Privacy policy
Last updated 5 October 2026
MeritAI is an HR adviser for small business owners, published as an alpha on GitHub. It is a desktop app for Windows that runs on your own computer. This page explains what it keeps, what leaves your computer and why, and how it uses your Gmail account if you connect it.
The short version: there is no MeritAI server. Your workspace stays on your computer. What you ask the adviser goes to OpenAI under your own OpenAI account. If you connect Gmail, MeritAI can only send the emails you review and send yourself; it can't read your email. The developer receives nothing unless you email feedback yourself.
What stays on your computer
- Your workspace (by default
%LOCALAPPDATA%\MeritAI Workspaces\MeritAI;%USERPROFILE%\MeritAIif you installed before version 0.3.0): the business profile, policies, the employee register, jobs, applications, screening results and the documents MeritAI saves for you. The employee register and the hiring records (jobs, candidates, screening results) are encrypted for your Windows account on this computer. - App data (
%APPDATA%\MeritAI): conversations, memory and settings. - Sign-ins and keys: the voice API key and the Gmail sign-in are kept encrypted for your Windows user and are never shown again in full.
Uninstalling MeritAI and deleting these two folders removes it all.
What leaves your computer
- OpenAI, signed in with your own ChatGPT account or OpenAI API key: your messages, the business profile, and the files and records the adviser reads to answer you (for example a resume you ask it to screen); audio while you use voice. OpenAI's terms and your account's settings apply.
- Google (Gmail API), only if you connect Gmail: each email you choose to send (recipient, subject, message and attachments). See below.
- GitHub: checks for and downloads MeritAI updates.
- npm or GitHub: on first start, downloads the AI engine (OpenAI's Codex) once. Nothing about you is sent.
- Google Fonts: the app's fonts.
- Feedback: only when you choose Send feedback, as an email from your own email app to the address shown.
MeritAI has no analytics or advertising, and the developer does not receive your data.
Gmail
If you connect Gmail (Connections › Gmail), MeritAI asks Google for one permission: https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.send, "Send email on your behalf".
- What it does with it: sends the candidate emails you have reviewed, only when you press Send. You can undo for 10 seconds; after that the email is sent. Sent emails appear in your Gmail Sent folder.
- What it can't do: read, search, change or delete your email, or see your contacts.
- What it keeps: your Gmail address (to show which account is connected), Google's sign-in token, encrypted on your computer, and a note of which candidate was emailed on which day, in your workspace.
- What it shares: nothing received from Google is sent to OpenAI, to the developer or to anyone else, and it is not used to train AI models.
- Disconnecting: Connections › Gmail › Disconnect removes the token from your computer. You can also remove MeritAI's access at myaccount.google.com/permissions.
MeritAI's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs to any other app will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.
Alpha testing
During the alpha, testers use made-up businesses and candidates only, not real people's information. Test mode (on by default) sends every email to your own Gmail instead of the candidate.
Changes
If this policy changes, this page shows the new date, and the change is in the project's public history on GitHub.