Data handling and security
What runs on your Mac, what a conversation sends, and what Inferara's service keeps.
Where your data goes
The close and a conversation handle a company's data differently, so it is worth being precise.
The close runs on your Mac
Adding a company, importing its files, closing a month and reopening one all run in the app on your Mac. They read the exports in your books folder and write the ledger, the reports and the dashboard into the same folder, and they send nothing over the network.
A conversation sends what is in it
When you ask Haruno a question, your message goes through Inferara's hosted service to the model provider that answers. So does anything the assistant reads to answer it: it can open files in your books folder, such as an export, a report or the ledger, and what it reads becomes part of the conversation.
The dashboard's buttons that ask Haruno about a finding or a figure write the question into the chat box, with the company, the month and the figures it is about. Nothing is sent until you press send, so you can edit the question or delete it first.
What each action sends
| What you do | Where it runs | What is transmitted |
|---|---|---|
| Add a company, import its files, or close or reopen a month | On your Mac | Nothing |
| Open the dashboard or a report | On your Mac | Nothing |
| Press a dashboard button that asks Haruno a question | In the chat box | Nothing until you press send. Then the question, with the company, month and figures it names. |
| Ask Haruno a question | Through Inferara's hosted service to the model provider | Your message, and anything the assistant reads to answer it, such as a file in your books folder |
| Export a report or the dashboard as a PDF and send it to someone | Your email or file sharing | Everything the PDF contains. Choose the report for the reader, as described under Files you send on, below. |
What the assistant is told to do
In the books, the assistant is instructed to answer from the close's own figures, the ones the app puts in a question, and to quote them as they are. It is told never to recompute or restate a figure, never to edit a file in your books, never to run a step of the close, and never to answer a policy or review question on your behalf. The app does those things, with you.
What stays on your Mac
Everything the close reads and writes is in your books folder, which the app keeps in its own storage on your Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Haruno/Books. Books ▸ Reveal Books Folder in Finder opens it. Haruno calls each company a client; that is the word in the folder names and on the dashboard.
| Path | What it holds |
|---|---|
| <Client>/exports/ | The files the company sent, as received |
| <Client>/reports/ | The statement package, the reconciliation binder, the investor report and the adjustments log |
| cfo/specs/ | The company's spec: its mapping and the judgments you stated |
| ledger/ | The ledger, which holds every company's figures kept apart by company, with a working copy of each imported workbook and a retained copy of every source file |
| dashboards/ | The figures the portfolio dashboard shows |
Deleting your books
To remove everything the close holds, choose Delete local data… in Settings ▸ Account. It signs you out and erases the books along with the rest of the app's data on your Mac. Your conversations with Haruno are not in the books folder; you can delete them one by one from History.
Deleting a chat in History moves it to the Trash, where you can restore it until you empty the Trash. What Haruno may have saved to memory is covered in Memory.
Files you send on
You can export the dashboard or any report as a PDF to send it on. Choose the report for the reader:
- The portfolio dashboard carries every company in your books, with its findings and reconciliation status.
- The investor report carries one company. The findings, the mapping table, the reconciliation status and the variance watchlist are left out of it, not hidden. So is budget against actual, unless the company's spec explicitly allows it for investors: that takes one setting in the spec, and nothing else lets it in.
- The statement package lists the unresolved findings it was issued with.
Hidden sheets are set aside
A workbook can carry sheets that Excel hides. When Haruno reads a workbook, it sets aside every hidden and very hidden sheet: it records the sheet's name and whether it is hidden or very hidden, and reads nothing else from it into the ledger. A close does not list these sheets in its output.
The reason is practical: a hidden sheet is often left over from an earlier use of the workbook and holds another company's data, which has no place in this company's ledger.
Formulas are recorded, not run
When Haruno reads a workbook, it takes the values Excel stored when the workbook was last saved. It records formula text as well, and never evaluates it.
The sandbox and the dashboard
The app's sandbox
In Operations Manager mode, the assistant always works inside a sandbox on your Mac. Inside it, the assistant can see your books folder, which it can read and write, and its own session state. Nothing else on your Mac is visible to it.
The sandbox fails closed. If it cannot start, a new session does not start either. It never falls back to running without isolation.
Network access from inside the sandbox is limited to a list of allowed hosts: Inferara's hosted service and a short built-in list. A host outside the list has to be allowed first.
In Operations Manager mode, the permission mode is fixed to Automatic. Reading documents runs without asking; any other action goes through an automatic safety check or waits for your approval.
The sandbox limits where the assistant can act. Which actions pause for your approval is covered in Permissions.
The dashboard and the reports
You read the dashboard and the reports in the macOS app. Opening them sends nothing: they show figures from your books folder.
How to read the dashboard is covered in Portfolio dashboard.
What Inferara retains
Inferara's hosted service keeps usage and billing records: which model answered, token counts, cost and timing. It stores no prompt or response content. Two operational records are kept for up to 30 days: the address a request came from, and the text of an error a provider returns, which can quote part of the request.
- Client data is not used to train models.
- Model providers process requests under their own API terms.
- Your books folder, with the exports, the ledger and the reports, is on your Mac. How long you keep it is your decision.
How to delete your account, and what deletion covers, is in the privacy policy. The data processing disclosure lists what the service keeps to operate and for how long.
Private inference and on-premises deployment
If your clients' confidentiality terms rule out the conversation half described under Where your data goes, private inference and on-premises deployment are available on demand. They are an extra, on top of the subscription.
To discuss your requirements, talk to us through the contact form. The extras that may apply are listed under Extras.