Privacy & Security

Ghost’s Privacy Commitment

Ghost is a 100% local-first application. Your data never leaves your machine.

• Zero telemetry: No usage data, analytics, or crash reports are collected.
• Zero cloud: All AI inference runs locally (native Candle engine or optional Ollama).
• Zero network: The only network calls are to localhost (Ollama) and a one-time model download from HuggingFace Hub on first launch.
• Single-file database: Your entire vault is one .db file you control.

Supported Versions

Version	Supported
0.11.x	:white_check_mark:
0.10.x	:white_check_mark:
< 0.10	:x:

Reporting a Vulnerability

If you discover a security vulnerability in Ghost, please report it responsibly:

1. DO NOT create a public GitHub issue for security vulnerabilities.
2. Email: security@ghost-app.dev (or create a private advisory on GitHub).
3. Include:
   • Description of the vulnerability
   • Steps to reproduce
   • Impact assessment
   • Suggested fix (if any)

We will acknowledge your report within 48 hours and provide a fix timeline within 7 days.

Security Principles

Data at Rest

• Database stored in the user’s app data directory with OS-level permissions.
• Phase 2 will add optional ChaCha20-Poly1305 encryption (via the age crate).

Data in Transit

• No data leaves the machine by default.
• Ollama communication is localhost-only (http://127.0.0.1:11434).
• HuggingFace Hub model download uses HTTPS (one-time, on first launch).

Dependencies

• All Rust dependencies are audited via cargo audit in CI.
• Frontend dependencies are minimal and pinned via bun.lock.
• No third-party analytics, tracking, or error reporting SDKs.

Build Integrity

• Builds are reproducible via GitHub Actions CI/CD.
• Release artifacts are generated in CI, not on developer machines.
• All PRs require CI to pass (tests + clippy + type checking).

Threat Model

Threat	Mitigation
Data exfiltration via network	No outbound connections (enforced in code)
Malicious dependency	cargo audit in CI, minimal dependency surface
Local file access by other apps	OS-level file permissions, future encryption
Memory-resident secrets	Rust ownership model, no GC-based leaks
Supply chain attack	Pinned dependencies, lockfile integrity checks

Acknowledgments

We appreciate the security research community. Responsible disclosures will be credited in release notes (with your permission).