Privacy Policy

Overview

Hopshell is a native macOS app that manages SSH connections to servers you control, using your own credentials. There is no Hopshell server in the middle of your connections: the app drives your Mac's real ssh, scp, sftp, and mosh binaries directly against the hosts you configure. Hopshell does not operate a backend that your server credentials, commands, or terminal output pass through.

What we store, and where

• Passwords, SSH key passphrases, TOTP secrets, and AI provider API keys are stored in the macOS Keychain on your Mac, encrypted by the operating system. They are never written to a file Hopshell creates itself.
• Servers, folders, and snippets are stored locally at ~/Library/Application Support/Hopshell/workspaces.json on your Mac.
• Optional iCloud Keychain sync (off by default) uses Apple's own iCloud Keychain to sync vault secrets to your other Macs. This is Apple's infrastructure, governed by Apple's privacy policy — Hopshell does not have its own server involved.
• Optional iCloud sync for workspace data (off by default) uses your own private CloudKit database, under your own Apple ID, to sync servers/folders/snippets between your Macs. Same as above — this is Apple's infrastructure, not a Hopshell-operated server.
• Team Sharing (sharing a password, identity, key, or server with a teammate) uses Apple's native CloudKit sharing (CKShare). The secret value is encrypted on your Mac, with a random key, before it is ever written to CloudKit — that key is shown to you once and is never transmitted anywhere, including to Hopshell. Apple's CloudKit only ever stores ciphertext; Hopshell has no server capable of reading it either.

What we don't do

• We do not run analytics, crash reporting, or tracking SDKs that phone home to us.
• We do not sell, share, or transmit your server credentials, commands, or data to any third party.
• We do not have an account system or login of our own. There is no "Hopshell account" — the app works entirely against infrastructure you already control.

Third-party services

A small number of features involve a third party, only when you choose to use them:

• AI Assist is bring-your-own-key: if you add an API key for Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI (Grok), DeepSeek, or a custom-compatible endpoint, whatever you choose to send through that feature goes directly from your Mac to that provider using your own key. Hopshell has no backend relay in this path. That provider's own privacy policy governs how they handle it.
• Software updates: on launch (if enabled) or when you manually check, Hopshell makes a plain, anonymous request to hopshell.com/version.json to see if a newer version exists. No personal data is included in this request.
• License activation (see "Purchase data" below).
• Apple iCloud/CloudKit, for the optional sync and Team Sharing features described above.

Trademarks & third-party names

Hopshell is an independent application, developed by Code There. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, DeepSeek, Apple Inc., or any AI provider or platform it can optionally connect to. References to these names describe integration compatibility only.

Purchase data

Hopshell is sold through Gumroad. Your payment is processed entirely by Gumroad and its payment processors — we do not receive or store your card details. License activation and periodic re-validation send only your license key (and, if you choose to provide one, an email address for your own reference) to Gumroad's license verification API.

Children's privacy

Hopshell is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them. As described above, we don't collect personal information from any user in the first place.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted on this page with a new "Last updated" date.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Email [email protected].