Privacy & Security
Last updated: 2026-08-05
Our Privacy Promise
Your data stays on your Mac. Period.
Dev WorkDir is built with privacy as a core feature, not an afterthought. We believe your projects and code are yours and yours alone.
What We Don’t Do
❌ No accounts — You don’t need to sign up for anything ❌ No cloud sync — All data stays on your local machine ❌ No tracking — We don’t use analytics, telemetry, or third-party trackers ❌ No data collection — We don’t collect any personal data ❌ No internet connection required — The app works fully offline
What We Do (Locally)
✅ Read your project folders — To display and manage your projects (with your permission) ✅ Store your preferences — Settings, todo items, custom templates, etc. ✅ Access files you choose — Only the folders you explicitly grant access to
All of this happens on your Mac, in your control.
App Sandbox
Dev WorkDir runs in Apple’s App Sandbox, which means:
- The app can only access files and folders you explicitly grant permission to
- It cannot access your entire filesystem without your consent
- It’s constrained from accessing the network, hardware, and other system resources
- All operations are sandboxed and isolated from the rest of your system
What is App Sandbox? Apple’s security technology that restricts what an app can do, even if the app is compromised. It’s why you can trust apps from the App Store.
Security-Scoped Bookmarks
When you grant Dev WorkDir access to a folder, we use Apple’s Security-Scoped Bookmarks to:
- Remember which folders you’ve authorized
- Persist access across app restarts
- Limit access to only those specific folders
This is the secure, Apple-approved way for sandboxed apps to maintain folder access.
Data Storage
All data is stored locally on your Mac:
| Data | Location |
|---|---|
| App preferences | ~/Library/Preferences/ (UserDefaults) |
| Todos | ~/Library/Application Support/WorkDir/todos.json |
| Double-click actions | ~/Library/Application Support/WorkDir/doubleClickActions.json |
| Environment variables | ~/Library/Application Support/WorkDir/environmentVariables.json |
| Custom templates | ~/Library/Application Support/WorkDir/customProjectTemplates.json |
| Security bookmarks | UserDefaults (encrypted bookmark data) |
You can delete this data at any time by removing the app and its associated files.
Script Execution
When you use the “double-click to run” feature:
- Dev WorkDir opens Terminal.app and runs the command there
- Scripts execute in your normal terminal environment
- We use AppleScript to control Terminal (required for sandbox compatibility)
- You have full visibility into everything being run
Dev WorkDir never runs hidden or background scripts without your knowledge.
Git Information
Dev WorkDir shows Git branch information by:
✅ Reading .git/HEAD file directly — We don’t use the git command
✅ No network calls — We only read local Git data
✅ Read-only — We never modify your Git data
This approach is sandbox-compatible and keeps things simple and secure.
Questions?
If you have questions about privacy or security, please contact us. We take this seriously and will respond promptly.
Your code, your projects, your business.