ClearTone — Privacy Policy

Scope: ClearTone Desktop Utility for Windows (ClearTone.exe) • Effective Date: October 2026

Application-Specific Privacy Commitment: This policy applies exclusively to the ClearTone desktop software client. ClearTone is engineered with a strict Zero-Telemetry, Client-Side BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) architecture. It does not collect personal identifiers, track user behavior, or operate any intermediary ingestion servers.

1. What Data Does ClearTone Handle?

Because ClearTone is an offline-first desktop executable running locally on your workstation, data handling is strictly limited to user-initiated actions:

Data Category	How It Is Handled	Where It Stays
Highlighted Text	Captured in system memory solely when you click the badge or press `Alt + G`. Sent directly to Groq Cloud API for tone/grammar inspection.	Never stored. Cleared from memory immediately after the suggestion card is displayed or dismissed.
Groq Cloud API Key	Entered by you during first-time launch setup. Used to authorize direct TLS inference requests with Groq.	Stored locally in your Windows user profile at `%APPDATA%\ClearTone\config.json`. Never transmitted to Bossrod.
Application Logs	Diagnostic execution timestamps and status codes generated for troubleshooting (e.g., rate limits or API connectivity).	Stored locally at `%APPDATA%\ClearTone\logs\cleartone.log`. Automatically capped at 6MB. Never uploaded anywhere.
Keystrokes / Typing	ClearTone does not contain keyloggers or background typing trackers.	N/A (Not tracked or captured).

2. Direct Client-to-Inference Architecture

Traditional writing assistants route every keystroke through their own centralized backend servers. In contrast:

No Intermediary Servers: ClearTone does not route traffic through bossrod.com, analytics servers, or proxy nodes.
Direct Encrypted TLS: Requests travel straight from your computer to Groq's official API endpoint (https://api.groq.com/openai/v1/chat/completions).
Third-Party Processing: Groq processes your text under your own personal API account. For details on Groq's enterprise data confidentiality, see the Groq Privacy Policy.

3. Client-Side Security Shield & Sensitive Data Protection

ClearTone includes hard-coded, client-side safety guardrails that run locally before any request is assembled:

Password Field Detection: Uses Windows UI Automation to detect whether the active control has control.IsPassword == True. If so, ClearTone suppresses itself and immediately aborts capture.
Credential Manager Blacklist: Explicitly ignores windows belonging to recognized password managers (1Password, Bitwarden, KeePass, Windows Security).
Regex Pattern Sanitizer: Scans selected text locally to ensure API keys, JWT tokens, credit card numbers, and secret prefixes (e.g., Pass: or Pass=) are blocked from being sent to the AI engine.
Single-Word Gate: Prevents accidental activations on single words or isolated clicks.

4. User Rights, Deletion & Uninstallation

Because ClearTone does not store any of your data on remote servers:

You have complete control over your data on your local machine.
To delete all configuration settings, API keys, and local logs, simply delete the folder: %APPDATA%\ClearTone.
To remove the application, simply delete ClearTone.exe. No residual services or background daemons are left behind.

5. Contact & Questions

If you have questions regarding ClearTone's architecture, security implementation, or this privacy policy:

• Email: contact@bossrod.com
• Releases & Issue Tracker: github.com/roddan-hue/cleartone-releases/issues