Privacy

You still hold the key.

Cortex Shelf is local first: no account, no login and no telemetry.

What stays on your Mac

Everything Shelf stores: files on the shelf, clipboard history, notes, screenshot text, focus stats and your recap. The clipboard and locked notes are encrypted at rest (AES-GCM, with the key in the Keychain).

Screenshot text is read with Apple's on-device OCR. Ports are read with lsof on your Mac.

What goes out, and when

• Updates: Sparkle checks for new versions, if you leave automatic checks on.
• What you share: files and stacks go where you send them through the share menu or AirDrop.
• Feedback and crash reports: only as an email you see and send yourself.
• Links you click, like a meeting's Join.

Ted notices travel over a local connection between the two apps, checked by code signature, never over the network.

AI

AI is paused in this version. It is gone from the menus, search and shortcuts, no AI tool is detected or started, and cortexshelf:// refuses AI requests. Data from earlier versions is kept, not deleted.

Locked Mac

When you lock the Mac, discreet mode turns on: the notes vault locks again, previews disappear, and Ted's notices show no content.