How to keep AI prompts private (zero data retention)
Short answer: Privacy Mode is on by default: every request Build Perch sends to OpenRouter carries a zero-data-retention flag, so OpenRouter routes only to providers that attest they don’t store or train on your prompts and files. Check or change it under the app menu (☰) → Integrations → OpenRouter → “Zero Data Retention.”
Steps
- Open the app menu (☰ in the title bar) and choose Integrations.
- Open the OpenRouter entry.
- Under “Privacy & Security,” confirm Zero Data Retention (recommended) is checked; it’s on by default, so there’s usually nothing to change.
- Leave it on to keep every OpenRouter request (chat, image, speech, music, video, and background summarization) flagged zero-data-retention.
Notes & gotchas
- OpenRouter routes only to providers that state they don’t store or train on your prompts and files; Build Perch can’t verify that end-to-end.
- Turning it off widens which models are available (many free models don’t offer a zero-retention option and reappear once it’s off) at the cost of that assurance.
- It only affects OpenRouter. Local Ollama models never leave your machine at all, and Ollama Cloud isn’t governed by this toggle.
- The AI’s own tools can’t reach this switch, so a prompt injection in a file or web page can’t turn it off.
- Nothing in a workspace can lower this global setting.