Privacy and data
Know what stays local, what can sync, and what assistants see.
Contextify works with AI coding transcripts. The default mental model is simple: indexing starts on your Mac, cloud sync is optional, and assistant retrieval is query based.
Local indexing comes first
Contextify watches supported transcript folders on your Mac and indexes Claude Code and Codex CLI sessions into a local database.
The local app can show projects, timelines, summaries, and search results without connecting to hosted Cloud.
For the operational difference between local processing and Cloud upload/download, see Ingestion and syncing.
Cloud sync is optional
When you connect hosted Contextify Cloud or a self-hosted Cloud server, the app syncs eligible indexed history with the selected cloud target.
History is eligible for sync when Contextify has indexed it locally, the project is included in Project Sync on this Mac, and the selected cloud target supports that record type.
Switching cloud targets does not transfer accounts, roles, billing state, API keys, or remote-only records from one service to another.
Project Sync controls
Settings → Cloud includes Project Sync controls for choosing which projects sync on this Mac.
Excluding a project stops future uploads and downloads for that project on this device. Data already uploaded to a cloud target is governed by that target and may need to be handled there.
| Control | Scope | Important limit |
|---|---|---|
| Project Sync include/exclude | This Mac and this project. | Stops future sync on this device. It is not a remote purge. |
| Disconnect Cloud | This Mac's saved connection. | Does not delete the remote account or server data. |
| Switch cloud target | Future sync from this Mac. | Does not transfer accounts, API keys, roles, or remote-only records. |
Total Recall retrieval
Total Recall lets Claude Code or Codex ask the Contextify CLI for search results. The assistant receives the result snippets it requested, not a copy of the whole database.
If cloud sync is enabled, the local database may include eligible history synced from your selected cloud target. If cloud sync is disabled, Total Recall searches local indexed history.
A good Total Recall prompt asks for specific context. The assistant can see the snippets returned by the search it ran. It does not automatically receive every transcript.
Result size is bounded by the CLI search options and the assistant's prompt context. Narrower prompts usually return better, smaller snippets.
Secrets and support evidence
Support may ask for diagnostics, status output, or a failing URL. Remove secrets before sending anything.
- Do not send raw API keys, browser cookies, magic links, OTP codes, setup tokens, or password-reset links.
- It is usually safe to send the provider, redacted server URL, status label, sanitized latest error, and whether
/api/v1/healthresponds. - For self-hosted Cloud, the hostname can matter because it is tied to TLS. Do not redact it so heavily that support cannot see the certificate name.
Policy and support
This page is a product behavior guide. The formal policy lives at the privacy page.
Last updated: May 30, 2026