Data the app does not collect
The Zerre Mac app does not collect, aggregate, sell, share, or transmit:
- Personal identifiers (name, email, account details)
- Device identifiers or advertising identifiers
- Usage analytics or product telemetry
- Crash reports (none are uploaded by the app)
- Location data
- Any information about you to any third party
The app has no accounts, no login, no advertising, and no third-party analytics or tracking SDKs.
What Zerre notices, and what it never reads
Zerre keeps a local log of small events and derives the creature's mood, traits and growth from it. This is exactly what each source records:
| Source | What is recorded | Never recorded |
|---|---|---|
| Activity | Whether you're at the Mac (seconds since the last input), sleep, wake and lock, and the length of breaks | Keystrokes, clicks, window titles, app contents |
| Calendar (optional) | When you're busy: the start and end times of meetings you accepted | Titles, attendees, locations, notes, which calendar |
| Coding agents (optional hooks) | That Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode or Antigravity started, finished or needs you; the name of the project folder; the terminal app and tab, so a click can take you back | Prompts, replies, transcripts, code, full paths |
| git (optional hook) | That a commit happened, the repository's name, and a count of uncommitted files | Commit messages, diffs, file names |
| Terminal (optional zsh hook) | The first word of a command that ran for a while, how long it took, whether it succeeded, the name of the folder, and the terminal tab | Arguments, output, anything you type |
| Focus sessions | When each block and break starts and ends, its length, whether you finished or stopped it, and the apps you let through the focus shield (their bundle identifiers) | What you worked on |
| Time per app during a block (on unless you turn it off) | The names of the apps that were in front during a block, and whole minutes for each, saved when the block ends | Window titles, documents, websites, anything outside a block |
| Windows, during a block | Where windows are on screen and which app owns them, read live to blur the ones behind yours | Titles and contents; stored nowhere |
| Notes you write | The text of notes you pin on its notice board, and their reminder times | — |
| Your Mac | Thermal state and battery level, read live for the creature's mood | Stored nowhere |
All of it is stored in a local database in ~/Library/Application Support/Zerre. In Settings → Your data you can export all of it as JSON, erase it (Zerre starts over), or remove Zerre from your Mac entirely. From a terminal, zerrectl events shows the latest events.
On-device intelligence
On Macs with Apple Intelligence turned on, Zerre can use Apple's on-device language model to word its sticky notes and status line, to understand notes you write in plain language, and to suggest what the creature feels like doing. The model runs entirely on your Mac; Zerre gives it only coarse facts (for example "an agent finished; project: my-app; afternoon") and checks that its answers don't invent anything. Nothing is sent to a server.
Permissions the app requests
| Permission | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Calendars (optional) | Stay quiet and hide during meetings, and give a heads-up before they start. Asked only when you click Connect Calendar. |
| Automation (optional) | Bring the exact Terminal or iTerm tab forward when you click a note. Asked by macOS the first time you do. |
| Notifications (optional) | A silent notification in place of the creature when it's hidden. |
Zerre needs no Accessibility, Screen Recording or Full Disk Access. It reads other windows' positions (to hop onto them) without their titles or contents. Every permission can be revoked in System Settings → Privacy & Security.
Hooks it installs, and only if you ask
From Settings, Zerre can add hooks to Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, git and zsh. Each installer backs up the file it edits, keeps your own hooks, and has a matching Remove button. Hooks do nothing if Zerre isn't installed.
Network connections
Zerre makes one kind of connection: checking for updates with Sparkle, a standard HTTPS request to the update feed on this website. It reveals only what any web request does (your IP address and a generic user agent). No usage data, identifiers, or anything Zerre has noticed is ever sent.
Website traffic counts
This website counts page requests and a few first-party requests when a section comes into view or you click a main link, such as Download or Feedback. These counts help us see which pages and parts of the site are useful. They are separate from the Zerre Mac app: the app sends no usage events.
The site uses no analytics cookies, browser identifiers, or external tracking scripts. Website requests still carry ordinary web metadata, such as an IP address, browser user agent, and referrer, to the hosting and delivery services (GitHub Pages and, when the site is proxied, Cloudflare). We review aggregate request counts in Cloudflare. A Download click is counted on this website; it does not tell us whether you installed or used the app.
Children's privacy
Zerre is not directed at children. The app does not knowingly collect any data from anyone, including children.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted on this page with a new effective date.
Terms of use
Zerre is free to use, with no account and no paid tier. Get it from this website, its GitHub releases or the Homebrew cask, which are signed and notarized. Please don't sell it or pass around modified copies.
Zerre is provided as it is, without warranty. To the extent the law allows, we aren't liable for losses from using it; this doesn't limit liability for intent, gross negligence or injury. German law applies, and you keep any consumer protections of your own country.
Contact
Zerre
Email: [email protected]