What leaves this Mac

Selv keeps capture, search and local-model chat on your Mac. Some other work needs the network: first-run models, a paid licence, an update check, and any source or tool you switch on.

Settings › Diagnostics › Network activity shows a bounded recent history of metadata observed by the app's wrapped Dart HTTP requests and explicitly recorded mail commands: host, purpose, method, status, outcome and byte counts. Request and response payload bodies, headers, URL paths and queries are not captured or stored. The history stays on this Mac unless you choose to copy and share it.

This page describes known network paths. Neither this list nor the Diagnostics pane is a complete traffic inventory or a firewall. A missing row does not establish that no connection occurred. These descriptions were reviewed against source; the latest changes have not been verified in an installed build.

Always used, or used in setup

These can fire without you connecting a third-party source.

• Model download (Hugging Face) — the chat, transcription and search models you choose in setup. You press download. The host sees a normal download request (including your IP address). The models then run locally.
• Speaker models (GitHub) — a small extra download the first time Selv needs them, without a separate button.
• Licence checks (selv.io) — when you activate, renew or move a paid licence. Selv sends a random installation identifier and operating-system information. It does not send notes, recordings, transcripts or search queries. See the privacy policy.
• Update checks (selv.io) — when update checks are on (they are offered during setup). Selv asks whether a newer build exists. The request identifies the app version; it does not include your memory. You still choose whether to install. Turning updates off in settings stops the automatic check.

Public releases do not send automatic crash reports or behavioural usage analytics.

Optional — only if you switch them on

Nothing below runs until you enable that source or tool in Settings.

• Apple Mail — reads Mail.app files already on this Mac. Selv does not contact a mail server for this source.
• Notion — if you paste your own Notion integration token, Selv fetches the pages that token can read from Notion's API. Those pages are then stored locally. Selv is not a proxy: the request goes from your Mac to Notion.
• Proton Mail, Fastmail, iCloud Mail, or another IMAP host — if you add an IMAP account, Selv signs in read-only and pulls messages you included. Proton Mail uses Proton Bridge on this Mac (127.0.0.1), not Proton's servers directly. Fastmail, iCloud Mail and a custom host go to the server you configured. Login passwords and fetched message bodies are not recorded in this metadata history.
• Connected AI tools — Claude, Cursor and other clients talk to Selv on this Mac. That door is loopback, not the public internet. If the tool then sends the returned snippet to its own cloud model, that is the tool's connection, under its terms. See Authorize & the ledger.
• Exports and backups you make — a file you export, or a copy you put in iCloud Drive, a disk or another backup tool, goes where you put it. Selv does not operate a cloud copy of your memory.

Health, Apple Health and Statistics are not in this launch. They are not destinations below.

How to read the live log

1. Open Settings › Diagnostics.
2. The Network activity list shows recent observed requests: when, why, which host, outcome and byte counts.
3. The rows contain metadata, not sent or received text. HTTP counts are observed application body bytes, excluding headers, TLS and potentially redirect hops; mail counts are observed protocol bytes. They are not a measurement of all network traffic.
4. Include local also shows loopback traffic (the agent door, local mail bridge, and similar). It stays hidden by default so the list is the internet and IMAP you actually asked about.
5. Copy log puts the visible rows on the clipboard so you can review them before sending anything to support. Clear deletes the on-disk log on this Mac.

The list is a bounded recent window (up to 300 events and a bounded local history file), not an infinite archive.

What this log cannot see

It records only wrapped Dart HTTP requests and explicit mail commands observed by this app instrumentation. Coverage of native libraries, direct sockets, other processes and uninstrumented Dart isolates is unavailable. It does not block traffic.

• Native update downloads, Helper traffic and requests made by other processes or uninstrumented isolates can be absent.
• Other apps, the browser, and macOS have their own connections.
• A connected AI tool's own cloud requests happen in that tool, not in Selv.
• Service labels describe a destination's known purpose, not its safety. Missing entries and incomplete byte counts cannot prove that no data left the device.

An older diagnostic history file may contain request or response text. The current service does not load that legacy file; the Diagnostics pane reports its presence and offers separate removal. Clearing the current metadata history does not claim to erase old copies or backups.

The agent ledger (Settings › AI Agents › What did agents read?) is a different record: it logs what a connected client read through Selv's door, not general internet traffic.

Related

• How your data stays on your Mac
• Privacy
• Privacy Policy
• Authorize & the ledger