# What AI features send, and where

*See exactly what each AI feature sends, who receives it and when, and what PromptMason keeps on your computer.*

Online version: https://promptmason.ai/docs/ai-privacy

PromptMason sends your text to an AI only when you run an AI feature, and only to the provider you chose for that run. With the local model, none of your text leaves your computer. This page covers the AI features. For the other times something leaves your PC, such as the license check, web tabs and sync, see [Privacy in PromptMason](https://promptmason.ai/docs/privacy-overview#when-something-leaves-your-pc).

## What each feature sends

| Feature | What is sent | To whom | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| **AI assist**, with a cloud provider | The text in the editor as you typed it (including changes you haven't saved and any hidden notes), the item's name, your instruction and PromptMason's AI assist instructions. For a block, also a few of your other blocks of the same type as examples, only if you turned on **Use my own blocks as examples** (see [below](#send-less-with-ai-assist)). | The provider you chose: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, xAI (Grok), or your own server | Only when you click **Run**, click or press a suggestion (1, 2 or 3), or press Ctrl+Shift+A |
| **Evaluate**, with a cloud provider | The saved item's text, with hidden notes removed (for **Grade**, also its name and, for a prompt made of blocks, each block's type and name) and Evaluate's instructions | The provider you chose | Only when you click **Run** |
| **Chat**, with a cloud provider | The chat instructions, the recent part of the conversation (your messages and the replies), your new message, and the skill if you chose one. When chat can use your library, also a description of the library tools and whatever they read from your library for that reply. A description of the tool that looks things up in PromptMason's guides, and when the chat uses it, your question and the guide sections it finds ([Ask how to use PromptMason](https://promptmason.ai/docs/chat-basics#ask-how-to-use-promptmason)). | The provider chosen for that chat | Each time you click **Send**, **Run in chat** or **Try again** |
| **AI assist, Evaluate and Chat**, with the local model | None of your text. A question you ask Chat about PromptMason, and the guide sections it looks up, stay on your computer too. | No one | — |
| **Test connection** in Settings | One short test request, with none of your text | That provider | When you click **Test connection** |
| **Local model download** | A request for the model file, with none of your text | PromptMason's download server (models.promptmason.ai) | When you click **Download**, **Resume** or **Try again**. While the model isn't downloaded, opening **Settings → AI & connected apps** also reads the download's size. |
| **Web tabs** on the Chat screen | Whatever you type or paste into a website, or insert with **Run in this tab** (which also copies the text to the Windows clipboard) | That website, under its own terms | While you use the site |
| **AI agents you connect**, such as Claude Desktop, Cursor or Claude Code | Whatever the agent reads from your library | The agent's app, which sends it on to its own AI service under that app's terms | When you ask the agent to use your library |

Variables are never filled in for AI assist or Evaluate: they're sent as written, such as {{client name}}. AI assist sends the editor's text exactly as typed, so a hidden note written as `{{! like this }}` goes with it; Evaluate removes hidden notes first. In Chat, **Run in chat** fills in your values first, so the values you type are sent with the prompt.

PromptMason doesn't send a record of your AI use anywhere. The one exception is in a team library: when a version was made with AI assist, its provider and model sync to your teammates and show as the **AI assist** tag in History.

## Where you're told before anything is sent

- **AI assist and Evaluate:** before text goes to a cloud provider, the **Before you use AI assist** window names the provider and asks you to click **Send**, until you tick **Don't show this again**. Evaluate's **Privacy** check also shows **Sends the text to** [provider] under **Model** when a cloud provider is chosen. **Grade** doesn't show that line, but the same window appears.

- **Chat:** a line under the chat's header always says where messages go: **Private: this chat stays on this computer.** for the local model, or that messages are sent to the provider and charged to your account there. If you switch a chat that has messages to a different cloud provider, PromptMason asks first. See [Chat and context](https://promptmason.ai/docs/chat).

    ![A chat header with the local model chosen and a line saying the chat stays on this computer.](https://promptmason.ai/images/docs/ai-privacy-chat-private-line.webp)

- **Model lists:** the local model shows a lock icon.

## Send less with AI assist

With **Use my own blocks as examples** on, AI assist on a block also sends a few of your other blocks of the same type from the same library, so the result matches how you write. Blocks tagged with a block pack's name, such as `Starter pack`, archived blocks and the block you're working on are left out. The setting is off at first, so unless you turn it on, AI assist sends only the block you're working on. With the local model, these stay on your computer too.

To check that only the block you're working on is sent:

1. Click **Settings** in the sidebar, then **AI & connected apps**.
2. Scroll to **AI assist instructions**.
3. Look at **Use my own blocks as examples**. If it's on, turn it off.

To see exactly what any feature sends, click **Preview what's sent** in the same place. When your own blocks are included, the preview names each one above the request. See [Customize the AI instructions](https://promptmason.ai/docs/ai-instructions).

## Keep private details on your computer

- **Use the local model** for anything private. See [Free, private AI on your PC](https://promptmason.ai/docs/local-model).
- **Run a privacy check** before you send or share text: **Evaluate → Privacy**. See [Evaluate a block, prompt or document](https://promptmason.ai/docs/evaluate#check-for-private-details).
- **Use variables** for names, account numbers and other details, so the text itself doesn't hold them. See [Variables](https://promptmason.ai/docs/variables).
- **Control what chat and AI agents can reach** in your library with **What connected apps can do** (**Full access**, **Read-only** or **Off**). With a cloud provider and **Full access**, which is the default, Chat can also change your library. See [Control what connected apps can do](https://promptmason.ai/docs/agent-access).

## What PromptMason keeps on your computer

- **AI assist activity:** a record of each AI assist run, evaluation and chat reply: when, which provider and model, and the tokens used (a token is about three quarters of a word). Your text isn't kept. The **AI assist activity** card on Home shows it. It's included when you export your library (the exported file isn't encrypted) and in backups (which are).
- **Chats:** saved on this computer only, encrypted. They aren't synced to your other PCs or included when you export, and AI agents and the Chrome extension can't read them. See [Chat and context](https://promptmason.ai/docs/chat#where-your-chats-are-kept).
- **Web tab history:** the pages you opened, on this computer only, encrypted. See [Web tabs](https://promptmason.ai/docs/web-tabs).
- **API keys:** encrypted on this computer and never exported. See [Where your keys are kept](https://promptmason.ai/docs/ai-setup#where-your-keys-are-kept).

## Clear the activity record

1. Click **Settings** in the sidebar, then **AI & connected apps**.
2. Under **AI assist activity**, click **Clear activity**.

    ![The AI assist activity row with a Clear activity button.](https://promptmason.ai/images/docs/ai-privacy-ai-assist-activity.webp)

3. The **Clear AI assist activity?** window opens. Click **Clear activity**.

You see **Activity cleared.** This can't be undone. It deletes the whole record, chat replies included, so the token count under each chat's header is cleared too. Your blocks, prompts, chats and API keys aren't affected.

## What a provider does with your text

Once a cloud provider receives your text, its own terms decide how long it keeps it and what it does with it. PromptMason can't delete what a provider has already received. To stop sending to a provider, remove its key in **Settings → AI & connected apps** (see [Change or remove a key](https://promptmason.ai/docs/ai-setup#change-or-remove-a-key)).

## Want a hand?

Paste this prompt into Claude, ChatGPT or another AI assistant, together with this guide, to be walked through it step by step:

> I handle client information and want to understand what PromptMason's AI features send outside my PC. Go through each feature with me and help me choose settings that keep private details on my computer.