Effective: March 9, 2026
Last updated: March 9, 2026
The short version
Freeloader runs entirely on your machine. We do not collect telemetry, usage data, routing data, request content, API keys, or any personal information. The only network call Freeloader makes to our infrastructure is a single anonymous ping on first install to roughly count installations. That's it.
Freeloader is a self-hosted proxy router that runs on your local machine. There is no Freeloader cloud service, no hosted backend, and no central server processing your requests. Everything — your configuration, your API keys, your routing decisions, your usage logs, your reports — lives in a SQLite database inside ~/.xswarm/ on your machine and nowhere else.
To be explicit, Freeloader does not collect, transmit, or have access to:
Our server infrastructure has no endpoints, APIs, or mechanisms to receive any of the above. It is not a matter of policy — it is a matter of architecture. The code is open source and auditable.
On first installation, Freeloader sends a single HTTP request to our server. This request contains no identifying information — no IP logging, no device fingerprint, no user ID. It is a counter increment. The sole purpose is to give us a rough approximation of how many people have installed Freeloader. This ping happens once and is not repeated on subsequent runs.
During setup, Freeloader asks for an email address. This is completely optional — press Enter to skip it. If you do provide an email, it is used for exactly two purposes:
If you provide your email during CLI setup, it is stored locally in your SQLite database. Digest emails are generated and sent from your machine. Our server does not generate reports, does not access your usage data, and does not touch your routing or report data in any way.
If you subscribe to announcements via the website, your email is stored in our mailing list. You can unsubscribe at any time. We do not share, sell, or transfer your email address to any third party.
Freeloader generates PDF savings reports and usage dashboards. All of this data is computed locally from your local SQLite database. Reports are rendered on your machine. Our servers have no access to your usage statistics, cost calculations, provider breakdown, or any data that appears in your dashboard or reports. We could not access this data even if we wanted to — it exists only on your filesystem.
When Freeloader routes a request to a third-party AI provider (Google, Groq, OpenAI, etc.), that request goes directly from your machine to the provider's API. Freeloader does not proxy through our infrastructure. Each provider has its own privacy policy governing how they handle your data. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of providers you configure.
The Freeloader marketing website (this site) may use privacy-respecting analytics to understand page views and traffic sources. This is separate from the Freeloader software itself. The software contains no analytics, tracking pixels, or phone-home mechanisms beyond the single install ping described above.
| Data | Stored Where | Sent to Us? |
|---|---|---|
| API keys | Local SQLite (~/.xswarm/) | No |
| Request/response content | Not stored | No |
| Usage & cost data | Local SQLite | No |
| Routing config | Local SQLite | No |
| PDF reports | Generated locally | No |
| Email (if provided) | Local SQLite + mailing list (if opted in) | Only if you subscribe to announcements |
| Install count | Our server (anonymous counter) | Anonymous increment only |
Freeloader does not knowingly collect any information from anyone, including children. Since we collect no personal data, there is no age-specific data to address.
We may update this policy to reflect changes in the software. Updates will be posted to this page with a revised date. Given our architecture, any changes are unlikely to involve new data collection — they would more likely clarify existing practices.
Questions about this privacy policy? Open an issue on GitHub.