Privacy
Your lab's data stays with you. In short:
- Your data stays in your browser, encrypted. We hold no copy of it, and no copy of the key.
- Your calendar is read, never changed. Events are kept on your device.
- Only descriptions reach the AI provider. The rows of your tables and the contents of your files are not sent.
- You can see everything that left. Each message, with its destination and exact contents.
Your data stays in your browser, encrypted
Everything you tell Anneal, and everything it gathers for you, is kept in a database inside your browser on your device. The database is encrypted with a random key that only your passkey, passphrase or recovery code can unlock. We hold no copy of it, and no copy of the key.
Your calendar is read, never changed
If you connect Google Calendar, Anneal asks Google for read-only access to your calendar and nothing else. It reads the events on your primary calendar — title, time, location and the other attendees' names and addresses — to show your next meeting, find free times and recognize the people you meet. The events are kept in the encrypted database on your device. They are not sent to our server or to an AI provider, and they are never sold or used for advertising.
The access token is kept in the encrypted database and does not outlast the unlocked session it was granted in. You can revoke the access at any time in your Google Account's security settings.
Anneal's use and transfer to any other app of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
Your data folders are read where they are
If you connect Google Drive, Dropbox or a folder on your computer, Anneal reads the files you pick or the folder you choose: names, sizes, dates, and the first rows of sample sheets to describe their columns. It never copies, changes or deletes a file; from Google Drive it can open only the files you pick. What it notes, and the sign-in, are kept in the encrypted database on your device. Disconnecting deletes them.
Backups go only where you send them
If you choose Google Drive or Dropbox for backups, Anneal saves its encrypted backup file there weekly and after big changes, and deletes its own older backups beyond the newest four. The file opens only with your passkey, passphrase or recovery code.
Public research data
To learn about your work without asking you to fill anything in, Anneal reads public records: ORCID, OpenAlex, Europe PMC, NCBI, Crossref, NIH RePORTER, NSF, USAspending, SciCrunch and UC Davis Aggie Experts. Most are read directly from your browser; a few pass through our server, which forwards the request and keeps nothing.
What reaches AI providers
To answer you, Anneal sends descriptions to an AI provider (Anthropic) through our server: your own words, summaries, column names, counts and paper details. Raw data — the rows of your tables and the contents of your files — is not sent; a check in your browser refuses anything outside those kinds before it leaves. Our server stores none of it and logs only each request's path, status and timing.
Speech is transcribed on your device. Audio does not leave it.
The browser extension
On each page it reads only the citation tags, to tell whether the page is a paper. In a Google Doc, after you pause typing, it reads the Doc's text with your sign-in and passes the paragraph you changed to your open Anneal tab. Only its key terms (at most three genes, organisms or methods) go to Europe PMC, and each request is listed in What left. On your click it reads the page you clicked, to save a paper or stock, check a funding call or read your lab's page. It sends nothing to our server, except a paper's DOI when it opens a new Anneal tab to save that paper. It keeps only your settings on your device.
You can see everything that left
Every message sent from your browser, and every one refused, is recorded with its destination and its exact contents. The record is kept on your device and shown on the screen “What left this browser”.
Cookies and tracking
One cookie: the invitation that lets your browser open Anneal. No analytics, no advertising, no trackers.
Deleting your data
Clearing this site's data in your browser deletes everything Anneal holds about you. There is no other copy.