Your writing and your privacy.

This policy describes MDX Studio 1.0 build 6, which uses a native Mac editor and controls. Earlier versions may have different controls. The app does not require an account for local editing and has no app analytics or advertising.

Documents, version history, agent handoff notes, recorded agent edits, preferences and recovery copies stay on your Mac, except writing you explicitly submit to optional Unslop and the resulting service records. Files are edited at their original locations. Opening an original does not copy it into My documents. Local history and recovery drafts remain enabled. The app remembers file and folder permissions using macOS security-scoped bookmarks. Build 6 has no Disconnect folder control. Files inside a cloud-synced folder follow that service's behavior.

Find my writing searches only a location you choose in the macOS folder picker. Its search permission is temporary, but stopping the search or closing the results window does not by itself revoke that permission. It ends when you start another search, open a writing folder or file, or quit the app. The search reads filenames, folder names, file dates and available indexed title and author metadata. When Apple Intelligence is available, Apple's on-device Foundation Models framework classifies candidate folders using up to three excerpts of 1,800 bytes per candidate. No discovery data is sent to an external service, and results remain in memory. Only a folder you choose to open receives a remembered folder permission. Searches skip app bundles, hidden folders, common dependency and cache folders, symlinks and cloud-only documents. They do not download cloud files or modify documents.

The built-in preview renders common Markdown and local images without executing document scripts or custom MDX components. The native document browser displays titles and filenames without fetching remote thumbnails. For custom MDX rendering, you can connect a separately running local website. Its preview URL includes the selected relative filename and a writing-folder identifier. That website may load scripts, images, fonts, analytics and other resources according to its own configuration. Those resource providers receive ordinary network information such as your IP address. The website does not receive the app's private helper session cookie.

Writing review uses deterministic rules on your Mac. It does not use Foundation Models or send text to a service, and it does not determine who wrote a document. Optional Unslop is separate and requires a key you supply. Verifying and saving a key checks account usage online without submitting writing. Choosing Check account in the Unslop panel retrieves account balance, usage and history. Choosing Score document sends document prose to Unslop. Choosing Rewrite selection sends selected prose to Unslop and its configured AI providers, including OpenAI and Anthropic. No writing is submitted automatically. Each run needs your explicit confirmation and may use prepaid credits. Revisions only change the document when you choose Apply revision. A style score does not establish authorship.

The key is stored in a private file in Studio's local data directory, outside browser storage and preference exports. Up to 30 local runs keep full source snapshots and returned revisions. Removing or replacing the key removes those local runs, but does not delete service or provider records. Unslop retains account usage, activity, scores and charge metadata. Its latest 100 run entries contain metadata rather than document text. Billed requests can retain up to five response bodies containing draft text, excerpts or revisions. Expiry becomes eligible after one hour and is enforced by a later billed request, so idle or deleted accounts can retain them longer. Unslop logs technical request identifiers and error types for diagnostics. The same request identifiers appear in authenticated account activity, so those diagnostics can be linked to your account. Provider and hosting retention policies also apply; this policy does not promise a single log deletion deadline. Unslop may route owner-managed requests through Vercel AI Gateway when a direct provider key is absent. You can remove the key after an active run finishes to prevent new submissions. Closing the panel does not cancel a run already sent.

Hand off writes a local file for the Studio command-line tool. It does not contact an agent or publish anything. An agent you separately run may read the document and handoff note.

Removing the app does not delete documents in connected folders. Local history and recovery data may remain in the app's macOS container. Back up documents before removing application data.

Local helper and diagnostics

The bundled Node helper provides local parsing, authorized file operations, history, writing review and built-in preview rendering. The app starts it on 127.0.0.1 port 4000 with an app-private session and stops it on quit. It does not listen on the LAN or Internet. A writer's own website runs separately on another local port.

The app has no custom crash-report uploader. Launch and helper logs remain in its local data folder. Apple's operating-system diagnostics follow your Mac settings, and TestFlight can share crash reports with Apple and the developer. Those Apple services are separate from the app's local logs.

Retention and removal

Documents remain until you remove them using your file tools. Local history keeps a limited set of versions per document. Build 6 does not expose a version-retention control in its native Settings. Closing a window or opening another folder does not erase history, recovery data or remembered bookmarks. To locate local application data and logs, use Show data folder and local logs in Settings. Back up your writing before removing application data. Deleting recovery data can remove your ability to restore a draft.

Third-party services

Connected website previews and their resource hosts, cloud storage providers and optional Unslop have their own policies. On-device Apple Intelligence discovery does not send document excerpts to an external service. Read Unslop text handling, billing retention, OpenAI API data controls and Anthropic API retention.

Contact

Nathan Fennel develops MDX Studio. For privacy questions or help removing local data, email nathan@nathanfennel.com. If you contact support, your email and the information you choose to include are used to respond. Please do not send private documents or API credentials.

This policy describes the Mac app. Visiting this website is separate from using the app and may involve the website hosting and analytics services.

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