Privacy

This page is PRIVACY.md from the repository, published as written.

AutoPaper makes new wallpapers with AI: a language model writes each scene, and an image model paints it. Unless both run on your own computer or network, that means some of what you give AutoPaper leaves your computer. This page says exactly what, to whom, and what stays on your computer. For every request, host and limit, see NETWORK.md.

This page describes AutoPaper 0.1.5 on macOS, Windows and Linux, and changes with the apps.

The short version

• No telemetry, no analytics, no accounts, no AutoPaper server. AutoPaper talks only to the providers you set up, and only to make wallpapers or to check that a provider works. The one exception is the Mac app's update check, if you allow it (see Updates); on Windows and Linux, updates are your system's job, from the author's own server, which keeps no access logs.
• Out of the box it sends nothing. Until you choose a provider, AutoPaper uses Demo, which writes simple ideas and paints gradients on your computer, without any network.
• On this Mac: if you choose On this Mac as the writer, Apple's on-device model writes the ideas, and nothing about your keywords, wallpapers or taste leaves your Mac for that step.
• What leaves your computer, when you use a hosted provider: to write a scene, the current mood's keywords and Surprise, short descriptions of your 20 most recent wallpapers (from all your moods, not only the current one), a few things you've liked or disliked, your language (the language and region only, never your calendar or other regional preferences), and whether your computer is in light or dark mode (only while Match my appearance is on); to paint it, the finished prompt, the size and the quality. Plus AutoPaper's version, your system's name and version, and your IP address, as with any request online.
• What stays on your computer: your images, the history and ratings themselves, mood names, spending, timings and settings. (Short descriptions of recent wallpapers, from every mood and not only the current one, and a few phrases from what you liked or disliked, do go to a hosted writer with each request, as above. A mood is a set of keywords, not a privacy boundary.) Memory (the check that a new idea isn't one you've had) runs on your computer with a small bundled model.
• With local models (Ollama, LM Studio, ComfyUI and the like, on your computer or your own network), nothing leaves your network at all.
• Your keys stay in your system's secure store (Keychain, Credential Manager, Secret Service) and are sent only to the service they belong to.

Who learns what

AutoPaper has no server of its own that the apps talk to, and learns nothing. The update files for Windows and Linux are static files on the author's server, which keeps no access logs.

Under their terms as of October 2026:

• OpenAI says data sent to its API isn't used to train its models unless you opt in, and keeps abuse-monitoring logs, which may contain prompts and responses, for up to 30 days. AutoPaper sends its writing requests with store: false, so they aren't also kept as stored responses; image requests keep no application state.
• Google, with a paid project (billing turned on), doesn't use what you send to improve its products, and keeps prompts and responses for 55 days to detect abuse. The generateContent calls AutoPaper uses store no conversation, so there's nothing for a store setting to turn off.
• Google, with a free Gemini key: what you send may be used to improve Google's products, and may be read by human reviewers. In the EEA, Switzerland and the UK, the paid terms apply even to free keys. AutoPaper's Settings say this wherever you choose Google: "A free Gemini key may let Google use what you send to improve its products; a paid project doesn't." Painting with Gemini needs a paid project anyway, as Google's image models have no free tier.
• Local servers keep whatever they keep: ComfyUI, for example, saves each painting in its own output/autopaper/ folder and lists the job in its history. AutoPaper doesn't delete those.

Each provider's own policy is the one that applies; you hold the key, so you're its customer, not AutoPaper.

What's sent

Before composing a new wallpaper, AutoPaper checks both selected services with read-only model-list requests (ComfyUI uses /object_info). These checks send credentials to their own provider as usual, but no keywords, prompts or images. Demo needs no network; a budget block makes no checks. If a check fails, a saved usable wallpaper from the selected mood can be shown without generation. Both results stay in Console on this computer.

To write a scene (one request; two or three when the first ideas are too close to ones you've had, and one more if a provider declines an idea):

• the current mood's keywords (Must, Maybe and Avoid) and its Surprise;
• short descriptions of recent wallpapers, up to 20, so the ideas don't repeat them, and, when it asks again, the descriptions of up to 8 it came too close to;
• taste hints: up to 6 things you've tended to like and 6 you've tended to dislike, such as "warm ivory" or "harbour";
• your language and region, such as en-US, so titles and descriptions come back in your language;
• whether your computer is in light or dark mode, as one sentence asking for a wallpaper that suits it, only while Match my appearance is on (Settings, General; on by default);
• AutoPaper's fixed instructions (how to compose a wallpaper), and the shape the answer must take.

For an echo, the original wallpaper's concept (title, description, setting, palette and so on), its prompt and how long ago it was made go too, instead of the keywords.

Not sent: the mood's name, dates or the time of day, your display's size, what you've spent, or anything that identifies your computer.

To paint it: the finished prompt (at most 2,500 characters), the size (from your display's shape), and the quality (Standard or High). ComfyUI also gets the workflow, with a random seed.

With every request: a User-Agent such as AutoPaper/0.1.0 (macOS/26.6 AutoPaper/0.1.0; +https://github.com/msitarzewski/AutoPaper), which names AutoPaper's version and your system's name and version; the key, for the service it belongs to; and your IP address. No cookies, no device ID, no account.

Your descriptions after clearing history: Clear History… with Keep memory keeps each wallpaper's description so AutoPaper can still avoid repeats, and the most recent of those can still be sent as "recent" descriptions. Clear History and Memory (Windows: Clear everything; Linux: Forget everything) deletes them.

What AutoPaper does to keep this small

• Nothing until you choose. Demo is the default, and a new install makes no requests at all: on a Mac, it asks before it ever checks for updates.
• Only what a wallpaper needs. Memory, taste, the budget and the time estimates are all worked out on your computer; only the writing and painting go to a provider.
• Keys stay with their service. Each key is sent only to its own provider. A key for an OpenAI-compatible server belongs to that server's address and is never sent anywhere else. Redirects are followed only within the same host, and a change of scheme or port drops the key first.
• Your network stays yours. Plain http is used only for addresses on your own computer or local network; anything further away needs https. Hosted providers are reached only at their own API host, over https.
• No cookies, no cache, no Referer, and responses are size-limited and checked before use (see NETWORK.md).
• Local request transparency. Console keeps the prompts, provider/model choices, responses, retry decisions and outcomes of your wallpaper runs on this computer. It never records authentication headers or image bytes, and redacts credentials from retained details. Nothing in Console is uploaded automatically; Copy Details and Export JSON share only the run you choose. System logs still contain no prompts or request bodies.

What's stored on your computer

Everything AutoPaper keeps is in its own data folder, plus a few preferences. None of it is uploaded anywhere.

The data folder is private to you: AutoPaper makes it readable by its owner only (macOS, Linux), and on Windows it sits in your own profile. The data folder is:

• macOS: ~/Library/Containers/com.autopaper/Data/Library/Application Support/AutoPaper (AutoPaper is sandboxed).
• Windows: the app's own LocalState folder, under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\.
• Linux: ~/.local/share/autopaper ($XDG_DATA_HOME/autopaper).

Keys are stored under these names: on macOS, Keychain items for the service com.autopaper.credentials; on Windows, Credential Manager entries named AutoPaper:openai.api_key and so on, kept on this PC only (they don't roam with your account); on Linux, Secret Service items labelled "AutoPaper: OpenAI API key" and so on.

Permissions

• macOS: AutoPaper runs in the App Sandbox and asks for outgoing network connections, read and write access to a file you choose (a ComfyUI workflow of your own to read, and a Console report to save), and a narrow exception that lets Sparkle's installer helper finish an update. No location, contacts, camera, microphone or photos. Notifications are off unless you turn them on, and macOS asks first.
• Windows: a packaged desktop app. It reads and sets the desktop picture, sets the lock screen picture unless you turn that off, and shows notifications unless you turn them off. It has access to your Pictures library (the picturesLibrary capability) only because Windows hands an app the lock screen's current picture only with it: AutoPaper uses it to read your own lock screen picture, so it can put it back, and for nothing else. When you install it, App Installer lists three things it can do:
  • Uses all system resources (runFullTrust): it's an ordinary desktop app, as every WinUI 3 desktop app is, rather than one confined like a Microsoft Store app.
  • Use your pictures library (picturesLibrary): only to read the lock screen picture, as above.
  • Write registry entries and files that are not cleaned up on uninstall (unvirtualizedResources): when AutoPaper sets the lock screen picture, Windows records that in your own settings rather than in a private copy only AutoPaper sees. Without it, Windows Settings kept showing your old lock screen and the change didn't take. AutoPaper uses it for nothing else; its history, images and settings stay in its own app folder.
• Linux: it sets the wallpaper through the desktop's Wallpaper portal (which may ask you once), runs in the background through the Background portal, and keeps keys in the Secret Service.
• Siri and Shortcuts (macOS): AutoPaper's actions can make a new wallpaper, like or dislike the current one, switch moods, and say what's on your desktop. The answers stay on your Mac, apart from whatever Siri itself does with a spoken request.
• Network: outgoing only. AutoPaper accepts no incoming connections.

Turning things off

• Choose Demo, or local providers, in Settings → Providers, and nothing leaves your computer or your network.
• Remove a key in Settings → Accounts (Windows and Linux: Keys), and that service is never contacted.
• Delete a wallpaper from History, and its image and memory go; Clear History… clears them all, keeping memory unless you choose otherwise; Reset What It Learned… forgets your taste.
• Choose Only when I ask in Settings → General, and AutoPaper contacts a provider only when you ask: for a new wallpaper, an echo, or a replacement for one you dislike (that last one can be turned off too), or when Settings → Providers lists a provider's models.

Updates

Each app is updated the usual way for its system. None of these sends your keys, keywords, prompts, wallpapers or settings, and none carries an account or a device ID: AutoPaper has neither. What's sent is what any browser sends for a file: your IP address, and a User-Agent naming the program asking. Flatpak also says, as it does to every repository, which app it's fetching and, when updating, which version you have.

• macOS (Sparkle): on its second launch AutoPaper asks whether to check for updates automatically; nothing is checked before you answer. If you allow it, it checks about once a day, and Check for Updates… checks whenever you choose. A check downloads the update feed, https://msitarzewski.github.io/AutoPaper/appcast.xml, from this project's website on GitHub Pages, with the User-Agent AutoPaper/<version> Sparkle/<version>. Sparkle can also send a system profile (your Mac's model, processor, macOS version and language); AutoPaper leaves that off, so it is never sent. An update you choose to install is downloaded from GitHub's release servers, and it's installed only if its signature matches the public key built into AutoPaper.
• Windows, installed with App Installer: Windows' App Installer, not AutoPaper, checks AutoPaper's App Installer file, https://msitarzewski.com/app-updates/autopaper/AutoPaper.appinstaller, each time AutoPaper starts and in the background about every 8 hours (the file's own update settings), and downloads a new version's package from the same server. Windows installs it only if its signature checks out.
• Windows, installed with winget: winget upgrade asks Microsoft's winget repository for the newest version, and downloads the package attached to that release on GitHub, when you run it.
• Linux (Flatpak): Flatpak, not AutoPaper, checks AutoPaper's Flatpak repository, https://msitarzewski.com/app-updates/autopaper/flatpak (the remote autopaper), whenever GNOME Software or KDE Discover checks for updates or you run flatpak update. A check downloads the repository's summary; an update downloads only the files that changed. Flatpak installs only what the repository's key signed. AutoPaper never checks for updates itself.

msitarzewski.com is the author's own server. HTTPS ends at a front proxy, which forwards each request over a private network to the file server; neither keeps access logs for msitarzewski.com. Like any web server, it sees your IP address and the User-Agent of the program asking (Windows' App Installer, or Flatpak) while it answers.

Questions

Report privacy concerns the same way as security issues; see SECURITY.md.