privacy

gtkh is a quiet sky of anonymous moments. it is built to know as little about you as possible. there are no accounts, no profiles, no ads, no advertising or tracking cookies, and nothing that follows you around the web. this page explains everything the sky keeps, and why, in plain words.

what stays on your device

• your lights — everything you write in my lights is saved in your browser's (or the app's) local storage on your own device. private lights never leave it, except end-to-end encrypted if you link devices (below).
• your settings — chime preference, day-glow ratings, which lights and letter messages you've reported, and how far you've read each letter are stored locally.

what the sky keeps

• shared lights — if you choose "in the shared field," the text of your light (never your name) is stored on our server so others can see it, together with your anonymous device id so only you can release it. you can release (delete) your own shared lights from my lights at any time.
• gift lights and letters — when you send someone a light, its words, the name you typed (if any), a small drawing (if you made one) and your anonymous device id are stored on our server under a long random link, so the person you give the link to can open it. anything either of you writes back is stored with it, each message with the writer's device id, so the sky knows which side wrote what and whom to notify. only people holding the link can read a letter. letters are kept until we remove them; email us to have one deleted.
• an anonymous device id — a random string like d-abc123, created in your browser or app. it carries no personal information and is used to count daily visitors, let you delete your own lights, know your side of a letter, deliver notifications you asked for, and limit abuse (daily limits, and the block and ban lists below). we cannot connect it to who you are, and it is never shown to anyone else.
• anonymous usage tallies — once a day your device sends its device id, the date it first visited, how many days it has visited, and simple counters of what happened that day (for example "a light was added," "a gift link was copied," "a letter was sent"). there is no browsing history, no content and no personal details in them.
• page analytics — the site uses vercel web analytics, which is built into our host and served from gtkh.org itself. it counts page views with the page address, the referring site, and the country, browser and device type; it sets no cookies and does not identify you or follow you to other sites. like any web host, vercel also keeps short-lived server logs (which include ip addresses) for security and reliability.

the light of the day

once a day, the gtkh accounts on X and Bluesky may repost one good thing from the shared sky: only the words, never anything about who wrote them. it is only ever a light that was already shared publicly in the sky, and lights with names, handles, places or numbers in them are never chosen. if you see yours and want it taken down, email us.

email, if you choose it

• sending someone a light — if you enter a recipient's email to deliver a gift light, we use it to send that one email (now or on the day you pick) and do not store it or use it for anything else. we keep only a count of how many you sent that day.
• the shirts list — if you ask to hear when gtkh shirts are ready, we store your address to send that one note. email us and we delete it.
• daily reminders — if you sign up for a reminder email, we store your address, the time of day you picked and your time zone offset to send it. every reminder includes a way to stop, and stopping removes your address.
• emails are delivered by resend, our email provider, which processes recipient addresses solely to deliver the message.
• when someone reports a light or a letter message, the reported words (never who wrote them or who reported them) are emailed to us through resend so a person can review them quickly.

notifications

• in a browser — if you turn on notifications, your browser gives us an anonymous delivery address (a web push subscription). we keep it with your reminder time and time zone offset, and tied to your device id so a reply to your letter can reach you.
• in the app — if you allow notifications, your phone gives us a push token (from apple or google), which we keep with your device id so we can tell you when someone writes back. apple's and google's push services deliver the notification.
• if you link a new phone with your sync code, your old device id is pointed at the new one, so replies to lights you sent before still reach you.
• these addresses contain no personal information, are used only to send the notifications you asked for, and are removed once you turn notifications off and the address stops working.

device linking

if you link your devices in my lights, your lights travel between them end-to-end encrypted: your words and drawings, day-glow ratings, the lights you've sent, how far you've read each letter, and the device ids you've used (so a new phone can answer your letters as you). the sync code exists only on your devices — the sky stores an encrypted blob it cannot read, and nobody can recover your code for you.

keeping the sky kind

• screening — before a light joins the shared sky, and before a gift light or any message in a letter is delivered, its text (and the name you typed, nothing else about you) is checked by an automated content screen powered by anthropic's claude. text sent for screening is not used to train models. if the screen can't be reached, a simple check on our own server (no links, no phone numbers, no shouting) decides instead.
• reports — when you report a shared light, we record the reported light and the anonymous device id of the reporter, so repeat reports can remove unkind content for everyone. when you report a message in a letter, we record that message, the reason you picked, your device id and the writer's device id, so the person who looks after gtkh can read it and, if needed, stop that device from writing again. the writer isn't told.
• closing and blocking — either side can close a letter; we store that it was closed and by which side, and nobody can write in it after. if you also block, we keep a short list of the device ids you blocked, tied to your device id, so their words never reach you or notify you again. the list stays on our server and is never shown to anyone.
• if something sounds heavy — if words you write, or words written to you, sound like someone may not want to be here, the page shows a quiet note with where to find help. that check happens on your device and nothing about it is sent or counted.

what we don't collect

no names unless you type one into a light, no accounts or passwords, no contacts, no location, no photos, no advertising identifiers, and no data from other apps or sites. nothing is sold, and nothing is used for advertising.

who we share with

nobody, except the services that make the sky work: vercel (hosting, storage and page analytics), resend (email delivery), anthropic (content screening), and apple and google (delivering app notifications). we never sell or share your information for advertising. we would disclose information only if the law required it — and we keep so little that there is very little to disclose.

children

gtkh is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.

deleting your data

• release any of your shared lights from my lights — this deletes them from the server.
• clearing your browser or app data removes everything stored on your device, including your device id.
• stop reminder emails from the link in any reminder, or email us to have your address removed.
• turn notifications off in your browser or phone settings; your push address is removed the next time a notification can't be delivered to it.
• email us with a letter's link to have that letter (and everything written in it) deleted.

changes & contact

if this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. questions or requests: hello@gtkh.org.