Files
tty7/docs/reference/privacy.mdx
T
l0ng-ai 56b4769d9c docs(privacy): update.log is a file tty7 writes, so list it
The privacy page accounts for every file tty7 leaves in the config
directory, and `crash.rs` has a test holding it to that. The test named
two files. There are three: the updater appends `<config>/update.log`
while it installs a release — what it verified, what it replaced, and why
it stopped if it did.

It is written whenever an update runs, not only under `TTY7_LOG`. That
makes it exactly what the test's own comment describes as belonging on
the page: "a file written without being asked for". It is also the only
account of a swap that happens after the window is gone, which is why it
exists.

The guard now names all three, and was checked against the page as it
was.

Also corrects a filename I got wrong in the previous commit: the doc
comment on `install_crash_log` called this file `tty7-updater.log`. There
is no such file — I invented the name while describing what a silent
panic costs, and it went in unchecked. It is `update.log`, and finding
that is what turned up the missing page entry.
2026-08-23 02:27:09 +08:00

64 lines
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---
title: "Privacy and permissions"
description: "What macOS asks you, why, and what tty7 itself holds."
---
## Why macOS asks tty7 for permission
Panes are forked from tty7's own bundled executable, so when a program you run
asks macOS for a protected resource, macOS attributes the request to **tty7.app**
— not to the program.
If tty7 declared no usage strings, that request would be **denied outright with
no prompt at all**, and the program would look broken for no visible reason.
So tty7 declares the matching usage strings, and you get the normal one-time
prompt:
<CardGroup cols={2}>
<Card title="Devices" icon="camera">
Camera · microphone · Bluetooth · location · motion
</Card>
<Card title="Personal data" icon="address-book">
Contacts · calendars · reminders · photo library
</Card>
<Card title="System" icon="gear">
Local network · Apple Events · speech recognition · system administration
</Card>
</CardGroup>
<Warning>
**Declaring a usage string is not the same as holding the permission.**
tty7.app itself is granted none of these. Every prompt you see belongs to
whatever you ran in the pane, and you can revoke it under **System Settings →
Privacy & Security**.
</Warning>
### Full Disk Access
Apple defines no usage-string key for it. Reaching `~/Library/Mail`,
`~/Library/Messages`, `~/Library/Safari`, or `~/Library/Containers` needs a
manual grant in **System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access**.
## What leaves your machine
| | |
|---|---|
| **Update checks** | A request to the GitHub releases API every six hours, plus the download when you accept one. Turn it off with `check_for_updates: false`. |
| **Remote server installs** | Downloading a `tty7-server` binary for a machine you connected to — or, for WSL, copying the one already bundled with your install. |
| **Everything else** | Nothing. There is no telemetry, no analytics, and no account. |
Both of the above honour `http_proxy`. [Updates →](/reference/updates#proxies)
## What is stored, and where
| | |
|---|---|
| Settings, themes, window state | `~/.config/tty7/` (`%APPDATA%\tty7\` on Windows) |
| SSH passwords and key passphrases | The **OS keychain** — never `config.json`, never plain text on disk |
| Pane scrollback tails | `<config>/scrollback/*.bin`, mode `0600` on Unix and behind the config directory's ACL on Windows. 256 KiB per pane, kept only until something can no longer ask for it: closing a pane deletes its file at once, a restore consumes it, and a periodic pass collects the rest. |
| Shell history | Your shell's own file, exactly as before — unless you turned on per-pane history, which merges back into it. |
| Crash reports | `<config>/crash.log`, appended whenever tty7 panics: the time, the version, the panic message and a backtrace. Capped at 256 KiB. Nothing uploads it — it is there for you to read, and to attach to an issue if you choose. |
| Update log | `<config>/update.log`, appended by the updater while it installs a release: what it verified, what it replaced, and why it stopped if it did. Written whenever an update runs, not only under `TTY7_LOG` — the swap happens after the window is gone, so this is the only account of it. Nothing uploads it. |
| Diagnostic log | `<config>/tty7.log`, written **only** while `TTY7_LOG` (or `RUST_LOG`) is set; unset, there is no log at all. At `info` it records the daemon and connection lifecycle. At `debug` it also carries the directories and workspace names each request names, and output from the libraries tty7 is built on — worth reading before you attach it to an issue. Capped at 4 MiB. |