Nilavon Studio and the nilavon command run on your computer. This page says what they keep,
where, and the only times they send anything over the network. It applies to the Beta packages
and to Nilavon built from source.
Nothing leaves your machine unless you ask
- No telemetry or analytics. Nilavon does not count, report or upload how you use it.
- No crash reports. Nothing is sent when Studio or the engine fails. Studio keeps a small log on your computer instead (below), and you choose whether to send it.
- No update checks. Studio never contacts a server to look for a new version.
- No background downloads. Studio’s spellchecker is off, so Chromium does not fetch dictionaries, and the app opens no web pages on its own.
When Nilavon goes online, and what it sends
Each of these happens only after you choose it, and none is a fallback for another.
| You choose | Who is contacted | What is sent |
|---|---|---|
| Download a local AI model in Settings | The model’s publisher on Hugging Face (development-only evaluation installs also fetch pinned files from PyPI) | An ordinary file download of a pinned file. Nothing about your projects. |
| Propose intent with AI (OpenAI) | OpenAI, with your API key | Your specification text, the compiled top-level interface and your reviewed configuration. Not your RTL source, file paths, generated tests or logs. You tick a box listing exactly this before each request. |
| Draft a proposal with AI online (General RTL, Beta) | The provider you pick (Anthropic or OpenAI), with your API key | Exactly the files and instructions the job lists before it starts (with their sizes and SHA-256), which you agree to per job, and again when you resume it. A copy of each request and answer stays in the job’s folder in your project. |
| User guide links, Help → User guide, or Help → License agreement | nilavon.com, in your own web browser | An ordinary page request from your browser. Studio sends nothing about you or your projects. Help → User guide (offline copy) opens the copy in the package instead and goes nowhere. |
| Help → Email support, or Email support on Studio’s problem screen | Your own mail program | Whatever you write. The draft Studio opens also holds a short diagnostics summary (versions, operating system, simulator status, the last problem in one line); you can edit or delete it before sending. |
| Help → Save support bundle… | Nobody: Studio saves a zip file where you choose | Nothing until you attach it to an email yourself. See below for what it holds. |
What a provider does with a request (how long it keeps it, whether it trains on it) is set by your agreement with that provider, not by Nilavon. Requests may cost money on your provider account.
What Nilavon keeps on your computer
- In your project folder (
.nilavon/): plans, reviews, generated tests, runs, logs, waveforms, reports and the RTL each run used. These hold your design, paths on your computer and the names you type as reviewer. They stay until you delete them; the user guide (section 9) explains what each holds and how to delete it. - In Studio’s app data folder: settings, the list of projects you trust, the list of projects you opened recently (name, folder, when, last run result; clear it in Settings > Projects), the Verify with route you last chose for each project (cleared with the recent list), saved waveform layouts and any installed local model. API keys are encrypted with your operating system’s key store, or kept in memory for the session only if you choose; they are never written to a project.
- Studio’s own log, in the
logsfolder of its app data folder: start-ups, crashes, hangs and errors, at most four files of 256 KB. It never holds your RTL, specifications, file contents or API keys. Paths keep only their last folder or file name, your home folder is shown as~, your account and computer names are replaced, and quoted text longer than 40 characters is removed. - Exports you make (reports, evidence packs) contain what you choose to include, such as your RTL.
- A support bundle (Help → Save support bundle…) holds Studio, engine and operating system versions, the last local simulation check, Studio’s settings (whether an OpenAI key is saved, never the key; how many projects you trust, never which) and Studio’s log, all redacted as above. It holds no project files and no project names or locations. It stays where you save it.
Projects from other people
Running a project runs its RTL and tests with your file permissions. Studio opens projects it did not create read-only until you trust them; on Linux you can also contain runs. See the user guide, section 7.
Contact
Questions about this statement: hello@nilavon.com.