Security that starts with staying local.
The most private data is the data that never leaves your device. Nupick is built around that idea, then layered with controls for everything that does.
What's encrypted, and how.
The user-data database is encrypted at rest with SQLCipher. AES-256 in CBC mode, authenticated with HMAC-SHA512, with the key derived via PBKDF2 (200,000 iterations). Your conversations, long-term memory, settings, and connector configuration all live inside it.
Your key is generated on your device and kept in your OS keychain. The macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager, or the Linux Secret Service. It's created on first run, never leaves your machine, and is never written into the database it protects.
Some local data relies on your disk encryption instead. The on-device vector and full-text search indexes and processed attachments aren't separately encrypted today — they sit behind your operating system's full-disk encryption (FileVault, BitLocker, LUKS). We'd rather state that boundary plainly than imply everything is sealed.
Recovery is local-first by design. Because the key lives only on your device, there's no cloud copy to fall back on: a wiped keychain or a new machine means the encrypted database can't be reopened. That's the deliberate cost of your data staying yours.
Signed updates. Telemetry off by default.
Updates are signed and verified before anything installs. Each release is signed with an Ed25519 key; the app verifies that signature against keys built into it and blocks the install on any mismatch — so a tampered or unsigned package won't run. Two keys are trusted at once, so signing keys can rotate without breaking existing installs.
Telemetry is off by default. Nothing is collected or sent unless you turn it on. When you do, content is scrubbed first — personal details redacted, or reduced to metadata only — and events spool to your device before any send. You can turn it back off at any time.
Nothing sensitive happens without you.
Sensitive actions pause for explicit approval. Running code in a browser, uploading a file, or crossing to a cloud model stops for your sign-off in a dialog drawn by the app itself — never rendered by the cloud — and every decision is recorded in a local audit log with a content hash.
You choose which connectors and MCP servers to add. Remote connectors authenticate over OAuth, with tokens kept in your OS keychain. Local connectors run as helper processes with your own user permissions.
We're candid about the limits. Local connectors aren't yet sandboxed at the operating-system level, so today's controls are the ones above: you decide what to install, sensitive actions are approval-gated, and every cloud crossing is audited. OS-level sandboxing of local connectors is on our roadmap.
What this protects against — and what it doesn't.
Security claims only mean something with a stated scope. Here's ours.
Designed to protect against
- Over-exposure to the cloud — the privacy boundary keeps raw files and identifiers local and sends only sanitized context.
- Reading your data off a powered-down or locked device — the user-data database is encrypted at rest.
- Tampered or spoofed updates — releases are signature-verified before they install.
- Silent agent actions — sensitive operations require your approval and are audited.
Not designed to protect against
- A compromised operating system or malware running as you — it can read your keychain and your live, unlocked data.
- Someone with physical access to your unlocked, signed-in machine.
- The trustworthiness of connectors or MCP servers you choose to add — they run with your permissions.
Found something? Tell us.
If you discover a vulnerability, email hello@nupick.ai with steps to reproduce and the version you're on. We read every report and respond quickly.
We support good-faith research: if you follow this policy, we won't pursue or support legal action against you. Please don't access or modify other people's data, degrade the service, or disclose publicly before we've had a reasonable chance to fix the issue.
Independent review. Nupick is early-stage and hasn't yet completed a third-party security audit. When we commission one, we'll publish the results here.
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