Paper privacy policy
Effective 13 November 2026
Paper is a calm place to write and keep documents, sheets, slides, forms and sites. This policy says what Paper collects, where it goes, who else sees it, and how you stay in control.
1. Who we are
Paper is run by Primitive AI Labs Pty Ltd, trading as Primitive AI (ABN 86 701 195 708), Perth, Western Australia. Privacy contact: hello@primitiveai.com.au. In this policy, "we" and "us" mean Primitive AI, and the service is at paper.primitiveai.com.au.
2. What we collect
Your account
- Your name and email address.
- A password hash. We keep a salted one-way scrypt hash, never your password itself. If you only sign in with GitHub, the account holds a random password nobody knows.
- If GitHub sign-in is turned on and you use it, GitHub tells us your name or username and your primary verified email address. We use them to find or create your account. We do not store the GitHub access token; it is used for that one sign-in and then dropped.
- Sign-in sessions: a random token in a cookie, a hash of it on our side, and the times it was made and expires.
- Whether your email has been verified (through a password reset or GitHub sign-in).
Sign-up may be limited to invited email addresses while Paper is in early release.
What you make
The documents, sheets, slides, forms and sites you create, the folders you put them in, files you upload, web pages you ask Paper to keep, and answers entered into your forms. These are stored on our server under your account, with their titles and the times they were made and changed. Items you move to the bin stay stored until you delete them for good.
When you ask Paper to keep a web page, our server fetches that page once, keeps its words (and the images it needs) as a read-only copy, and does not load the site again. The site you saved can see our server's address when it is fetched.
Connected AI apps
If you connect an AI app (see section 6), we store the app's name as it gave it to us, where it returns to, what you allowed, when you connected and last used it, hashed access tokens, a log of what it did, and receipts that let you undo its last change to each item.
Technical information
Our server handles your IP address and the requests you make. We use IP addresses and account identifiers in memory to limit repeated sign-in, sign-up and similar attempts; that memory is cleared when the time window ends or the server restarts. Our error log records that a request failed, not the content of your pages. Our hosting setup may also keep standard technical logs (such as an IP address and the page requested) for a short time, to keep Paper running and secure.
3. Why we use it
- To run your account, keep your work, and let you open and edit it.
- To send a password reset email, when email is set up.
- To run the optional AI features you choose to use, and the connected AI apps you approve.
- To keep Paper secure and stop abuse.
We do not sell personal information, we do not use your pages for advertising, and Paper has no analytics or advertising tools.
4. Who receives it and where
| Who | What they receive | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting provider (Hetzner) | Runs the server and storage that hold your account and your pages. | Singapore |
| Resend (email provider), when email is set up | Your email address and the text of the password reset email. | United States |
| GitHub, only if you choose GitHub sign-in | Your sign-in request. GitHub sends your name or username and verified email to us. | United States |
| Anthropic, only when the writing, asking or planning features in section 5 are on | The text those features need. | United States |
| Voyage AI, only when meaning-based search in section 5 is on | Passages of your pages and your questions, to turn into search vectors. | United States |
| Encrypted backup storage (Amazon Web Services) | An encrypted copy of Paper's data. Only we hold the key; the storage provider cannot read it. | Australia (Sydney) |
We do not give your pages to anyone else, and we do not sell them.
5. AI features that run from Paper's server
Some features send part of your content from our server to an AI provider. Each is off unless we switch it on, and each sends only what the feature needs.
- Writing suggestions (improve, shorten, expand, rewrite, change tone, translate). When you ask, the passage you selected (up to 8,000 characters) and the instruction go to Anthropic. Off unless an Anthropic key is set on our server. Currently off.
- Asking your pages. Your question and the passages of your own pages and saved web pages that best match it go to Anthropic to write a short answer with citations. Needs the Anthropic key and the experimental features to be on. Without them, Paper picks matching sentences itself and sends nothing out. Asking is on, but written answers are currently off, so answers are picked from your own pages on our server and nothing is sent to Anthropic.
- Meaning-based search (embeddings). Passages of your pages, and your questions, go to Voyage AI so Paper can find pages by meaning. Off unless a Voyage key is set on our server. Currently off.
- Server planner for the agent corner. To plan edits, your conversation and the item you are working on (its content, and the list of site parts available) go to Anthropic. It needs agent access and the planner switched on, an Anthropic key, and your own consent, which is limited to what you choose and expires. You can revoke it. Currently off.
We do not write the text you send into our logs. What an AI provider does with it is governed by that provider's own terms and privacy policy.
6. Connected AI apps (Claude, ChatGPT and others)
You can let an AI app such as Claude or ChatGPT work with your Paper account. It signs in through Paper's own sign-in, and you approve it on a consent card in Paper. How to do it is on Use Paper with your AI.
- What it can reach is your choice. On the card you pick which kinds of paper it may use (documents, sheets, slides, forms, sites), whether it may read only or read and edit, and how long to allow (1, 7 or 30 days). Form responses are a separate box that starts unticked. It cannot move items to the bin.
- Some changes wait for you. Removing content, every rewrite of a document, and every undo are held until you approve them in Paper.
- Tokens are stored hashed. Paper keeps only a one-way hash of each token. Access tokens last at most an hour, and everything ends when the connection does.
- Receipts and a log. Each change an app makes gets a receipt, so Paper can undo the app's latest change to an item. A receipt holds what the item looked like before the change. Older receipts for an item are cleared after 30 days, keeping the newest one. A record of what each connection did is kept with your account.
- You can disconnect at any time from Connected AI in the account menu. That ends the connection and all its tokens straight away.
When an AI app reads your pages, they go to that app and its provider, and that provider's own policy governs what it does with them. Paper cannot see or control that, so connect only apps you trust. Disconnecting stops new access; it cannot take back what an app has already read.
7. Your own AI in the corner
In the corner chat you can use your own Anthropic or OpenAI key. The key is kept only on your device, in your browser's IndexedDB, separately for each Paper account, and it is stored sealed. Calls go straight from your browser to Anthropic or OpenAI. Paper never receives the key, and what you send to that provider does not pass through our server. You can remove the key at any time. That provider's own policy covers what you send it.
8. Things that stay on your device
Outside mail and calendar
If you connect Gmail or Outlook (and, for Google, a read-only calendar), your browser talks to Google or Microsoft directly. The sign-in tokens, your messages and the sync position are kept sealed in IndexedDB on your device. Paper's server does not receive, proxy, store or log them. You can disconnect or forget the device in Paper, and you can also remove Paper's access in your Google or Microsoft account.
Clipboard helper (optional, Windows)
The optional clipboard helper is a small program you download and install yourself. It listens only on your own computer (the local address 127.0.0.1) and Paper in your browser reads from it. It starts paused, needs your approval to connect, and sends nothing to a server, cloud service or analytics tool. Clips are kept on your computer. The helper is not available yet; this section describes it for when it is.
9. Cookies and browser storage
- One sign-in cookie,
pn_session. It is HttpOnly, SameSite Lax, and Secure on the live site, and lasts up to 30 days or until you sign out. - When you sign in with GitHub, a short-lived cookie (10 minutes) protects that sign-in and is then removed.
- Your browser's local storage holds small settings such as theme, sort order, and a place to return to after sign-in. IndexedDB holds the items in sections 7 and 8.
Paper has no analytics, advertising or tracking cookies. You can clear any of this in your browser settings.
10. How long we keep it
- Your account and work: until you delete them or the account is deleted.
- Sessions: up to 30 days. Password reset links: 30 minutes.
- Items in the bin: until you delete them forever. Deleting an item also removes its responses, receipts and pending proposals.
- Pending AI change proposals: their content is dropped when they expire, and a small status record is removed a day later.
- Backups: Backups of Paper's data are encrypted and older ones are removed after 35 days, so deleted information can remain in a backup for up to about 35 days.
11. Deleting your information
You can move any item to the bin and delete it forever yourself, disconnect AI apps, and remove your own AI key at any time. To delete your whole account, open your account settings and choose Delete account. It happens straight away: your account, items, files and AI connections are removed from our server, and Paper clears its copy on the device you use. Encrypted backups that still hold your data expire within 35 days. If you can't sign in, email hello@primitiveai.com.au.
12. Security
Paper is served over HTTPS. Passwords are stored as salted scrypt hashes, and sign-in, reset and connection tokens are stored hashed. Sign-in attempts are rate limited. Requests from other websites that try to change your work are blocked, and approvals for risky AI changes happen in Paper in front of you. No internet service can promise absolute security. Primitive AI maintains a cyber security incident and data breach response process. If an incident affects personal information, Primitive AI will assess the incident and take notification or remediation steps required by applicable law and the circumstances.
13. Overseas disclosure
Some of the providers in section 4 may be outside Australia, so your information may be stored or processed overseas. We take the reasonable steps the Australian Privacy Principles require when we use them. AI apps you connect, and your own AI provider, are your choices, and each is governed by its own policy. Today that means the United States (GitHub sign-in, and Anthropic and Voyage AI when those features are on) and Singapore (our hosting).
14. Access and correction
You can ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it, by emailing hello@primitiveai.com.au. We may need to check it is you first. You can see and change most of it yourself inside Paper.
15. Complaints
If you think we have mishandled your personal information, contact us first at hello@primitiveai.com.au and tell us what happened. We will acknowledge your complaint within 7 days and aim to respond within 30 days.
If you are not satisfied, or we have not responded in 30 days, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC): online using its privacy complaint form at oaic.gov.au, by email to oaicintake@oaic.gov.au, or by post to GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001. General enquiries: 1300 363 992 (+61 2 9942 4099 from outside Australia).
16. Children
Paper is intended for adults aged 18 and over. We do not intend to offer Paper to children under 18. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact hello@primitiveai.com.au.
17. Changes
If we change how Paper handles personal information, we will update this page and its date. If a change is significant, we will tell Paper account holders before it applies.
18. Contact
Primitive AI Labs Pty Ltd, trading as Primitive AI
ABN 86 701 195 708
Perth, Western Australia
hello@primitiveai.com.au