Privacy Policy
Last updated: August 10, 2026
ShellBuddy is a little web app that helps you run your own AI on your own Mac. It is a side project, given away free, and it is built so that using it tells us nothing about you.
The short version: ShellBuddy collects nothing. There is no account, no sign-in, and no database. Everything you do in the app — lessons, progress, XP, flashcards — is saved in your own browser and never leaves your device. No analytics, no ads, no tracking, no cookies. The only way we ever learn anything about you is if you deliberately email us, or hand us your email address on the About page.
Who is responsible
ShellBuddy is a personal project by Raffael Hüberli, St. Gallen, Switzerland (the "data controller" in legal terms). Questions, requests, complaints: hello@tschuebi.com.
Using the app
The whole app is free and open — no password, no account, nothing to join. While you use it, no personal data reaches us at all. ShellBuddy is a static website: your browser downloads the files once and then runs everything locally, including the practice terminal, which is a simulation inside the page rather than a real shell on a real machine.
The one unavoidable exception is the same one every website has: our host (Netlify) processes your IP address transiently in its server logs in order to send you the page at all.
Your progress, and why you should back it up
Your progress lives in your browser's local storage on the device you're using: completed lessons, XP, streak, flashcard schedule, your first name if you entered one, and the RAM/chip setting the Model Picker uses. We cannot see any of it.
The flip side of that promise is that nobody is holding a copy for you. Clearing your browser data erases your progress permanently, and it does not follow you to another device on its own. Use Progress → Back up your progress → Export to save it as a file you keep, and Import to load it on another device. That file goes straight from the page to your downloads folder; it is never uploaded.
Note for early beta users. Until August 2026 ShellBuddy offered optional email sign-in that synced progress to a database. That feature has been removed, and every account, email address and synced copy of progress that existed under it was permanently deleted. Progress already saved on your own devices was untouched and is still there.
If you give us your email on the About page
The About page has an optional form for hearing about new lessons and updates. If you use it, we store the email address you typed, plus which of the two boxes you ticked, in a private Notion database, and we send you mail through Resend. That's it: no list-selling, no ad networks, no profiling, and you can have it deleted by replying to any email or writing to hello@tschuebi.com. Legal basis: your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR), which you can withdraw at any time. Nothing in the app itself asks for or needs this.
Who processes data on our behalf
- Netlify (website hosting) — serves the app's files, with transient IP processing in server logs. Applies to everyone who loads the page.
- Notion (stores the update-list signups) — only if you submit the form.
- Resend (delivers those emails) — only if you submit the form.
These providers act as processors under our instructions. We have no other recipients, we don't sell or share data with anyone, and there is no advertising or profiling of any kind.
What we deliberately don't do
- No analytics or tracking scripts. We genuinely cannot see what you do in the app, which lessons you finish, or whether you use it at all.
- No cookies. The app uses local storage purely to save your progress and work offline — functional storage, never tracking.
- No account, so nothing to leak. There is no user database behind ShellBuddy any more.
- No marketing emails unless you asked for them on the About page.
How long we keep data
For the app itself the question doesn't arise, because nothing is kept. Update-list signups are kept until you ask us to remove them, or until the list is retired, whichever comes first.
Your rights
Under the GDPR and the Swiss FADP you can ask for access to your data, correction, deletion, a portable export, or restriction of processing — email hello@tschuebi.com. For your learning progress, none of that needs us: it is already on your device, and the Export button gives you the portable copy. You also have the right to complain to a supervisory authority — in Switzerland the FDPIC, or your local EU data-protection authority.
Changes
If this policy changes in a way that matters, the date above changes and significant changes will be noted in the app. This is a small, personal project — the promise ("it all stays on your machine") is the point, and it won't quietly get worse.