Privacy Policy

Effective date: April 6, 2026

Outerline is a local-first markdown editor. Your documents are files on your own Mac — we never see them, store them, or have any access to them. This policy describes the limited cases where any data leaves your device.

Your Documents

Outerline reads and writes .md files directly on your Mac. On first launch you choose a storage location — either a local folder or a folder in iCloud Drive. If you choose iCloud Drive, your files are synced by Apple's iCloud service under your own Apple ID and subject to Apple's privacy policy. Outerline itself never transmits your documents anywhere.

Diagnostics & Performance

Outerline uses Apple's MetricKit framework to collect crash, hang, and performance diagnostics. MetricKit is a system service provided by macOS — Apple aggregates this data on your device and delivers it to the app once per day.

Outerline stores MetricKit payloads locally at ~/Library/Application Support/Outerline/. This data is never uploaded automatically. It may include:

  • App version and build number
  • macOS version
  • Hardware model identifier (e.g. Mac16,1)
  • Crash and hang stack traces
  • CPU, memory, and disk write metrics

You can share this data with us voluntarily via Help → Generate Diagnostic Snapshot to assist with bug reports. We will only receive diagnostic data you explicitly send to us.

App Updates

The direct-distribution version of Outerline uses Sparkle to check for updates. When checking for updates, Sparkle contacts outerline.so and sends your current app version and macOS version so the server can return the correct update information. No personal information is included. Update checks happen automatically in the background and can be disabled in Outerline → Settings → Updates.

MCP Integration

Outerline includes a built-in MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that lets you connect your library to AI tools such as Claude Desktop or Claude Code. The MCP server runs entirely on your Mac. Outerline does not send any data to Anthropic or any other AI service.

When you connect an AI tool, that tool may read documents from your library as part of a conversation. The privacy of that data is governed by the policy of the AI service you choose to connect — for example, Anthropic's privacy policy for Claude. Documents are only accessible to an AI tool when you have it actively connected.

What We Don't Collect

Outerline does not:

  • Collect analytics or usage data
  • Use advertising or tracking SDKs
  • Create user accounts or require sign-in
  • Sell, share, or monetize your data in any form
  • Access your documents without your explicit action

Contact

Questions about this policy? Email [email protected].

We may update this policy from time to time. Changes will be posted at this URL with a revised effective date.