started, the detail behind a turn beyond its outcome, the rating when you press thumbs up or down, which known programs Kernl started while working, which integrations you connected, and the exact tool a permission prompt was for rather than only the kind of action. This list is the full one.

What both sets carry: which operating system and which version of Kernl, your screen size, your language setting, and what kind of graphics card you have including its model name and roughly how much memory it has. Kernl’s hardest failures are graphics failures, and without knowing the card we cannot tell whether a crash is one machine or ten thousand.

Neither one ever includes: what you typed, what Kernl replied, the names, paths, or contents of your files, what you passed to a tool, your keys, error text, or anything that names you.

The one place you can send us what you wrote is the feedback box, and only when you open it and press send. That message goes to us word for word, along with your email address if you fill that field in, your operating system and version of Kernl, and, unless you untick the box for it, your graphics card, its memory and whether you were online, so we can tell what you were running. Nothing about it is automatic, and Airplane Mode stops it too. If you would rather not use it, the box also offers to open your own mail program instead.

How you are identified: by a random string of characters generated on your machine when you install the app. It is not calculated from your computer’s name, your hardware, or anything else about you, so it cannot be worked backwards into your identity. Deleting the app’s data folder replaces it.

Your license is identified differently, and only if you buy one. Polar (polar.sh), the company that sells Kernl Plus for us, issues the license key and checks it. Turning a key on sends Polar the key and a label naming the computer: its name and its operating system, so you can tell your computers apart when you free one up. After that, each check sends the key and the number Polar gave that computer, and nothing else. The label is not the random string above, and the two are never sent together. The free version never contacts Polar.

Who processes it: PostHog (posthog.com), whose servers are in the United States. We only ever look at these as totals, to see which features matter and where the app is failing people.

When you connect an account of your own

If you connect your own account with Claude, GPT, Gemini, or another provider, what you type goes from your machine to that company directly, under their privacy policy. It does not pass through anything of ours, which means we could not log or store it even if we wanted to.

Using the built-in AI with reporting and the version check both switched off, Kernl makes no network requests at all. Airplane Mode is the one switch that does all of that: with it on, nothing Kernl itself sends leaves your network, a server you added on your own network is the one thing it still reaches, and a paid license keeps working through its term without a check.

It does not put a wall around programs you ask Kernl to run. If you tell it to run a command that downloads something, that command reaches the network the same way it would if you typed it into a terminal yourself, Airplane Mode or not, because it is your program running with your permission and Kernl is not in the middle of it. If you need that guarantee too, your firewall is the thing that gives it. You can confirm all of this yourself with a firewall or any tool that shows you what your computer is connecting to.

One exception, and it is one you switch on: approving actions from another device you own. That works by keeping a connection open to a relay we run, so the other device can reach this computer, so while it is on, Kernl is talking to the network even when you are not using it. Turning it off in Settings stops that immediately. Windows may ask permission the first time, because a program that opens a network socket is exactly the thing your firewall is meant to ask about.

The relay is a server Kernl operates (relay.getkernl.ai). It is the one piece of infrastructure we run for the app, and this is what it sees: the address each end connects from, the public identity of each end, when they talk and how much passes, all as plain server logs kept for seven days. It cannot see what passes, because the two devices hold the keys and the relay does not: what an approval is for, and what you answered, travels encrypted end to end between your computer and your paired device. It does not know who you are, and it is not tied to a license or an account.

What reaches the other device is the whole request, so you are deciding on the same thing you would see at the desk: the action, and the details it was called with. Keys and tokens are taken out on the way, by the same code that takes them out of the activity log on your computer. A request too large to read on a phone is not sent at all; the fingerprint that identifies it still is. What a locked screen shows is separate, and you set it on the device itself: nothing but that an approval is waiting, the kind of action, or the whole request.

Waking the other device uses that device’s own push service (Apple’s or Google’s, depending on the phone). What we send through it is encrypted for the device before it leaves your computer, so the push service carries a notification it cannot read. With approving from another device off, none of this happens.

This website

• The usual web server logs, kept by Cloudflare under its own policy
• No tracking cookies
• No account required
• Our sign-up and checkout forms use Cloudflare Turnstile to tell people from bots; it reads browser signals when you send a form.
• Cookieless analytics (PostHog, hosted in the US): page views, clicks, and performance timings without an account identifier, and no cross-site tracking. PostHog and Cloudflare still receive your IP address. Nothing is stored in your browser: no cookies and no local storage, so each page view stands on its own. We honor your browser’s Do Not Track setting: with it on, the site sends no analytics at all.

If you give us your email address

The only place this site asks for your email is the release-notes form. If you use it, the address goes onto a mailing list held by Resend, and one email asks you to confirm. Nothing is sent to an address that has not clicked that link. After that you get release notes, about once a month. We keep the address for that purpose and no other. We do not sell it, we do not share it with anyone else, and we do not use it to advertise to you. Every message has an unsubscribe link, that link works forever, and asking us to delete your address removes it.

Every company that can see any of this

This is the complete list of processors and services Kernl itself may use. If you connect a cloud AI provider, the content you send also reaches that provider under its policy. Most people will only ever touch the first three.

• Cloudflare serves this website and the download files, so it sees the same request logs any web host sees.
• PostHog holds the usage counts described above, on servers in the United States.
• The sites Kernl downloads its parts from. The installer carries no AI. When Kernl first sets itself up, and whenever you add a model or a tool from its lists, your computer fetches the files from the site that publishes them: Hugging Face (huggingface.co) for models, GitHub (github.com, raw.githubusercontent.com, api.github.com) and the Node.js and npm registries (nodejs.org, registry.npmjs.org) for the runtime and its tools, ModelScope (www.modelscope.cn) for the wake-word model, evermeet.cx for FFmpeg on a Mac, and our own download server (downloads.getkernl.ai, behind Cloudflare) for the rest. Each sees the same request logs any web host sees: your address and the file asked for. Nothing of yours travels with the request, and Airplane Mode stops these downloads too.
• Polar (Polar Software Inc.) sells Kernl Plus as the merchant of record: it is the seller, takes the payment, charges any sales tax or VAT, issues the license key and emails it to you. At purchase it receives your email address and your payment details; your card details go to Polar and its payment processor and never to us. Turning a key on sends it the license key and a label naming the computer (its name and operating system); each later check sends the key and the number Polar gave that computer. The free version never reaches it.
• Resend holds the release-notes list if you joined it, and sends those emails.
• Our relay (relay.getkernl.ai, a server we run) carries the encrypted connection between your computer and a device you paired, and only while you have approvals from another device switched on. It keeps connection logs for seven days and can read none of the content.
• Apple and Google push services wake a paired phone with a notification encrypted for that phone, only while approvals from another device are switched on and only for phones you paired.
• The search services are reached only when Kernl searches the web for you, and receive the search words and nothing else: Tavily (tavily.com) if you added a Tavily key, otherwise Parallel Web Systems (search.parallel.ai), and Firecrawl (firecrawl.dev) when Parallel does not answer. A search for pictures or videos asks Openverse, Wikimedia Commons, the Internet Archive and the GDELT news index. Airplane Mode stops all of them.

Apart from those search words, none of them receive what you type into Kernl, what it replies, or anything from your files. If you chat with a cloud model using your own key, your messages go to that company directly, as the table above says.

How long we keep things

Anonymous analytics data is kept for up to 24 months and then deleted. An email address you gave us for release notes is kept until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove it, whichever comes first. A message you send through the feedback box is kept alongside the analytics data and deleted on the same 24-month schedule, or sooner if you ask. Records tied to a license you bought are kept as long as the license is active and for as long afterwards as tax rules require us to.

Data Deletion

1. Uninstall Kernl
2. Delete Kernl’s data folder

To request deletion of any analytics data associated with your anonymous visitor ID, contact privacy@getkernl.ai.

Your Rights

Disable analytics anytime in Settings. To request deletion of analytics data associated with your visitor ID, email privacy@getkernl.ai. We do not sell or share personal information.

Your California Privacy Rights (CCPA)

If you are a California resident, you have the right to: (1) know what personal information we collect about you, (2) request deletion of your personal information, (3) opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information. We do not sell or share personal information. To exercise your rights, email privacy@getkernl.ai.

European Privacy Rights (GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or Switzerland, the lawful basis for processing your analytics data is legitimate interest (understanding product usage to improve the service). You have the right to: access your data, rectify inaccuracies, erase your data, restrict processing, data portability, and object to processing. To exercise any of these rights, contact privacy@getkernl.ai. Analytics data is processed by PostHog in the United States under their Data Processing Agreement.

Kernl Labs LLC is in the United States, so any data that does leave your machine is handled there. Where a company on the list above holds data belonging to someone in the EEA, the UK, or Switzerland, that transfer runs on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses, which each of them publishes as part of its own data processing terms.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be reflected in the “Last updated” date above. Continued use of Kernl after changes constitutes acceptance.

Questions? privacy@getkernl.ai