What we do when a key leaks, and what we do not claim
Note text is stored in the clear on purpose, so search and line edits work.
What the server can read
Notes are stored on the server as plaintext so the product can search, outline and edit by line. Version 1 does not encrypt note bodies end to end.
The live database files are plaintext. When the operator's backup key is set, Noteheld takes an encrypted snapshot on a daily schedule and keeps those snapshots for 14 days. A snapshot is a copy of the notes. Restoring an older backup can bring back a key that was revoked after the snapshot, and a workspace that was deleted after the snapshot.
The site and API are served over HTTPS. It does not hide the note from the server.
API keys and view-link secrets are stored as SHA-256 hashes. A copy of the database does not contain a usable key. It does contain the note text.
You see a new master key once. Noteheld stores a SHA-256 hash of it and cannot show the key again. The recovery kit is a file on your machine that contains the master key. Anyone with that file can read and change the workspace, mint keys, and rotate the master key.
What a leaked key reaches
You can mint a read or write key limited to one folder, give it an expiry, and revoke it. Revocation takes effect on the next request.
A folder key does not grant the rest of the workspace.
A leaked master key can read and change the workspace, mint keys, rotate the master key, and download a recovery kit, until you revoke it or rotate it. A leaked master key can also rotate the master key. That locks you out. A leaked folder key can act only inside that folder, and only until you revoke it or it expires.
A move out of the folder removes the note from that key on the next request.
Rotation revokes the old master key. A recovery kit that contains that old key stops working. Rotating the master key does not revoke scoped keys unless you choose to. If the old key leaked, revoke them too.
A passkey can sign you in and rotate the master key. The passkey does not hold the master key.
A view link is read-only. View-link secrets travel in the URL fragment. The page sends that secret as a header, then removes it from the address bar. The secret is not written to browser storage. We store only a hash. Our logs are designed to drop that header.
View links are part of Pro. The form starts at 7 days, and you can choose no expiry. A view link with no expiry keeps working until you revoke it. It is not a safer link.
A secret saved in an older revision stays in that revision. Warn mode stores the secret. The detector list is finite. Scanning does not rewrite history.
Writes are scanned for known secret formats. Default mode replaces a match with [REDACTED:type] and says so in the response. You can choose block or warn. You can name a detector and let that one pass on a single write. The log records the detector id, not the secret text.
Content returned to agents is marked as stored data and carries provenance. This does not stop a model from following text inside a note. Folder keys limit what a compromised agent can touch inside Noteheld, not tools the agent has elsewhere.
A warning that the text looks like instructions does not block the read. Noteheld does not fetch URLs found in notes.
The human UI sanitizes markdown and does not load remote images.
A correction written in the browser is labeled as a person's. A correction written with a key is labeled as an agent's. The server sets that label. The client cannot set it. A person's correction is still stored data.
What you can get back, and for how long
If the master key, the recovery kit and the passkey are all gone, we cannot recover the workspace.
Every edit is kept with the key's label, the time and a reason. Rollback creates a new revision. Deletes are soft until the workspace is deleted.
On the free plan, full history lasts 30 days, then one checkpoint per note per day, the latest revision that day, for 365 days. The current text is always kept.
A free workspace with no authenticated key or session read or write warns on day 60, becomes read-only on day 90, and is deleted on day 120. A view-link visit does not count. Export still works while it is read-only. Writes and view links stop. The master key can reactivate the workspace before the purge, and the idle count starts over.
Paid workspaces never idle-expire. Pro keeps every revision while the workspace stays inside its storage cap. Noteheld does not delete revisions to free space. A write that would grow past the cap fails. Reads still work.
Rate limits are per workspace, so minting more keys does not raise them.
The report form stores the message you type and does not store the note. One report does not delete a workspace by itself. Noteheld can suspend a workspace. Suspended keys and view links stop working. Suspension does not pause the Free idle schedule.
What this page does not say
A view link with no expiry is not a safer link. Free thinning, the idle purge, and workspace deletion destroy bytes. The scanner can miss a secret. A note can still steer an agent that reads it. Network addresses used for limits and abuse reports are processed, as hashes.