# The privacy badge

> The pill in the top-right corner that always says where your content can go — what each state means, what changes it, and what it cannot tell you.

Source: https://docs.docgraph.app/privacy/badge/

The pill in the top-right corner of the window tells you, at a glance, **where your content can go right now**. It reads **100% local**, with a shield icon, most of the time, and it changes the moment that stops being true — when the chat is set to a model on another computer, when a request is on its way out, or when DocGraph refuses one.

*[Screenshot: The privacy badge reading "100% local" with a shield icon, above the chat, where a local Ollama model is selected.]*

It is **status, not a switch**. Nothing is turned on or off by it; the rules live in the code that makes each connection, and the badge reports what those rules are doing. **Click it** (or press Enter on it) to open **Settings → Privacy → Activity & audit**, the log of the connections DocGraph has made off this machine.

## The states

| Badge | What it means | When you see it |
|---|---|---|
| 🛡 **100% local** | Nothing is leaving your machine, and the chat's model runs on it. | The normal state. |
| ☁ **Cloud AI · *provider*** | The chat is set to a hosted model (OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter, or a custom endpoint on the internet). Your messages, the note excerpts sent with them, and — in agent mode — files the model reads go to that provider. | While such a model is selected. The dot **pulses** while a request is in flight. |
| ☁ **Remote AI · *provider*** | The chat is set to a model running on **another machine on your network** — an Ollama server on a different computer, or a custom endpoint on your LAN. It is not "the cloud", but your content still leaves this machine. | While such a model is selected. |
| **External agent** | An external agent (Claude Code, Codex, …) is the chat's source. DocGraph hands your message to it, but the agent makes its own network calls with its own account, and **DocGraph cannot see them**. | While an agent is selected in the chat, and while one is running. |
| **External** | DocGraph itself is talking to the internet for something you asked for. The tooltip names what and where. | For the length of the request: an update check or download, a model download, a web search, a git push or pull, a request to a remote Ollama. |
| **Blocked** | DocGraph refused a connection that isn't on its allowlist. **Nothing was sent.** | For a few seconds after the refusal. |
| **Agent auto-approve** | The [MCP](https://docs.docgraph.app/ai/mcp/) server is on with auto-approve, so a connected client can create and edit notes without asking (deletes and schema changes still ask). | While that setting is on. |

*[Screenshot: The badge reading "Remote AI · Custom endpoint" while a model on a custom endpoint on the local network is selected; the picker button shows the model's logo with a small cloud badge.]*

Hover the badge for the details — which model the chat is set to, and exactly what is sent:

*[Screenshot: The Cloud AI tooltip: the chat is set to anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5; your message, retrieved note excerpts and, in agent mode, files the model reads are sent off this machine to OpenRouter; every call is logged.]*

## What changes it

**Picking a model in the chat is the most common change.** The badge follows the model that will answer your *next* message, so it tells you before you press Send, not after:

- Pick a model under a group marked **local** — the built-in runtime, Apple's on-device model, Ollama on this computer, or a custom endpoint on your own computer → **100% local**.
- Pick a model under a group marked **off-machine** → **Cloud AI** or **Remote AI**, named after that provider.
- Pick an external agent → **External agent**.
- Switch back to a local model → **100% local** again, straight away.

Local or not is decided by **where the model's server actually runs**, never by its name. The same Custom endpoint is local when it points at `127.0.0.1` and off-machine when it points at another computer.

Other things that change it:

- **A request going out** — the badge shows **External** for as long as it lasts, then returns.
- **A request being refused** — **Blocked**, for a few seconds.
- **Closing the chat panel** — the chat's selection no longer applies, so the badge returns to **100% local** (unless something else is active).
- **Turning on MCP auto-approve** — **Agent auto-approve**, until you turn it off.

When several things are true at once, the badge shows the most important one, in this order: **Blocked** → **External agent** → **Cloud AI / Remote AI** → **External** → **Agent auto-approve** → **100% local**. A cloud request that is still in flight keeps the Cloud AI state even if you have already switched the chat back to a local model — it ends when the request does.

## Check it yourself

You don't have to take the badge's word for it. **Settings → Privacy → Activity & audit** has a **Test now** button: it makes a deliberately disallowed request, and you watch it being refused — the badge turns red and a "blocked" row appears in the log. Nothing leaves your machine.

*[Screenshot: The badge reading "Blocked" after the privacy self-test refused a disallowed request.]*

The **Network** view of the same log lists the connections DocGraph has made off this machine — what, where and when — so what the badge showed while you weren't looking is still there ([what isn't logged](https://docs.docgraph.app/privacy/activity/#network)).

## What it cannot tell you

- **How much local AI ran.** Chatting with a model on your own computer never changes the badge, because nothing leaves the machine. The **AI** view of the Activity log records those runs.
- **What an external agent sends.** The **External agent** state says that one is in play; its own traffic is outside DocGraph and is not recorded.
- **What a provider does with your content.** **Cloud AI** tells you *that* your content goes to a provider and to *which* one. Whether that provider keeps it or trains on it is set by its own policy, which DocGraph cannot see or enforce.
- **Everything on your computer.** The badge covers the connections DocGraph makes. Other apps on your computer are outside it.

Related: [Cloud AI providers](https://docs.docgraph.app/ai/cloud-providers/) · [Privacy & Security](https://docs.docgraph.app/privacy/overview/)