Privacy

• Your presets are opened, parsed and edited in your browser. Nothing about a file leaves your machine unless you sign in and choose to save it.
• Helrig sets no cookies of its own, and the usage analytics are cookieless. Signing in is the one thing that sets a cookie, and only where signing in exists.
• There is no advertising, no tracking pixels, no profile sold to anyone, and no session recording.
• If you never create an account, Helrig holds no record of you beyond anonymous usage counts.

A .hlx file you open is read by JavaScript running on your own device. It is not uploaded to be parsed, converted or rendered, and there is no server involved in editing at all — the editor is a static site, which is why it keeps working with everything below switched off.

While you are working, the preset and its undo history are kept in your browser’s session storage so a trip to another page and back doesn’t lose your work. That storage belongs to the tab: it is cleared when the tab closes, it is never sent anywhere, and a new tab starts empty.

Exporting writes the file straight to your downloads folder from the browser. Writing to a connected device (in the desktop and mobile apps) happens over USB, on your machine, with no network involved.

Helrig does not set cookies. It does use two kinds of browser storage, which stay on your device and are readable only by the site that wrote them:

• Session storage — the preset you are editing and its undo history, so navigating between pages doesn’t discard your work. Gone when the tab closes.
• Local storage — your light/dark choice, the anonymous analytics id described below, whether you have dismissed the mailing-list prompt, and — if you use a library — how you like its list sorted and filtered.

Two things can set a cookie, and both are things you go looking for. Signing in to a preset library, where that is offered, uses Clerk, which sets cookies on its own domain to keep you signed in; the editor itself talks to the library with a short-lived token rather than a cookie. And the feedback forms load Tally only when you open one, which may set cookies of its own at that point.

So: if the app you are using shows no sign-in and you never open a feedback form, no cookies are set at all. That is the case in the desktop and mobile apps today, which have no accounts.

Usage is measured with PostHog, configured deliberately: no cookies, and no session recording. A random id is kept in local storage so returning visits aren’t counted as new people — clearing site data resets it, and it is never tied to your name or email unless you have an account.

What gets recorded is page views and product events: a preset was loaded (and whether it came from a file, the sample, a backup, a device, a conversion or a library), a preset was edited, exported, converted, saved or opened. Clicks and page structure are captured too, as most analytics do. The contents of your presets are never sent — not the file, not the block list, not the name. Only that something happened.

Like any web request, these carry your IP address, which PostHog uses to derive an approximate location (country/region). Helrig uses PostHog’s EU region, so that processing happens on servers in the European Union. Page-load speed is measured by Vercel Speed Insights, which also sets no cookies.

Accounts exist so you can keep a library of presets and reach it from another device. Everything in this section applies only if you sign in — and only in a version of Helrig that offers it.

• Who you are — handled by Clerk. Depending on how you sign in, that is an email address, or the account identifier Google or Apple hands over. Helrig’s own database stores Clerk’s user id, your plan, and how much of your quota you have used.
• What you save — the preset file itself, stored as you sent it, plus what is needed to list it without re-reading every file: its name, the device it targets, its size, a content hash, the blocks and snapshot names it contains, and anything you wrote yourself — labels, notes, and the setlists you group presets into.
• Versions — every save is kept as a new version rather than overwriting the last one. That is what makes “restore what I had yesterday” possible, and it means an old version of a preset stays in your library until you delete the preset.

Deleting a preset puts it in the trash, where you can restore it for 30 days; after that a scheduled job removes the rows and the stored files permanently. Deleting your account removes your presets, their versions, their stored files and your row in the database.

Your library is yours: every request is authenticated and scoped to your own user id, none of it is listed or browsable by anyone else, and nothing you save is used to build anything shown to other users. There is no directory of presets and no way for another person to find yours.

Sharing is the one exception, and only when you ask for it. Creating a share link makes that one preset — its name, its blocks, its snapshot names and the file itself — readable by anyone holding the link. It carries nothing else: not who you are, not your other presets, not your labels, notes or setlists. A link shows the save it was made from rather than your later edits, the page is kept out of search engines, and you can revoke it at any time. Deleting a preset revokes its links too, and restoring it from the trash does not bring them back.

Paid plans are billed through Clerk’s billing, which processes payments with Stripe. Card details go to them and never touch Helrig’s servers — what Helrig records is which plan you are on, when it renews, and the quota that comes with it.

The occasional “what’s coming” mailing list is run by Loops. It is double opt-in — an address is only added after you confirm it from the email — and every message carries an unsubscribe link. Your address is used for that list and nothing else.

The bug and feedback forms are hosted by Tally, so whatever you type into one goes to them and then to me. Email sent to the contact address below arrives at an ordinary mailbox and is kept until it is no longer useful to keep.

Helrig is a small operation standing on a few services. Each one sees only what its job requires:

• Vercel — hosts the site and, where the library is offered, its API. Like any host, it records ordinary request logs (including IP addresses) used to run and protect the service.
• Clerk — accounts, sign-in and billing.
• Neon — the database holding library metadata.
• Cloudflare R2 — the stored preset files. The bucket is not public — every read goes through the API, which checks that the file is yours.
• PostHog — product analytics, as described above, on its EU region.
• Loops and Tally — the mailing list and the forms.

Nothing is sold, rented, or handed to advertisers. Data is disclosed beyond this list only if the law actually requires it.

Depending on where you live — the UK and EU (GDPR), California and elsewhere — you have the right to see what is held about you, get a copy of it, correct it, delete it, or object to a use of it. Helrig tries to make most of that a button rather than a request: you can download any preset in your library as a file, delete presets, and delete your account.

For anything a button doesn’t cover, email hello@helrig.com and I will handle it myself. If you are in the EU or UK, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.

When this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. If a change materially affects people with accounts, they will be told directly rather than left to notice a new date.

Questions, corrections, or anything on this page that reads as wrong: hello@helrig.com.