Telemetry & Privacy - Autohand Docs

Privacy-first approach

Autohand is designed with privacy as a core principle. We collect only the minimum data needed to understand how the tool is used and identify areas for improvement. We never collect your code, prompts, or any personally identifiable information.

Important: Telemetry defaults vary by product

Open-source CLI: No automatic telemetry is collected. The only data transmitted is through the built-in /feedback command when you explicitly choose to report errors or provide feedback.

Autohand Evolve: When using Autohand Evolve to orchestrate the CLI, telemetry may be opt-out by default depending on your license agreement. Please review your enterprise license terms or contact your account representative for specific details about data collection policies applicable to your deployment.

What we collect

When telemetry is enabled (Autohand Evolve users or if you opt-in on the open-source CLI), we collect anonymous metrics about tool usage:

Data Type	Description
Session metrics	Start time, end time, duration, and completion status
Tool usage	Which tools were used, success/failure rates, execution duration
Errors	Error types and sanitized messages (no file paths or PII)
Environment	Operating system, Node.js version, CLI version
Command usage	Which slash commands are used (not their arguments)
Model switches	When users change LLM models during a session

What we don't collect

Autohand explicitly does not collect:

File contents or file names from your projects
Your prompts or conversations with the AI
API keys, tokens, or credentials
Usernames, emails, or any personally identifiable information
Code, diffs, or patches
Git history or commit messages
Environment variables or their values

The /feedback command

The /feedback command is the only way the open-source CLI transmits data to Autohand. When you run this command, you have full control over what gets shared.

How it works

When you type /feedback, you can choose to:

Report a bug or unexpected behavior
Share a suggestion or feature request
Provide general feedback about your experience

What is included in feedback submissions

Data	Description	Can you opt out?
Your message	The feedback text you write	You control this entirely
CLI version	Which version of Autohand you're using	No (required for triage)
Operating system	OS type and version (e.g., macOS 14.2)	No (required for triage)
Session transcript	Recent conversation history with the AI	Yes (prompted before sending)
Error logs	Recent error messages if reporting a bug	Yes (prompted before sending)

What is never included

API keys or credentials are automatically stripped from any logs
File contents from your project are never attached
Environment variables are excluded from submissions
Personal information beyond what you explicitly write

You review before sending. The CLI always shows you exactly what will be submitted and asks for confirmation before transmitting any feedback data.

Event types

Telemetry events are sent at specific points during usage:

Event	When it fires
`session_start`	When you start Autohand
`session_end`	When you exit Autohand
`tool_use`	When a tool executes (success or failure)
`error`	When an unexpected error occurs
`model_switch`	When you change LLM models
`command_use`	When you use a slash command
`heartbeat`	Every 5 minutes during long sessions

Privacy features

Anonymous device IDs: We use randomly generated UUIDs stored locally in ~/.autohand/device-id. These cannot be traced back to you.
Path sanitization: Any file paths in error messages have usernames replaced with ***.
Offline batching: Events are queued locally and synced when you're online. No data is lost if you're offline.
90-day retention: Raw telemetry data is deleted after 90 days. Only aggregated, anonymized metrics are retained long-term.

Opting out

You can disable telemetry completely using any of these methods:

Using settings.json

Add this to your ~/.autohand/settings.json:

{
  "telemetry": {
    "enabled": false
  }
}

Using environment variable

Set the environment variable in your shell profile:

# Add to ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or equivalent
export AUTOHAND_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1

Partial opt-out

You can disable session sync while keeping basic analytics:

{
  "telemetry": {
    "enabled": true,
    "enableSessionSync": false
  }
}

Enterprise options

Enterprise customers have additional telemetry controls:

Private endpoints: Route telemetry to your own servers
Data residency: Choose where data is stored (US, EU, APAC)
Extended retention: Keep data for up to 2 years for compliance
Audit logs: Detailed logs of all telemetry events
Team analytics: Aggregated usage reports for your organization

Contact us for enterprise pricing and setup.