Your data, your peace

last updated: january 2026

what we collect

account info: email address and name when you sign up through Clerk

your documents: PDFs you upload are stored securely so you can read them

annotations: your highlights and notes — they're yours, we just keep them safe

usage data: basic analytics to understand how you use Serene (via Vercel Analytics)

how we use it

• to give you a calm, personalized reading experience
• to sync your documents and annotations across devices
• to power AI explanations when you ask for them
• to make Serene better (and keep the lights on)

ai and your content

we use Mistral for OCR (extracting text from your PDFs) and Cerebras for AI explanations when you highlight text. the text is processed to generate responses but we don't use your documents to train AI models. ai responses are cached to improve speed and reduce costs. your reading stays private.

who sees your data

Clerk: handles authentication
Convex: stores your data securely
UploadThing: handles file uploads
Polar: processes payments (if you upgrade)
we don't sell your data. ever. that would be very un-zen.

your choices

• delete your account anytime from your dashboard
• export your documents as markdown
• export your annotations (coming soon)
• email us at serenereader.thc@gmail.com for data requests

cookies

we use essential cookies to keep you logged in and remember your preferences (like dark mode). no tracking cookies, no creepy ad networks following you around the internet.

security

all connections use HTTPS. we rely on trusted providers (Convex, Clerk, UploadThing) who encrypt data at rest on their infrastructure. if something ever goes wrong, we'll tell you promptly.

changes

if we update this policy, we'll let you know. no sneaky changes.

questions? reach out at serenereader.thc@gmail.com