Data and privacy
Model request data
Each model request includes your prompt and the context assembled for that turn. Context can include conversation history, applicable AGENTS.md and skill instructions, attached images, and file or tool content already loaded into the session.
nod does not automatically package or upload your workspace, Git history, or session files. That data can still leave the machine when it is loaded into model context or sent by a networked tool. Web search, web fetch, remote MCP servers, and other networked tools send inputs to the services they call when invoked.
Inference APIs
nod sends ChatGPT requests to OpenAI's Codex backend and Grok requests to xAI, under the terms and retention policies of those subscriptions. There is no intermediary service: nothing passes through a nod-operated server.
Both providers may record request metadata and content according to their own policies. Review the data controls of your ChatGPT or Grok account if your work is sensitive.
Local credentials and sessions
nod stores private runtime state under ~/.nod/, including settings, saved provider sessions, sessions, prompt history, usage records, MCP configuration and credentials, and managed skills. Provider sessions live in ~/.nod/codex-auth.json and ~/.nod/grok-auth.json with 0600 permissions, and nowhere else. Set NOD_HOME to move the whole directory.
Session files remain local, but nod sends the relevant conversation context again when you continue a session. Use nod ask --no-save when a one-off request should not create a session.
Product telemetry
nod does not send product telemetry or usage analytics to a separate nod service. nod usage reads local usage records.
Update checks
Automatic updates are on by default. nod reads the release list from GitHub after startup and every 30 minutes until an update is ready. The request contains no nod-generated machine or installation identifier. Set NOD_AUTO_UPGRADE=0 to turn automatic updates off.
Sharing diagnostics
/feedback opens the bug report form without uploading diagnostic data. Anything you attach, such as nod status --json or a session export, is something you copied yourself.
Review and redact prompts, code, paths, commands, model output, and secrets before sharing them. See Share feedback for details.