Privacy policy
Last updated November 6, 2026
Draft. This text is being reviewed and may change before qot is open to everyone.
qot (Quantum of Thought) is made by Abstract Syntax LLC. This policy covers the qot apps (the terminal client, the web app at app.quantumofthought.com and, when it ships, the iPhone app), the sync server behind them, and this website. The Abstract Syntax website’s policy covers that site only.
The short version
- Your notes are saved on your devices. If you sign in, they are also kept on our server so they can reach your other devices.
- Notes are not end-to-end encrypted yet. They are encrypted on the way to the server, but the server could read them. We don’t read them, and nothing we run does. End-to-end encryption, after which the server can’t read them at all, is planned.
- We keep your email address to sign you in. No advertising, no tracking, no selling of anything.
- You can export everything and delete your account at any time (Support).
What’s on your devices
Every note you take is saved on the device first: in the terminal, in qot’s data folder; in the web app, in your browser’s storage for app.quantumofthought.com. Signing out leaves the notes there. Deleting the app, the data folder or the site’s data in your browser removes them from that device.
You can use qot without an account. Notes then never leave the device.
What the server stores
Only if you sign in:
- Your email address, which is your account. We use it to send sign-in emails, and may use it to tell you about important changes to qot or these policies. Nothing else, and never marketing without asking.
- Your notes, as the list of changes your devices sync (each note’s text, when it was created, and whether it was deleted). Deleting a note keeps a marker that it was deleted, so that another device doesn’t bring it back.
- Sign-ins: for each device, a token that keeps it signed in (stored as a one-way hash), and for each sign-in started, the email it was for and whether it was approved. These expire after 30 days and 15 minutes.
To stop abuse of sign-in emails, the server counts recent sign-in attempts per email address and per network address (IP). It keeps those counts in memory for an hour and never writes them down. The server doesn’t log your requests or your notes; its error logs, kept by our host for a limited time, may include your account’s id.
The website
This site sets no cookies, runs no scripts and has no analytics. Pages are served by our host, which handles your network address to deliver them.
Who else handles your data
We use a few companies to run qot. Each handles only what its job needs:
- Railway hosts the server, its database and this website.
- Resend delivers sign-in emails, so it sees your email address and the email.
- GitHub and Homebrew serve the terminal client’s downloads, under their own privacy policies.
We don’t sell, rent or share your data with anyone else, and we would only disclose it if the law requires us to.
Keeping it safe
Connections to the server use TLS. Tokens on the server are stored hashed, and the database is on our host’s private network. Every request is checked against your account, and no account can read another’s notes.
Your choices
- Export:
qot exportwrites every note as JSON. A signed-in device has everything the server has, so the export comes from the device. - Delete: Delete account in the web app’s account menu, or
qot delete-account, deletes your account, your email address, your synced notes and your sign-ins from the server, immediately. Notes stay on your devices until you delete them. - Correct or ask: email us to ask what we hold about you, or anything else in this policy.
Children
qot is not meant for children under 13, and we don’t knowingly hold anything about them. If you think a child has made an account, email us and we’ll delete it.
Changes
If this policy changes, we’ll update this page and its date. If a change matters (for example, anything new the server keeps), we’ll email account holders before it takes effect.
Contact
Abstract Syntax LLC
contact@abstractsyntax.llc