Privacy policy

Last updated 9 July 2026

The short version

Merlin collects nothing. The app has no accounts, no telemetry, no analytics, and no crash reporting. Your projects, transcripts, and settings stay in a folder on your Mac.

Who we are

Merlin is made by Evans Studio Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (Company No. 16406021, registered office 188 Bristol Road, Bridgwater TA6 4BP, United Kingdom). Contact: paul@evans-studio.co.uk.

What the app does on the network

• Update checks. The app periodically fetches a small static file from our website to see whether a newer version exists. This is an ordinary web request; like any web request, our hosting provider may log the requesting IP address. No identifier, account, or usage data is sent.
• Claude Code. Merlin drives the Claude Code software on your machine under your own Anthropic login. Your conversations with Claude are governed by Anthropic's terms and privacy policy, not ours. We never see them.
• Optional services you enable. If you add an ElevenLabs key, spoken replies are synthesised by ElevenLabs under their privacy policy. If you connect Clawtex memory, that account is governed by Clawtex's own terms. Both are off until you turn them on.
• Bug reports. If you choose to send one (Merlin menu, Report a Bug), the app sends your description, an optional email address, and a small environment summary: app version, macOS version, chip type, and whether Claude Code and voice input are set up. The form shows you the exact contents before you send. Nothing is sent unless you press Send, and reports never include your conversations, files, or keys.
• Setup installers. During setup, and only with your click, Merlin runs Anthropic's official Claude Code installer (from claude.ai) and your own Homebrew to install the voice tools, and downloads the speech model from Hugging Face, verifying it against a known checksum. These are the same commands you would run by hand; we simply run them for you.
• License activation. Activating sends your license key and this Mac's computer name to Lemon Squeezy to count the activation. Afterwards Merlin re-checks the key quietly every few days; if the check cannot be reached, the app keeps working.

What lives on your Mac, and how

• API keys you add (Anthropic, ElevenLabs) are stored in the macOS Keychain, the same place your other credentials live, not in plain files.
• Conversation transcripts are plain files in ~/.merlin, readable by your macOS account alone. They never leave your Mac. Settings → General controls how long they are kept and can clear them all at once.
• Your license record is a small local file so the app can start offline.
• Removing everything: deactivate this Mac in Settings → About, then delete the app and the ~/.merlin folder. There is no server-side copy of your data to chase.

What your agents can do

Merlin's agents drive Claude Code with your own login and can run commands and edit files on your Mac on your behalf, without a confirmation step. That is the product working as designed, and it is worth stating plainly: what an agent reads (a web page, a file, a task card) can influence what it does next. Point your agents at code and content you trust.

Purchases

Merlin is sold by Lemon Squeezy as merchant of record. Your name, email, and payment details are collected and processed by Lemon Squeezy under their privacy policy. We receive your email address and order details so we can provide support and license services, and we use them for nothing else.

This website

This site sets no cookies and runs no analytics.

If you join the launch waitlist, we store the email address you enter for one purpose only: to email you when Merlin is available to buy. We do not use it for anything else, and you can ask us to remove it at any time.

Lawful basis and retention

Where we process your personal data we rely on performing our contract with you (activating and supporting your license), our legitimate interests (keeping the app updated and secure, and handling bug reports you choose to send), and, for optional services you switch on, your consent, which you can withdraw by turning them off. We keep your purchase email, waitlist email, and any support correspondence only as long as we need it to help you and to meet our legal obligations, then delete it.

International transfers

Some of the providers we rely on are based outside the UK, including in the United States: Lemon Squeezy for purchases, Slack for receiving any bug report or waitlist signup you send, and, if you enable it, ElevenLabs for spoken replies. Where your personal data reaches them, the transfer is covered by those providers' own standard data protection terms and safeguards.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have rights of access, rectification, erasure, and objection over personal data we hold (which, in practice, is at most your purchase email and any support correspondence). Email us to exercise them. You can also complain to the ICO (ico.org.uk). Evans Studio Ltd is registered with the ICO.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new version appears here with a new date. We will not make the app start collecting data without telling you plainly.