baton: Privacy Policy

Who we are

baton is a command-line tool for running AI-assisted development, research and marketing work from one place. It runs on your own computer, works with the data you point it at, and keeps that data on your machine. It is made by Quantum Encoding Ltd, registered in England and Wales (company number 16575953). Privacy questions and requests: privacy@quantumencoding.io.

Who controls what. For the personal data you process with baton — the contents of an account you connect, the listings, search results or pages you retrieve, the files you work on — you are the data controller. Quantum Encoding does not receive that data. Quantum Encoding is the data controller only for the limited personal data its own optional services collect, described under Services Quantum Encoding does operate below.

The short version

baton runs on your own computer. The data it works with — including any account you connect and its access token — stays on your machine. Quantum Encoding does not receive, store or sell your data, your customers' data or your credentials, and baton contains no analytics or tracking.

What baton does

baton is a toolbox of features you invoke as you need them. Depending on which you use, it can:

• run development and agent work, and coordinate your own machines;
• retrieve information — web and news search, maps, and product or market research — through providers using your own API keys or accounts;
• drive your own web browser session (with your existing logins) to read or act on pages, locally on your machine;
• manage advertising accounts on Meta and TikTok (see below);
• generate media, and send messages through channels you connect.

In every case baton acts on your instruction, with your own credentials, and stores what it keeps on your device. The sections below explain the parts that touch personal data.

Advertising accounts (Meta and TikTok)

When you connect a Meta or TikTok ad account, you authorise baton through that platform's own sign-in and permission screen (OAuth). You choose which account to grant, and you can revoke access at any time from the platform's settings.

• Access tokens are stored in an encrypted secret store on your own device, unlocked by your device's biometric or passphrase. baton never displays a token, writes it to a log, or sends it to Quantum Encoding.
• API calls go directly from your device to Meta or TikTok. They do not pass through Quantum Encoding servers.

baton only requests the permissions it needs for the features you use:

baton does not read the personal data of the people who see your ads beyond the aggregated reports the platforms provide, except for lead-form submissions you choose to download. Nothing is created or started without your approval. New ads are always created paused.

Research, browsing and other data baton retrieves

When you use baton to search the web or news, look up maps or product and market data, or drive your own browser, the requests go from your device to the provider you are using, authenticated with your own API key or account. Results are shown to you and saved only where you choose, on your own device. Quantum Encoding does not receive these queries or their results. Each provider handles the request under its own terms and privacy policy.

Where your data is stored

Everything baton keeps (reports you save, notes, configuration, drafts) is stored in plain files on your own device, under the ~/.baton folder. You can read, move or delete it at any time. If you link your own machines together, baton syncs between them over your own encrypted connection.

Services Quantum Encoding does operate

A few optional parts of baton do talk to Quantum Encoding servers. These are the only places Quantum Encoding acts as a data controller, and none of them carry the data you process with baton:

• Update checks and downloads (quantumencoding.io): your device requests the latest release. We see the request's IP address and the version asked for, as in any web server log.
• Device link relay (link.quantumencoding.io): if you use baton's link feature to connect your own devices, the relay helps them find each other. Traffic is end-to-end encrypted between your devices and we cannot read it.
• QAI gateway (api.quantumencoding.ai): only if you choose to use it for AI features. It processes the prompts you send so it can return a result. It is a separate Quantum Encoding service with its own privacy policy and terms.

AI assistants

If you use baton with an AI assistant (for example Claude), anything you ask it to read is sent to that assistant's provider under your agreement with that provider, using your own account or API key. Quantum Encoding does not receive it.

Sharing

We do not sell or share the data you process with baton, because we do not receive it. Data passes to a platform such as Meta or TikTok only when you tell baton to act on your account there, and is then handled under their own terms and privacy policies.

Retention and deletion

Data on your device stays there until you delete it. Uninstalling baton and deleting ~/.baton removes it all. To stop baton accessing an account, revoke its access at the provider — for advertising, in Meta Business settings or TikTok Business Center. To delete data we do hold (update logs, support email, or your QAI gateway account), email privacy@quantumencoding.io.

Your rights

The data you process with baton is on your own device, under your control — you can access, change, export or delete it directly. For the limited personal data Quantum Encoding does hold (update logs, support email, QAI gateway account), UK and EU data protection law (UK GDPR / GDPR) gives you the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or move it, and to object to its processing. Email privacy@quantumencoding.io. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) or your local supervisory authority.

Children

baton is a business tool and is not directed at anyone under 18.

Changes

If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top. If a change affects how your data is handled, we will say so in the release notes of the version that makes it.

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