What stays on your laptop
KChat is a desktop application with its own database running inside it. Everything you create is written to that database, or to the app's data folder, on the computer where you use it.
- Chats. Every message you send and every answer you receive.
- Files. Documents you upload, and the text extracted from them.
- Memory. Facts KChat remembers about you and your work. You can read, edit and delete each one in the app.
- Projects and prompts. The reusable context and instructions you save.
- Settings and preferences.
- Your local session. Kept in the desktop app's browser profile.
We run no server that holds a copy of this content. There is no sync, no cloud backup by us, and no way for our staff to read it. If you want a backup, use the app's export button or your normal machine backup.
What a model request contains
To answer a question, KChat sends a request from your laptop to our gateway, which forwards it to a model. A request contains only what that one answer needs:
- The message you just typed.
- Earlier turns of the same chat, up to a size limit.
- The text of files you attached in that chat. Never the files themselves.
- Saved memories that apply. KChat decides which ones.
Text from an attached file is sent again with each later message in the same chat, so the model can keep referring to it. Start a new chat when you no longer want it sent.
A request never contains your other chats, your file library, your name or your email address. The model does not know who is asking.
What the KChat gateway keeps
Our gateway sits between the app and the model provider. It holds the provider keys, so none of them ever sit on a laptop, and it counts usage for your plan. It stores:
- Your account identifier and email address.
- Your plan, its monthly allowance and how much of it is used.
- For each request: the time, input, output and cache token counts, and its cost. Not the text itself.
- One key per signed-in device, so you can sign a lost laptop out.
Prompt and answer logging is switched off at the gateway and verified in our tests. These usage records support your allowance and billing. The production gateway is hosted by Hetzner in Helsinki, Finland. Per-request usage rows are kept for 30 days; daily billing totals and required financial records are retained for the periods described in our Privacy Policy.
What the model provider sees
Requests go through OpenRouter and may be handled only by the hosts we have approved for our model. Every request requires zero data retention, denies data-collection endpoints and refuses fallbacks outside that list. If no permitted endpoint is available, the request fails instead of being sent elsewhere. OpenRouter response caching is disabled, and these endpoints report no implicit cross-request prompt caching. Processing location can vary by endpoint.
Memory extraction uses the same model route. The extracted facts are then stored and recalled on your device without a second model call. The current provider boundary is also documented in our Privacy Policy and Trust page.
Web search
Search is available in every chat. When a question needs current information, KChat proposes search terms. Switch on Ask before each web search, in setup or in Settings, and KChat shows them to you before anything is sent; you can change them or say no. When it is off, KChat searches by itself. Your own words are searched as written; common personal identifiers that the assistant added are removed first.
Searches go to public search engines from your own computer, the way a browser tab does, and the result pages are read there too. There is no search-vendor account or API key. The engines see the terms and your connection's address, not your chat or your account. They are not covered by the model provider's zero data retention promise.
The app keeps its own search profile, apart from your browser, so an engine may recognise it across days. The app wipes it when an engine's check goes unsolved, and whenever you choose Reset search profile in Settings. If an engine asks you to confirm you are a person, the app shows that page in its own window and never sees what you type there.
You can turn off Search from this device in Settings. Searches then go through our gateway to our self-hosted SearXNG service, which does not log them.
Encryption on your disk
KChat does not separately encrypt its local database. It relies on your operating system's disk encryption to protect data at rest: FileVault on macOS and BitLocker on supported Windows editions. Please turn it on. A company laptop policy may already require it.
Disk encryption protects the drive's contents while the computer is locked or powered off. Without it, someone with physical access to the drive may be able to read the database, as with other desktop software.
Crash and error reports
Crash and error reports are on unless you turn them off. KChat sends only the app version and a stack trace with file paths removed. Chats, prompts, files, account details and device information are never included. You can turn them off on first launch and in Settings.
Sign-in and sessions
You sign in with a verified email address. The sign-in screen opens in your normal browser and returns you to the app. In your account you can see every laptop signed in and sign them all out at once. The app never handles payment; that happens in your account, in the browser.
Questions
Send security questions, questionnaires or disclosure reports to support@the-karya.com. We answer them ourselves.
Last reviewed September 2026. This page changes when the product does.