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Shelf for Music Privacy Policy

Last updated July 21, 2026

Shelf for Music (“the app”) is a local-first desktop application for managing a music collection. This policy explains, in plain language, what data the app handles, what leaves your computer, to whom, and why.

The short version: your collection lives on your own computer. The app has no analytics and no telemetry — it never reports your usage to us or anyone else. Apart from an automatic check for updates when the app starts (described below), the only data that leaves your machine is data you actively choose to send by using a specific feature.

What is stored, and where

All of your data — your collection, wishlist, settings, scan results, and your API credentials — is stored locally on your computer as plain JSON files in the app’s data folder. Nothing is stored on our servers; we do not operate any server that receives your collection or personal data.

Your API keys and OAuth tokens (Anthropic, Discogs, Google) are stored in config.json in plain text. Keep your data folder private.

What the app does automatically on launch

When you open Shelf for Music, it contacts GitHub for two things:

  1. Update check. It asks whether a newer version of the app is available.
  2. Enrichment database. It downloads (or refreshes) a music “enrichment database” — a shared reference file used to fill in details about your releases.

These requests go to GitHub and are subject to GitHub’s privacy statement. They do not send your collection or personal data — they simply fetch files. As with any web request, GitHub necessarily sees your IP address and the fact that the app asked for these files.

What leaves your computer when you use these features

  1. Photo identification (Anthropic). When you use Photo ID to scan a record, the photo you capture is sent to Anthropic’s Claude API to read the text on the label or cover and identify the release. The image and the extracted text are processed by Anthropic under their terms and privacy policy. Photos are sent only when you initiate a scan. If you never use Photo ID, no images are ever transmitted.

  2. Discogs. When you connect a Discogs account (via Discogs OAuth) or run a search, the app contacts the Discogs API to fetch release metadata and to sync your collection and wishlist to and from your Discogs account. Album metadata and cover-art URLs come from Discogs.

  3. MusicBrainz / Cover Art Archive. The app may fetch supplementary metadata and cover art from these public music databases to enrich your releases.

  4. Optional Cloud Backup (your own Google Drive). If you connect Google Drive and enable Cloud Backup (it is off by default and opt-in), the app uploads a backup ZIP of your collection, wishlist, settings, scan results, and artist data to a folder in your own Google Drive account. The app uses the drive.file scope, meaning it can only see files it created. Your API keys and secrets are stripped from the config before the backup is uploaded. We never receive these backups; they reside in your Google account.

What we do NOT do

  • We do not collect analytics, usage statistics, or telemetry.
  • We do not operate servers that receive your collection or personal data.
  • We do not sell, share, or transmit your data to any party other than the services listed above, and only when you use the corresponding feature (or, for the launch-time update check, to GitHub as described).

Third-party services

When you use the features above, your data is handled by those providers under their own policies:

Your control

  • Photo ID, Discogs sync, and Cloud Backup are all optional. If you don’t use them, no corresponding data leaves your machine.
  • You can disconnect Discogs or Google Drive at any time in Settings.
  • Because your data is stored in plain files on your computer, you can back it up, move it, or delete it yourself at any time.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we revise the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. Because the app links to this page directly, you always see the current version here.

Contact

Questions about this policy can be directed to hello@swettyboomer.dev.