# Telemetry

NOVA AI ships **anonymous usage telemetry** by default so the team can
see where the product breaks, what features people actually use, and
how to make it better. This page documents exactly what is and isn't
collected, where the data goes, and how to opt out.

## TL;DR

- **On by default**, anonymous, no chat content.
- **Anonymous** — one random UUID per install, no email, no name, no IP.
- **No chat content, ever.** Only counts, timings, and feature names.
- **Self-hosted backend** on the NOVA AI team's PostHog instance —
  data is not sold or shared with third parties.
- **365-day retention**, after which events are deleted automatically.

## What we collect

### Lifecycle events

| Event | Source | Why we send it |
|---|---|---|
| `install_started` | `install.sh` | Top of install funnel |
| `install_stage_completed` | `install.sh` | Per-stage timing — where do people drop off? |
| `install_completed` | `install.sh` | Did the install succeed? |
| `install_failed` | `install.sh` | Which stage failed, and on what OS |
| `app_opened` | Backend + frontend | DAU / WAU / MAU |
| `setup_completed` | Frontend | First-run wizard finished |
| `first_chat_sent` | Backend | First-ever message — activation |
| `uninstall_started` | `uninstall.sh` (if user runs it) | Churn signal |

### Usage events

| Event | Why we send it |
|---|---|
| `chat_session_ended` | Aggregated per-session: turn count, tokens, latency, tool count |
| `tool_first_used` | Which built-in tools are actually adopted |
| `model_changed` | How often users switch models |
| `feature_used` | Which features get traffic, which don't |
| `connector_auth_completed` | Which connectors people set up |
| `error_shown_to_user` | User-visible error class (not stack trace) |
| `feedback_submitted` | Was a rating given? Was a comment included? |
| `settings_changed` | Which settings get toggled |
| `usage_daily_summary` | Once-per-day aggregated counts |

The canonical, authoritative list with every property name and its
type validator lives in
[`src/nova_ai/analytics/events.py`](../src/nova_ai/analytics/events.py).
That file is the only place new events can be added — PR review is
the gate.

## What we never collect

Hard guardrails, enforced by code:

- **Chat content** — prompts, model outputs, system messages, tool args.
- **File paths** — anything matching `~/`, `$HOME`, `/Users/<name>`, `/home/<name>`, `file://`.
- **Emails, names, phone numbers, addresses.**
- **IP addresses** (IPv4 + IPv6). PostHog's IP geo lookup is disabled server-side too.
- **MAC addresses, hardware serials, drive UUIDs.**
- **Stack traces** — only error class enums.
- **API keys, OAuth tokens, JWTs, bearer tokens, password assignments** —
  matched and dropped at value level.
- **Hostnames** that look personal (e.g. `alice-macbook.local`).
- **Lists, dicts, sets** — composite values are never sent so PII can't
  smuggle through inside containers.

Two independent filters run before every event leaves the machine:

1. [`src/nova_ai/analytics/redaction.py`](../src/nova_ai/analytics/redaction.py) — value-level pattern matching (20+ regexes for PII).
2. [`src/nova_ai/analytics/events.py`](../src/nova_ai/analytics/events.py) — structural allowlist (event name + property name + type validator).

Any failure at either layer → the event or property is silently
dropped. Tests covering the patterns: [`tests/analytics/test_redaction.py`](../tests/analytics/test_redaction.py).

## Where the data goes

- **Today** (alpha): PostHog Cloud (US region) free tier. Disclosed
  here for transparency.
- **Production target**: A self-hosted PostHog instance at
  `analytics.nova_ai.ai`, Hetzner US-East. Single-tenant, operated
  by the NOVA AI team.
- **Never** sold, shared with advertisers, or used for anything other
  than improving NOVA AI.

## Retention

- Default retention: **365 days**, then events are deleted by PostHog
  automatically.
- `nova analytics reset-id` lets you orphan all of your past events
  by generating a fresh anonymous ID for future events.

## How identity works

A single UUID v4 is generated on first install and stored at
`~/.nova_ai/anon_id`. The install script, backend, and frontend all
read the same file so events across the full lifecycle tie to one
person — without us ever knowing who that person is.

Delete the file (`rm ~/.nova_ai/anon_id`) and a fresh UUID will be
generated next time the app runs. The previous UUID and its events
are then orphaned.

## For researchers and contributors

- **Adding an event**: edit `src/nova_ai/analytics/events.py`,
  declare the spec, then update this page. PR review enforces both.
- **Adding a PII pattern**: edit `src/nova_ai/analytics/redaction.py`
  and add a test case in `tests/analytics/test_redaction.py`.
- **Inspecting what your install sends**: run with
  `NOVA_AI_LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG` and grep for `Analytics`. You'll see
  every event name and (redacted) property dict before it ships.

## Related

- Local telemetry (FLOPs, energy, latency stored in
  `~/.nova_ai/telemetry.db`) is a **separate** subsystem documented
  in [`src/nova_ai/telemetry/`](../src/nova_ai/telemetry/). It
  never leaves the machine and is controlled by `[telemetry]` (not
  `[analytics]`) in `config.toml`.
- The leaderboard / contest opt-in (`OptInModal.tsx`) is a separate,
  voluntary feature that publicly shares your energy and savings on
  the NOVA AI leaderboard. It is **not** the same as analytics and
  requires explicit opt-in with a display name and email.
