Table of Contents

sidekick Privacy and Data

Warning

Early preview: time cockpit sidekick is in an early preview. Features, labels and setup steps can change without notice. sidekick runs on Windows 10/11; the macOS version is still being tested. During the preview, sidekick works only with https://web-preview.timecockpit.com. Feedback: support@timecockpit.com

time cockpit sidekick records work signals on your computer and keeps them there. This page states exactly what is recorded, what is never recorded, where the data is stored, who can read it, and where the protection ends.

What sidekick Records

From the moment it is installed, sidekick records every source in this list except changed files, which are off by default. SSH logins are recorded only for remote machines you add.

sidekick also reads earlier activity once. It imports all Claude Code and Codex sessions that are already on your computer, without a time limit. When it finds a Git repository for the first time, also one you add later, it takes over the commits of the last 90 days. For a remote machine it does the same once, unless you switch the history import off for that machine. See Controlling What Is Recorded to switch sources off.

  • When the computer was on, when you were using it (from the time between your inputs) and when it was locked.
  • Which application was in the foreground, for how long, and its window title.
  • Which files changed in the folders you choose (off by default; nothing is watched until you switch it on and choose folders).
  • Time and message of Git commits and branch switches in the repositories in %USERPROFILE%\source\repos, if that folder exists, and in the folders you add under Folders with repositories.
  • When and in which project you worked with Claude Code or Codex, the times of your prompts, the token usage, and a name for each session (see below).
  • Which application uses the microphone.
  • The names of the connected Wi-Fi network and of the networks in reach, with their signal strength.
  • Interactive SSH logins on Linux machines you add as remote machines.

Window titles, file paths and commit messages can say a lot about your work. That is why exclusions, the pause and the deletion described below exist.

What sidekick Never Records

  • Keystrokes. Your activity is derived from the time between your inputs, not from what you type.
  • File contents.
  • Screenshots.
  • The clipboard.
  • Terminal commands.
  • Browser URLs.
  • Any audio. The microphone signal only says which application had the microphone open. sidekick opens no audio stream.
  • The BSSID, MAC address or any other hardware address of a Wi-Fi network. Only network names are recorded.
  • The text of your prompts to Claude Code and Codex. The only exception is the session name: sidekick uses the title Claude Code writes for a session, and when there is none (always for Codex), the first 80 characters of the first prompt.

Where the Data Is Stored

sidekick stores its data in %APPDATA%\timecockpit-sidekick (on macOS in ~/Library/Application Support/timecockpit-sidekick). Open data folder in the menu of the tray icon opens this folder.

  • signals.sqlite holds the signals. It is an unencrypted SQLite database in your Windows profile.
  • tokens.json holds only a hash of each pairing token, never the token itself.
  • backups holds a verified copy of the database from each day. The seven newest copies are kept.
  • config.json holds the settings.
  • anchor-exclusions.json and meeting-dismissals.json hold what the calendar writes back to sidekick (see How the Calendar Reads the Signals).
  • tracker.log is a log file. It contains no window titles and no paths.
  • telemetry.json holds the install ID and when the daily usage event was sent last. It exists only after you agreed to send usage data. The folder telemetry-queue holds usage events that have not been sent yet; it is deleted when you switch usage data off.

Signals older than 90 days are deleted every night. You can change the period in sidekick under Settings, area Retention and start, setting Keep signals (days).

What Leaves Your Computer

  • sidekick uploads no signals. It sends usage data only if you agree; see Usage Data.
  • The time cockpit web client does not send the signals to the time cockpit server either. The calendar processes them only in your browser, including the keywords and the booking proposal. Only the bookings you create are saved in time cockpit, as usual.
  • Apart from usage data, the only request sidekick makes on its own is the update check: one minute after the start and then every four hours, it reads the update feed at https://www.timecockpit.com/download/sidekick/ (with Get pre-release versions switched on, https://www.timecockpit.com/download/sidekick-preview/) and downloads a newer version from there. The request carries no data from sidekick; the server sees the address the request comes from, as with any download.
  • If you add remote machines, sidekick connects to them over SSH to read their signals. The data stays in the local database.

Usage Data

sidekick asks in a banner at the top of its window: May sidekick send usage data to software architects? Until you answer, nothing is sent. Yes, share switches it on, No thanks keeps it off, and What exactly? opens the settings. You can change your choice at any time in sidekick under Settings, area Privacy, with Send usage data. The change takes effect at once; switching it off also deletes the events that have not been sent yet.

If you agree, sidekick sends these events:

  • With every event: the version and update channel of sidekick, the operating system and processor architecture, the language of the interface, and a random install ID. The install ID is created when you agree for the first time. It makes the data pseudonymous: events of the same installation can be linked, but not to a person.
  • At every start: whether it is the first start after an installation, and the major version of the operating system.
  • Once a day: which sources and options are switched on, how many remote machines and paired calendars there are (in ranges such as 2–5), the retention period, the theme, and how long sidekick has been running (in ranges).
  • When it happens: a source or the autostart was switched on or off; a calendar was paired or revoked; an update was ready, failed or was installed; a source reported an error (a fixed error code, never the message, at most once a day per source and code); a part of sidekick crashed (only the kind and the reason).

Every field is a yes/no value, a number or one of a fixed list of values. sidekick never sends free text and never sends recorded data: no window titles, applications, files, paths, repositories, commits, prompts, Wi-Fi names, projects, times, user name or computer name, and no tokens. Crash dumps stay on your computer, and tracker.log is not sent.

The data goes to Microsoft Azure Application Insights in the region North Europe and is kept for 90 days. sidekick sets the IP address of every event to 0.0.0.0, so no IP address and no location is stored with it.

How the Calendar Reads the Signals

  • sidekick answers only on 127.0.0.1. Other computers in the network cannot reach it.
  • Every time cockpit address, for example https://web-preview.timecockpit.com, needs its own token. A token that was created for another address is refused.
  • The calendar requests the signals directly from your browser. The signals go from sidekick directly to your browser and are processed only there; they are never sent to the time cockpit server.
  • Besides reading, the calendar writes only two things back to sidekick: the meetings you ignore, with their subject and planned times, and the signals you exclude as evidence for the proposal, with the booking pattern they were excluded for (the identifiers and names of, for example, its project and task). sidekick stores them so that the calendar can show and undo them. Neither changes a signal.
  • The tab Pairing in sidekick shows an access log of the latest requests, and Revoke removes the access of a paired calendar.
  • To stop every calendar from reading, clear Paired calendars may read under Settings in the area Connection to the calendar.

Controlling What Is Recorded

In sidekick under Settings:

  • Every source except presence can be switched off: Windows, Files, Microphone, Wi-Fi, Claude Code, Codex and Git.
  • Record window titles in the area Windows keeps the application names and times but drops all window titles.
  • Exclusions in the area Windows apply to single applications or windows. Time only, without title keeps the time but drops the window title. Do not record records nothing at all; the time disappears from the day. Exclusions are applied before anything is stored.
  • By default, password managers and private browser windows are recorded without their titles, and the window of sidekick itself is not recorded. The calendar shows windows without titles as redacted.
  • Watch file changes in the area Files is off by default, and without folders nothing is watched. sidekick records which files change, never their content.

To pause the recording, use Pause in the menu of the tray icon (15 min, 1 h or until resumed). While paused, sidekick still records whether the computer was on and whether it was locked, so the pause shows up as a gap in your activity.

Deleting Data

In sidekick, open the tab Data. In the area Delete data:

  • Delete today… deletes the signals of today.
  • Delete period… deletes the signals between two days.
  • Delete everything… deletes all signals.

sidekick shows how many rows will be deleted before it deletes them. The backups that contain a deleted day are deleted as well, and deleted rows are overwritten in the database file. After Delete everything…, sidekick no longer imports earlier history: Claude Code and Codex sessions and Git repositories are recorded only from then on, including repositories it finds later.

Uninstalling sidekick does not delete the data folder.

What sidekick Does Not Protect Against

  • Anyone with access to your Windows account. The database is an unencrypted file in your profile.
  • Other programs that run under your Windows account. They can read the database and the token file directly, or read window titles the same way sidekick does.
  • Malicious or compromised code in the time cockpit web application itself. A paired calendar can read your signals.

Wi-Fi Names on Windows 11 24H2 and Later

Windows 11 24H2 and later give Wi-Fi names to desktop apps only with location access. Without it, sidekick records no Wi-Fi names and reports an error for the Wi-Fi source. To allow it, open the Windows settings, go to Privacy & security > Location, and turn on Location services and Let desktop apps access your location.

sidekick does not read your location. Windows only requires this setting before it hands out network names.