Cookie and Storage Policy

1. What Cookies and Local Storage Are

Cookies are small text files stored in your browser by a website. Modern web apps also use browser storage such as localStorage and sessionStorage. This page explains what OpenThorn stores in your browser and why.

2. Essential Authentication Storage

OpenThorn uses Supabase Auth to keep you signed in and protect account-only pages. Depending on browser and Supabase behavior, session information may be stored in browser storage and related authentication cookies. This storage is necessary for login, logout, account security, and session restoration.

3. Essential App Storage

OpenThorn also uses localStorage for product features that need to survive page reloads on the same browser:

• openthorn.consent.v1 - stores your cookie consent choices (which categories you enabled and when), so your decision is respected across visits without asking again on every page load.
• seen_shared_projects_* - remembers which shared-project notifications you have already seen, so the dashboard does not repeat the same notice after every refresh.
• github_repo_* - stores per-project GitHub repository owner, repository name, and auto-sync preference for the browser you are using.
• openthorn.memory.* - stores local user-memory entries such as inferred design preferences, recurring fixes, and useful facts across projects.
• Preview storage polyfills - generated project previews may use in-memory replacements for localStorage or sessionStorage when sandboxed previews cannot access normal browser storage.

4. Cookieless Analytics and Performance Monitoring

OpenThorn uses Vercel Web Analytics to count anonymous page views and Vercel Speed Insights to measure anonymous web performance metrics (such as page load and responsiveness timings). Both services are cookieless: they do not set cookies, do not store identifiers in localStorage or sessionStorage, and do not track you across sites or sessions. Because nothing is stored on your device for analytics or performance-measurement purposes, this does not require cookie consent under the ePrivacy rules. See the Privacy Policy for details on how this data is processed.

5. Consent Banner and Consent Categories

Non-essential services on OpenThorn are opt-in. When you first visit, a consent banner offers three choices on equal terms: Accept all, Reject non-essential, and Manage preferences. The categories are:

• Essential - always active. Authentication, security, and the product functionality described in sections 2 and 3. This category does not require consent.
• Advertising / Marketing - off by default. If you enable it, third-party advertising technologies may run on public marketing and content pages (see section 6).

Your choice is stored locally in your browser (openthorn.consent.v1) so you are not asked again on every visit. You can change or withdraw consent at any time via the "Cookie Settings" button in the footer or the button below. Withdrawing consent stops advertising technologies from loading again; it does not affect processing that already took place.

Manage cookie preferences

6. Advertising and Third-Party Ad Technologies

Some public marketing and content pages (for example the blog, guides, and comparison pages) show advertising provided by Adsterra, an advertising network operated by Ad Market Limited (Cyprus) and Admedia LLC FZ (United Arab Emirates).

Advertising is disabled by default: the Adsterra script and any related third-party advertising technologies are not loaded unless you have enabled the Advertising/Marketing category in the consent banner. If you choose "Reject non-essential", advertising stays fully disabled. When enabled, Adsterra and its advertising partners may use cookies or similar technologies and may process data such as your IP address, browser and device information, and ad impressions and interactions, for advertising, measurement, and fraud-prevention purposes, as described in the Adsterra Privacy Policy and Adsterra Cookies Policy. Advertising placements are always labelled so they cannot be confused with OpenThorn's interface.

7. External Resource Requests

OpenThorn's fonts are self-hosted and served from our own infrastructure — no font requests are made to Google or other third parties. Generated project previews may load runtime packages, type definitions, or WebAssembly resources from third-party CDNs. These requests are not used by OpenThorn for advertising or behavioural tracking, but the third-party provider may receive technical request data such as your IP address, browser information, requested URL, referrer, and request time.

We describe these providers and data flows in the Privacy Policy. Advertising as described in section 6 is loaded only with your consent. If we add further analytics, profiling, or other non-essential tracking, we will update this notice and request consent where required.

8. How to Control Storage

You can clear cookies and localStorage through your browser settings. Clearing storage may sign you out, remove local preferences, reset notification state, and disconnect browser-local GitHub repository settings. Clearing the consent entry (openthorn.consent.v1) causes the consent banner to appear again on your next visit. Server-side account, project, provider-key, integration, collaboration, and community records are handled as described in the Privacy Policy.

9. What We Do Not Use

• No analytics or tracking cookies (our analytics is cookieless).
• No advertising or retargeting technologies are enabled unless you consent to the Advertising/Marketing category; third-party ad providers such as Adsterra may then use cookies or similar technologies as described in section 6 and their own policies.
• No third-party social media tracking pixels.
• No data shared with or sold to data brokers.

10. Contact

For questions about our use of cookies or local storage, contact us at btalabs.contact@gmail.com.