Privacy Policy

Last Updated: March 20, 2026

Overview

Stella is a local-first application. Your files, your searches, and your data stay on your device. We built Stella with privacy as a core principle — not an afterthought.

Data We Collect

Stella does not collect, transmit, or store any personal data. Specifically:

Local Processing

All indexing and search operations run entirely on your machine. Stella uses on-device machine learning models to understand your documents. No internet connection is required for core functionality.

File Access

Stella only accesses directories you explicitly select for indexing. It reads file contents solely to build a local search index stored on your device. You can remove indexed folders at any time, which deletes the corresponding index data.

Third-Party Services

Stella does not send your files, search queries, or personal data to any third-party service. The only external service Stella communicates with is Sentry for anonymous error reporting (see below) and our update server to check for new versions.

Error Reporting

Stella automatically sends error logs to Sentry to help us diagnose and fix bugs. These reports include technical information such as stack traces, app version, and OS version. Before any data is sent, user home directory paths and filenames are automatically redacted — only file extensions are preserved to help us identify which file types are affected. No file contents, filenames, or search queries are ever included in these reports.

Updates

Stella may check for software updates. This check transmits only the current version number — no personal or file data.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Changes will be reflected on this page with an updated date.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Reach us at ayush@trystella.co.