Privacy

In short

• Design, animation, rendering and carving all run locally. Your projects, media and renders are not uploaded anywhere by Carvercat.
• There is no Carvercat account, sign-in, analytics, advertising or crash reporting in the app.
• The app contacts one server, updates.carvercat.com, to check for updates, download an update you choose to install, and read short news for the launch window. It does not send your app version, projects or any identifier; like any web server, it sees your IP address.
• The agent (MCP) connection is local to your computer and does not go over the internet by itself.
• We only receive personal information if you choose to send it, for example by emailing us.

What stays on your computer

Projects (.carverproj), imported media, fonts, renders, proxies, preferences and the list of recent projects are stored on your computer. Carvercat does not send them to us or to anyone else.

Besides its own data folder and your projects (saved to Documents/Carvercat by default), Carvercat writes a few files where other programs expect them: Fusion templates and the Carvercat Free Receiver script in DaVinci Resolve’s folders, the files it sends to After Effects in its own cache folder (no script or plug-in is installed into After Effects), temporary files for rendering and delivery, and, only after you allow it (on first run or with the Connect any AI switch), an entry for Carvercat in the settings file of each AI app on your computer that supports MCP (with a backup copy of the original). Carvercat repairs that entry when it updates, and switching the setting off removes it.

Sending a composition to DaVinci Resolve happens on the same computer: Carvercat talks to the Resolve installation through Resolve’s local scripting interface and files on your disk. Sending to After Effects works the same way, through a script that runs in After Effects on your computer. Nothing in a transfer leaves your computer.

Update checks and launch window news

The installed app reads two small files from updates.carvercat.com, a Cloudflare-hosted address we run:

• Update check (current.json): once each time you open Carvercat, and whenever you choose Help → Check for Updates. Your installed version is compared on your computer; it is not sent.
• Update download: only when you press Update, the app downloads the new version from the same address. Nothing installs without your click.
• Launch window news (launcher.json): read when Carvercat starts with a new, empty project. It is text only; a link in it opens carvercat.com in your browser.

Each request is a plain download with no account, project, version or personal data. The address tells the server whether you use the Mac or Windows build. As with any website, the server receives your IP address and standard request details. Cloudflare, our hosting provider, processes these requests and may keep them in its logs. We do not use them to identify you or build a profile.

In this alpha these checks cannot be switched off in the app. If your computer is offline, Carvercat still works; it simply cannot check for updates or news.

The agent (MCP) connection

Carvercat includes a local MCP (Model Context Protocol) connection so that a compatible AI client on your computer can create and edit projects with you. In this alpha the connection is always on while Carvercat is running. Whether Carvercat is added to the AI apps on your computer is your choice: Carvercat asks on first run, and the Connect any AI switch turns it on or off.

What that means:

• Carvercat listens only on your computer’s own loopback address (127.0.0.1). It is not reachable from the internet or your local network.
• There is no password on it. Any program running on your computer can connect and do what an agent can: read and change the open project, render, export and send to Resolve or After Effects. Only run AI clients and tools you trust.
• Carvercat adds itself to an AI client’s settings only when you press Connect, and removes only its own entry when you disconnect.
• An AI client you connect (for example a desktop chat app) may send what it reads from Carvercat to its own provider. That is governed by that provider’s privacy policy, not ours.

Help, reports and email

• Copy Version and System Info (Help menu) copies the Carvercat version, stage, build and your operating system and processor type to your clipboard. It includes no name, file paths or project data. Nothing is sent; you decide whether to paste it anywhere.
• Report an Issue opens a new, empty email to [email protected] in your own email app. Nothing is sent until you press send.
• Help menu links (documentation, website, release notes) open carvercat.com in your web browser. On Windows, if a video needs Microsoft’s HEVC extension, Carvercat can open its Microsoft Store page when you click.
• If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you write or attach. We use it only to reply and to fix problems, keep it only as long as needed to answer and follow up, and do not sell or share it.

This website

carvercat.com is a static website hosted by Cloudflare. It has no sign-up and no advertising cookies. Cloudflare processes each request (including your IP address) to deliver the page and protect the site, and may keep logs.

• The home page shows a preview image of our introduction film from YouTube’s image server. The video itself loads from youtube-nocookie.com only when you press play; YouTube’s privacy policy then applies.
• Links to Discord, Instagram, X, YouTube and TikTok take you to those services, which have their own policies.
• Downloads come from updates.carvercat.com, also on Cloudflare.
• When you press a download button we add one to a daily count for Mac or Windows. We store only that number: no IP address, no cookie and nothing about you.

Age

Carvercat is creative software for anyone, with no minimum age and no age check. Because the app collects no personal information, we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, of any age; the only personal information we receive is what someone chooses to email us.

Changes and contact

Carvercat has no account, analytics, crash reporting or licence check, so it does not collect anything else. We will update this page if the app ever changes how it uses the network, and change the date at the top. Questions or requests about your information, including asking what we hold or asking us to delete an email: [email protected].