THE VAULT
In development · Coming soon
PRIVACY & SECURITY · THE VAULT · IN PLAIN WORDS

Your conversations stay in your office.

Whombat runs on a computer you own. Our servers pass your messages along, but they can’t read them. This page explains how that works in everyday words, and lists exactly what we can and can’t see.

IN SHORT

Your messages and files are stored on a computer in your office, not with us.

Our servers work like a courier carrying sealed envelopes. They can’t open them.

Your AI agents talk to Claude or ChatGPT directly, under your own account. We are not in between.

FOLLOW ONE MESSAGESealed on your device. Opened only in your office.
1 · YOU
Your laptop or phoneSeals every message in an envelope that only your Whombat can open.
2 · OUR CLOUD
Whombat relayPasses the sealed envelope along. Can’t open it, keeps no copy.
3 · YOUR OFFICE
Your WhombatOpens the envelope and keeps everything on its own disk. It only connects outwards; nothing on the internet can connect in.
4 · THE AI YOU CHOSE
Claude or ChatGPTYour Whombat talks to them directly, under your own account. We are not in between.
HOW IT WORKS · 11 STEPS IN 3 PARTS

Step by step

Each step in everyday words. Switch on technical detail if you want the exact protocols and names.

→ GOES TO · ✕ NEVER REACHES · ↻ CHECKS OR WAITS
PART 1 · STEPS 1–2

Getting started

Two things happen when your Whombat arrives. You claim it, so it belongs to you and nobody else. Then you decide which laptops and phones get a key.

HAZEL · ASSISTANT
01

Claiming your box

Your Whombat shows four letters on its screen. You type them on a laptop or phone that is on the same network, in your office. That proves your device is talking to that exact box and nothing else. The letters never reach our servers. Your device then creates a recovery kit: a file you keep somewhere safe, like a spare key. We never get a copy.

ON YOUR DEVICERecovery kit
YOUYour laptop or phone
4 letters, typed by you———→
YOUR OFFICEYour Whombat
never sees the letters—✕—
OUR CLOUDWhombat relay
02

Every device gets its own key

Your laptop and your phone each get their own key to your Whombat. The key stays on the device and can’t be copied off it. Signing in to your Whombat account is not enough on its own. A new device has to be let in: from a device you already use, through an invitation, or with your recovery kit.

YOUYour laptop or phone
its own key · let in by the box———→
YOUR OFFICEYour Whombat
PART 2 · STEPS 3–7

A normal working day

Here is what happens when you write a message, ask one of us for help, or get a notification. None of it leaves a readable copy on Whombat’s servers.

PIPPA · ASSOCIATE
03

Sending a message

Before a message leaves your laptop or phone, it is sealed so that only your Whombat can open it. Our servers pass the sealed message along without opening it, and keep no copy. Your Whombat opens it and stores it on its own disk, in your office.

YOUYour laptop or phone
sealed———→
OUR CLOUDWhombat relay
still sealed———→
YOUR OFFICEYour Whombat
04

When an agent works

When an agent needs to think, your Whombat talks directly to the AI you chose, Claude or ChatGPT, using your own subscription. The question and the material it needs go straight from your office to them. Our servers are not part of that conversation. Your Claude or ChatGPT login stays on your Whombat, and you sign in on their website, not ours.

YOUR OFFICEYour Whombat
the question + what it needs———→
YOUR ACCOUNTClaude or ChatGPT
not in the conversation—✕—
OUR CLOUDWhombat relay
05

When your assistant uses your email or calendar

Your Google login is stored locked on your Whombat. Agents can work with your mail and calendar without ever seeing the login itself. Anything that reaches other people, sending an email, sending an invite, sharing or deleting, always waits for your approval first.

YOUR OFFICEYour Whombat
login stays on the box———→
YOUR ACCOUNTGoogle
send · invite · share · delete wait for you↻
06

Everything is signed

Every action, by a person or by an agent, is written into a logbook on your Whombat with a signature and a time. Entries can be added, never changed or removed.

YOUR OFFICEYour Whombat
signed entry———→
ON YOUR BOXLogbook
07

Notifications

A notification on your phone only says “Whombat” and what kind it is: a message, or something waiting for your approval. Never what it says.

YOUR OFFICEYour Whombat
“Whombat” · approval———→
OUR CLOUDWhombat relay
no content———→
YOUYour phone
PART 3 · STEPS 8–11

Keeping it safe over time

I look after the box. Backups, a lost phone, software updates, and what happens when you need help from Whombat.

DUSTY · OPERATOR
08

Backups

Backups go to your own backup server, not to us. They are locked with a password that exists only in your recovery kit.

YOUR OFFICEYour Whombat
locked———→
YOURSYour backup server
09

Adding or removing devices

You can see every laptop and phone connected to your Whombat under Settings → Devices. Remove one, say a lost phone, and it is locked out immediately.

YOUYour laptop or phone
remove device———→
ON YOUR BOXSettings → Devices
locked out now———→
YOUR OFFICEYour Whombat
10

Updates

Software updates carry our signature, and your Whombat checks it before installing anything. Updates reach a few boxes first, then the rest. If something goes wrong, the box goes back to the previous version by itself.

OUR CLOUDWhombat
signed · in stages———→
YOUR OFFICEYour Whombat
checks, installs, or goes back↻
11

No back door for us

There is no way for us to log in to your Whombat: no remote access, no support account, no hidden entrance. If you need help, you create a diagnostics bundle, read exactly what is in it, and send it to us yourself.

OUR CLOUDWhombat
no way in—✕—
YOUR OFFICEYour Whombat
bundle you read first———→
OUR CLOUDWhombat
THE COMPLETE LIST

What we can see, and what we can’t

To run the service, our servers handle a little information about your account and your box. This is the complete list.

WE CAN SEE · TO RUN THE SERVICE

Your account email and your company’s name

Who is in your team

Whether your box is healthy, every 5 minutes: software version, disk space, update status, number of active sessions

When a device connects to which box, and how much data moves. Not what it says.

Internet (IP) addresses in our request logs

When a notification is sent

WE NEVER SEE

Messages, threads and direct messages

Files, documents and canvases

Questions to the AI and its answers

Your code

Your email, calendar and Drive

Your Claude or ChatGPT login

THE HONEST PART

What you still have to trust us with

A computer in your office removes most of the ways we could see your data. It doesn’t remove all of them. These are the ones that remain, and what we’re doing about each.

DONEPLANNEDTO CONFIRM

Hi, I’m Ace. I keep track of what’s still open. Four things you still take on trust. We mark each one as done, planned, or still to confirm.

ACE · LEAD

Updates

Your box runs software that we sign. A bad update from us could read your data. What we’re doing about it:

Signing keys kept offline, held by several peoplePLANNED
Updates in stages, with an emergency stopTO CONFIRM
Builds anyone can rebuild and compare (reproducible builds)PLANNED
A public list of every releasePLANNED

The web app

The app in your browser is served by us. A tampered version could read what you see on screen. The Android app doesn’t change behind your back: its code only changes when you install a new version.

Published fingerprints (hashes) of the web app, so it can be checkedPLANNED

Who connects to which box

We see who connects to which box and when, but not what is said.

Your AI provider

Anthropic (Claude) or OpenAI (ChatGPT) see what your agents send them, under your own account and their terms.

FOR THE TECHNICALLY CURIOUS · SOURCE-AVAILABLE

Check it yourself

We publish the code of the apps you use (whombat-app) and of the encryption and protocol (whombat-contracts), so security researchers can check every claim on this page.

The code is published for anyone to read and for security research, but it is not open source (licence: PolyForm Strict). The apps contain no analytics, crash reporting or trackers.

Don’t take our word for it. Read the code.

BANJO · SOFTWARE DEVELOPER
whombat-appWeb and Android apps→whombat-contractsEncryption and protocol→Full privacy and security documentEvery claim on this page, in detail→FOUND SOMETHING?[email protected]→

Your data stays yours

Your data belongs to you. You can export all of it at any time, even after your subscription ends. We claim no rights to it.