What leaves your computer.
By default, your life in Ora stays on this PC: chats, files, history, settings, saved keys, and recordings. Nothing is sent anywhere unless a row below describes it.
What can leave is a short, expected list — and every kind of sending has a switch. Ora asks before anything sensitive, and the tables below tell you what is sent, to whom, when, and where the switch is.
Purpose by purpose · Local-only mode · What is never sent · The What left this PC list
Screen content asks once. You can take it back.
The first time any screen content — a screenshot, or the text on your screen — would be sent to a model that runs somewhere other than this PC, Ora asks. The confirmation names the provider and model and describes the requested access. It does not show a preview of the exact capture before it is sent; after a task step you can review it in chat with View screenshot.
One accepted choice covers screen content from then on. Declining or revoking it keeps screen content on this PC — revoke any time under Settings → Privacy & Safety → Screen & Voice privacy. Local-only blocks every cloud screen route too, even with the choice accepted. And a request made without the Ora window open can never share screen content, because it cannot show you the ask.
Spoken requests work the same way: your words are recognized on this PC, and the recognized text only travels as part of a request, behind its own consent choice. The audio recording is not sent.
Every kind of sending, row by row.
If a kind of sending is not listed here, Ora does not do it on its own.
Talking to an AI model you chose
| What is sent | To whom | When | How to turn it off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your message, plus the context the task needs — for example text from a file you attached, or the names of files in a folder you asked Ora to tidy | The AI service you chose in Settings → Models → API Keys | Every time you send a message or run a task with a cloud model | Pick a local (on this PC) model in the model picker, or turn on Local-only mode |
| A title for a new chat, made from your first message | The same AI service | Once, after the first message in a chat | Local-only mode — Ora names the chat on this PC instead |
| The list of model names shown in the picker | The same AI service; your key is used only to sign in, no task content is sent | When you open or refresh the model picker | Local-only mode — Ora shows its built-in list instead |
| A screenshot or on-screen text, when a task needs Ora to look at your screen; or the pages of a file, when the optional cloud file-reading fallback is on | The AI service you chose, or an image-reading service | Only after your screen-content choice; Local-only blocks both | Revoke the choice under Settings → Privacy & Safety → Screen & Voice privacy; keep file reading local under Settings → Integrations → File reader |
Choose a local model and the whole conversation is answered on this PC.
Web research
| What is sent | To whom | When | How to turn it off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Requests for the web pages a research task needs, plus one built-in search service used to find them | The public websites themselves; the search step talks to one pinned search service | While a research run you started is working; only the sites the run admits, each page size-capped, site rules respected, and no cookies, sign-ins, or page scripts sent or run | Local-only mode refuses before the first request; or press Stop research on the progress card |
| A read of one specific site you point Ora at | That site only — pages at the site's own address | When a task asks Ora to harvest or rebuild that site | Local-only mode; or cancel the run |
Portal chores
| What is sent | To whom | When | How to turn it off |
|---|---|---|---|
| The same page loads, downloads, form submissions, and file uploads your own browser would perform on the portal | The portal site you named — for example a school or work portal | During a chore run you started; every file the portal offers asks before it lands, every upload and submit shows an approval card naming the exact file, and a sign-in parks the run for you to type | Deny the approval card, or press Cancel on the run's status card; a chore only ever runs for sites its mission card names |
| What is sent | To whom | When | How to turn it off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reads, drafts, and — only ever with a per-send approval — sends, on your mailbox | Your own mail server, at the connection details you entered | Reading and drafting happen while a bot works with your mail; a send only at its approval card, which names the exact recipient | Keep the mailbox draft-only; turn off Allow sending; disconnect the account under Settings → Integrations → Personal connectors (that deletes the stored password at once); Local-only mode blocks the connection entirely |
Updates and model downloads
| What is sent | To whom | When | How to turn it off |
|---|---|---|---|
| A check for Ora updates, and the update itself | Ora's public release feed | Only when you ask, from Settings → General → About; the check carries none of your content, and Ora never checks on its own | Don't run the check — there is nothing to turn off |
| Local AI engine and model packages — including Compass-1, which downloads once after you say yes, then works offline | Download addresses pinned inside Ora | Only while an install you started is running; every file is size- and hash-checked before it is kept | Don't start the install |
| Ora's own helper model, used by some automation features | Ora's release feed | The first time a feature that needs it runs; Local-only mode blocks the download | Local-only mode; or don't use the feature |
Help links
| What is sent | To whom | When | How to turn it off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nothing but the open itself: Ora asks your browser to open one of three pinned pages — the getting-started guide, the troubleshooting page, and the issue tracker | Ora's public help pages | Only when you click a help link; no content of yours is attached | Don't click the link — nothing else is sent |
Blender
| What is sent | To whom | When | How to turn it off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nothing leaves this PC: scene commands travel between Ora and Blender over a private connection on your computer, checked by a fresh token each session | Between Ora and Blender on this PC only | While you are using the Blender bridge | Uninstall the add-on from Settings → Integrations → Personal connectors → Creative apps, or simply don't connect; the add-on has no network access of its own |
Browser access
| What is sent | To whom | When | How to turn it off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Page content from tabs you place in an Ora browser workspace, handed to Ora | Ora itself, over a private connection on this PC — nothing goes to the internet through the bridge | While a tab you placed in the workspace sends its page to Ora | Remove the Ora extension from your browser, or disconnect browser access under Settings → Automations → Browser access |
One switch keeps every cloud call off.
Local-only is the one switch that keeps task content on this PC by pausing every cloud call. It lives under Settings → Privacy & Safety → Screen & Voice privacy, and it overrides the individual sharing choices.
- Chat, bots, and Ora Build answer only with local models.
- Screens and files are never read by a cloud service — even a saved screen-content choice is not used while the mode is on.
- Chat titles are made on this PC, and the model picker uses its built-in list.
- Helpers that would run elsewhere are unavailable or fall back to doing the work on this PC.
- A connected mailbox is not contacted at all — reads and sends both wait.
- Web research refuses before its first request, and the refusal is recorded in the What left this PC list.
- Local models, and everything that runs on this PC: speech recognition, on-PC image reading, file work with Undo, and demonstration recordings.
- The Blender bridge — it never used the network in the first place.
- Browsing and portal chores you approve: Local-only governs cloud AI, not the sites you send Ora to.
- Checking for updates when you ask, and the help links.
- The What left this PC list keeps recording — including every blocked attempt, so you can watch the mode working.
Chat answers with the model you chose. Screen content follows its consent choice.
A demonstration, not a setting — the real switch lives in Settings → Privacy & Safety → Screen & Voice privacy.
Four things never leave, in any mode.
- Passwords, one-time codes, and card numbers. They are redacted before logs, digests, or anything sent to a model is built, and a demonstration recording never captures typing into password or code fields.
- Your API keys. Stored encrypted on this PC, used only to sign in to the service they belong to, never included as message text, and never written into the What-left record.
- Your files — unless you approved that exact upload or send. Uploads and sends are hard stops in every mode: Ora asks, the card names the destination, and an "approve for this session" choice covers only repeats to that same destination.
- Telemetry. There is none: no usage statistics and no automatic crash reporting. A diagnostic file is created only when you ask for it, and saving it opens your system's save dialog.
Watch every send, including the blocked ones.
Under Settings → Privacy & Safety, the What left this PC list records what Ora sent off this PC, newest first. Each row names the destination, the kind of request, the outcome — sent, blocked by Local-only, or blocked by consent — and the size. Messages, files, and keys are never stored in the record. The list is limited to the latest 500 events over 7 days, and clearing it yourself is the only way to remove it.
- The AI service you chose2 KBmodel request · sent
- A school portal4 KBpage read · sent
- Ora's release feed1 KBupdate check · sent
- The AI service you chose0 KBmodel request · blocked by Local-only
Blocked attempts appear in the list too, so the switch is visible doing its work.
Next: the private beta.