# Original files and privacy ## Your originals don't change CutZal only reads your original video and audio. Cuts, layouts and sound effects are all saved as edit information, and exporting makes new files. So however many times you change your edit, it can be worked out again from the originals, and the originals never get overwritten. Clicking **Remove from list** in the recent projects list only takes the project off the list. The video, transcript and edit files stay where they are. ## The `edit/` folder Every file CutZal makes goes into the `edit/` folder inside the folder that holds your video. If you imported files from several folders, it's the folder of the first video. **Open project folder** in the project menu opens it directly. To tell an external agent which project you're on, copy the project file's path with **Copy project path** and pass it on. | File or folder | Contents | | ------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `cutzal.json` | The project file. It saves only the decisions people made, such as cuts, trims, layouts and tracks, and works out the rest each time the project opens. | | `transcripts/` | Transcripts. They're saved under the video file name, so a new project from the same video doesn't transcribe it again. | | `final.*`, `preview.*` | Exported videos and subtitles. | | `projects//` | Extra projects made from the same video, with **Duplicate edit** or **New project from same media**. They share the transcript. | | `checkpoints/`, `chat/` | Checkpoints and chat history. | | `cutzal.json.bak` | One backup from just before **Reset to AI cut**. | | `correction-record.json` | A summary of your AI cut corrections, saved each time you export the final video, and the parts you played in the editor or the phone preview after the AI cut (times in the original). It holds only numbers, and the played parts stay on this Mac. | | Other folders | Working files such as waveforms, converted images, sound effects added to the project and noise removal results. | Don't edit `cutzal.json` by hand or with other programs. Change it through the app or the `cutzal` command so that undo, checkpoints and saving stay safely in step. To compare saved files or archived edits and transcripts, open **Recovery tools** in the project menu. **Check for latest file** compares your current edit with the saved file, and **Compare archived edits** brings back what you need from an archived edit. In **Compare archived transcripts**, you can check transcripts that arrived late or subtitle imports that were interrupted. ## Other files kept on this Mac - `.cutzal/` in your home folder: app information such as the recent projects list, the history shown on the start screen, the sound effect library location, AI cut correction trends (numbers only) and the developer key file (`.env`). For each project, the history keeps only the number and dates of exports and the number of AI suggestions you checked, not project names or paths. The history isn't sent anywhere. - `~/Library/Application Support/CutZal/`: settings, sign-in information and Skills. Sign-in information is stored encrypted with the macOS keychain. - `CutZal/Sound Effects/` in your Music folder: the sound effect library. CutZal Beta keeps its own `.cutzal-beta/`, `~/Library/Application Support/CutZal Beta/` and `CutZal Beta/Sound Effects/` in your Music folder, so it doesn't mix with the regular app. Signing out leaves the projects, transcripts and settings on this Mac as they are. ## What leaves your Mac Editing, previewing and exporting all happen on this Mac. Data leaves it only in the cases below. Anything that costs money or allowance starts only when you click for it yourself. | When | What | Where to | | ---------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Transcribing with CutZal credits | The video's audio (compressed sound only) | ElevenLabs, through the CutZal account server | | Transcribing with your own ElevenLabs key | The video's audio | ElevenLabs | | First downloading the free local transcription model | A request for the model files (no audio, transcript or account information) | Hugging Face | | Chat and Auto cut | Your request text, the transcript and word timings for the range in question, images you attached, and frames of the final video that the AI asked for | Anthropic through your Claude Code, or OpenAI through your Codex | | Creating AI sound effects | The sound effect description and length | A sound effect generation service, through the CutZal account server | | Signing in or checking credits | Account information | The CutZal account server | | Checking for updates | A request to check the app version | The CutZal download server | | Unless you turned off usage statistics | The kinds and counts of features you used, whether they succeeded and how long they took, the app version and release channel, the operating system and its major version, the display language, a bracket for how long since you first used the app, a random identifier this app made, a summary of how much you corrected the AI cut when you export the final video (number of spots, length in 10-second steps, a bracket for the original length, the AI service that made the cuts, a bracket for how much of the final video you played in the editor or the phone preview), whether Match target loudness was on when you export a video, the step where a failed export stopped and the kind of cause (not the error message), the style you picked and the kinds of fields you changed for video captions, whether you saved, cleared or applied new project defaults, the frame shape before and after you changed the frame size (original, landscape, portrait) with the number of clips adjusted along with it, how you inserted a video (drag, playhead, command) with its length in 10-second steps and whether it was transcribed (not the file name or position), the speed you set, whether the sound was kept, whether it was for parts or the whole video, where you changed it and how many parts (not where they are), the kind of agent task (chat, Auto cut) and how it ended, for chat the mode you chose (Plan mode, Always ask, Accept edits), the number of edit attempts blocked in the meantime, and whether you took over editing and whether you handed it back to the agent (not your instructions or the ranges worked on), where you saw the sign-up prompt, and the kind of screen where you started, finished or canceled signing in | PostHog | - Chat and Auto cut don't send video or audio files. Only the text and images in the table are sent, by your Claude Code or Codex to its own service, without going through CutZal servers. That service's terms and usage apply. The only time sound leaves your Mac is when you transcribe with ElevenLabs. - Audio for credit transcription isn't stored on CutZal servers, and CutZal asks ElevenLabs to delete the transcription records. Only the usage records needed to work out credits remain (account, length, amount charged, result, time and an audio fingerprint). The audio fingerprint is a value made so that it can't be turned back into the audio, and it's used so that retrying the same audio doesn't charge you twice. - If you transcribe with your own ElevenLabs key, CutZal doesn't ask ElevenLabs to delete the transcription records. Whatever remains follows the terms of your ElevenLabs account. - Sound effect descriptions go to an external generation service, so don't put personal or sensitive information in them. - Usage statistics are sent by default. A notice appears once, the first time you open the editor, and nothing is sent before that. Video, audio, subtitles, file names, chat instructions and notes aren't included, and the identifier isn't linked to your account or email. To turn it off, switch off **Send usage statistics** in **Storage · Privacy** settings. **Details** in that first notice opens this setting directly. Every feature still works with it off. - This docs site, the homepage, the editor comparison pages, the blog and the release notes count visits and button clicks (Cloudflare Web Analytics and PostHog). They only record whether an event came from the homepage, the docs, a comparison page, the blog or the release notes. Page addresses and anything you type aren't included, and no identifier is left in your browser. You can turn off PostHog events for this browser in the [privacy policy](https://cutzal.ai/privacy.html#website-events), and nothing is sent if your browser has Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track turned on. - How much you corrected the AI cut is sent only as one numeric summary when you export the final video. Which parts you fixed and when, the reasons, transcripts and project and file names aren't included. How much of the final video you played in the editor or the phone preview after the AI cut is sent only as under half, half to 90% or 90% or more, and which parts you played stays on this Mac. The same summary also stays on this Mac, and you can compare it with earlier videos in **AI cut corrections** in **Memory** settings. - Error logs aren't sent automatically. When you report a problem, you can make a log file with **Save diagnostics** in **Storage · Privacy** settings and attach it yourself. - If you turn on **Phone connection**, a phone on your Tailscale network can see the project name, the progress and the script text. Video and audio are sent only when you tap **Make preview** on the phone, as a preview-quality video for the connected phone. If you turn on HTTPS, your Mac's Tailscale name appears in public certificate logs. [Chat and your agent](https://cutzal.ai/docs/en/chat.md) shows how to connect your Claude Code or Codex, and [Transcription options](https://cutzal.ai/docs/en/transcription.md) shows the cost of each transcription method. The full privacy policy is at [cutzal.ai/privacy](https://cutzal.ai/privacy). Finishing rules are an experimental feature, so they start out turned off. Turn them on under **Labs** in Settings, and CutZal collects the finishing preferences you mention in chat as rule candidates; you save, discard, delete and restore them on that same screen. Candidates come back with the responses to edit requests you already sent, and CutZal doesn't call your AI separately just to create them. To have it look back through earlier conversation, send something like "remember what we just fixed" in chat. Rules are saved in the app data folder as a separate, versioned document that keeps each candidate's original human wording and source along with the values you confirmed. While the feature is off, CutZal doesn't collect candidates, places sound effects with the defaults and skips the export check. Turning it off doesn't delete your saved rules. Usage statistics include only the kinds and counts of these actions and checks, not rule values, original wording, projects, conversation IDs or times. ## Feedback reward after export The feedback reward becomes available once it's turned on with an account server deployment. After you finish exporting a final video, submit your feedback yourself and you get 30 minutes of transcription, once per project. You can get it up to twice a month per account, and you can use it in the month you got it. Before you send anything, the card shows the reward time, the monthly limit and how long scores and optional comments are kept. Your feedback goes to the account server only when you submit it yourself after signing in, and a low score gets the same reward. The comment is optional. Don't include personal information or video content. The account server stores the score, the optional comment, a random project identifier and the reward history. File paths and names, video and transcripts aren't sent. Scores and comments aren't added to usage statistics or diagnostic logs. A daily cleanup job deletes comments after 90 days and scores after 12 calendar months. For months that don't have that date, it uses the last day of the month in UTC. The minimal reward record that prevents duplicate rewards is deleted when you delete your account.