Privacy & Data

Ariv is built on a local-first architecture. Your notes live on your computer as plain files, and you have full control over what (if anything) leaves your machine. This page explains exactly how your data is handled.

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Local-First Architecture

Ariv stores everything locally on your computer:

• Your notes are plain .md files in your vault folder. They are never converted to a proprietary format.
• The search index is a SQLite database stored in Ariv’s data directory. It exists purely to make search fast — all the data in it comes from your files.
• Your settings are stored as a JSON file in the app data directory.

No Ariv account is required. There is no cloud storage, no server-side processing, and no sign-up. You own your data completely — it’s just files on your disk that you can open with any text editor.

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What Data Leaves Your Machine

Ariv makes network calls only in these specific cases. Each one is either optional or contains no personal data.

1. AI Queries (optional)

When you use AI features — Ask Brain, AI tag refinement, or note summarization — excerpts of your notes are sent to your chosen AI provider for processing.

Detail	Info
When	Only when you actively use an AI feature
What’s sent	Note content, truncated to 5,000-8,000 characters per note
Where	Your configured provider: Google Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic, or Ollama
How to avoid	Don’t configure an AI provider, or use Ollama (fully local)

Tip

If privacy is your top priority, use Ollama as your AI provider. It runs models entirely on your machine — no note content leaves your computer, ever. See Ask Brain for setup details.

2. Anonymous Telemetry (opt-out)

A single anonymous ping is sent when Ariv opens. This helps count active users and nothing more.

Detail	Info
When	Once per app launch
What’s sent	Anonymous ID (randomly generated, not tied to you), app version, platform (macOS/Windows)
What’s NOT sent	No note content, no file names, no feature usage, no personal data
How to disable	Settings: privacy.telemetryEnabled (set to off)

3. Feature Analytics (opt-in, off by default)

Anonymous feature usage counts to help the development team prioritize what to build next.

Detail	Info
When	Only if you explicitly enable it
What’s sent	Anonymous counts of feature usage (e.g., “search used 12 times”)
What’s NOT sent	No note content, no note titles, no file paths, no personal data
How to enable	Settings: privacy.analyticsEnabled (default: off)

4. Update Checks

Ariv checks for new versions on launch by contacting the update server hosted on Cloudflare R2.

Detail	Info
When	Each app launch
What’s sent	Current app version (to determine if an update is available)
What’s NOT sent	No user data of any kind

5. Semantic Search Model Download

The local semantic search model is downloaded once (approximately 22MB) the first time you enable semantic search.

Detail	Info
When	One-time download on first use
What’s sent	No user data — this is a download only

After downloading, semantic search runs entirely on your machine with no network calls.

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Privacy Settings

Ariv provides several privacy controls in Settings:

Setting	What it does	Default
privacy.storeRecentFiles	Remember recently opened files for quick access	On
privacy.clearHistoryOnExit	Clear the recent files list every time Ariv closes	Off
privacy.telemetryEnabled	Send anonymous open ping on launch	On
privacy.analyticsEnabled	Send anonymous feature usage counts	Off

Note

These settings affect only Ariv’s own behavior. AI provider settings (which provider, API key, etc.) are configured separately in Settings > AI & Intelligence.

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AI Provider Privacy

When you use cloud AI features, note content is sent to the provider you’ve selected. Each provider has their own data handling and retention policies:

• Google Gemini — Data is sent to Google’s API. Review Google’s Generative AI terms.
• OpenAI — Data is sent to OpenAI’s API. Review OpenAI’s usage policies.
• Anthropic — Data is sent to Anthropic’s API. Review Anthropic’s usage policy.
• Ollama — Runs entirely locally on your machine. No data leaves your computer. This is the best choice for maximum privacy.

Caution

Ariv does not control how third-party AI providers handle the data sent to them. If your notes contain sensitive information and you want to use AI features, consider using Ollama for fully local AI processing.

Ariv sends only the minimum context needed for each AI operation. Note content is truncated to 5,000-8,000 characters, and only notes relevant to your query are included.

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Data Storage Locations

All of Ariv’s data is stored in standard platform-specific directories:

Data	macOS	Windows
Your notes	Wherever your vault folder is	Wherever your vault folder is
Database & settings	~/Library/Application Support/Ariv/	%APPDATA%/Ariv/
Logs	~/Library/Logs/Ariv/	%APPDATA%/Ariv/logs/

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Data Deletion

To remove all Ariv data from your machine:

1. Delete your notes — Remove your vault folder to delete all notes. (Only do this if you no longer want the notes — they belong to you, not Ariv.)
2. Delete app data — Remove Ariv’s data directory to delete the database, settings, caches, and logs:
   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Ariv/
   • Windows: %APPDATA%/Ariv/
3. Uninstall the app — Remove Ariv through your operating system’s normal uninstall process:
   • macOS: Drag Ariv from Applications to the Trash.
   • Windows: Use “Add or remove programs” in Settings.

After these steps, no Ariv data remains on your machine.

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No Lock-In

Your notes are plain markdown files. There is no proprietary formatting, no special database encoding, and no export step required.

You can:

• Open your notes with any text editor (VS Code, Sublime Text, Notepad, vim, etc.)
• Move your vault to another app (Obsidian, Logseq, Typora, etc.) with zero conversion
• Back up your notes by simply copying the folder
• Use your notes with version control (Git, etc.)
• Access your notes on any device via your preferred file sync tool

Ariv adds metadata only to its own SQLite database, never to your files. If you uninstall Ariv, your notes remain exactly as they are.

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Related: FAQ — Common questions about Ariv | Troubleshooting — Solutions to common issues