Current position
Authentication cookies keep signed-in features working. A seven-day cookie remembers sidebar state, while local storage remembers theme and an optional Observer claim token. Cookie-free Vercel Web Analytics measures aggregated traffic; the current app has no advertising cookies or cross-site behavioral tracker.
What this policy covers
This Cookie Policy explains how MainStreet AI uses cookies and similar browser technologies in the current web application. Cookies are small values stored by a browser and sent with eligible requests. Similar technologies, including local storage, keep information in the browser but are not automatically sent with every request.
This policy should be read with our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle personal information more broadly.
What we use today
| Technology | Provider | Purpose | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| __session | Clerk | Authenticates requests to MainStreet AI with a short-lived signed session token | About 60 seconds; refreshed while the session is active |
| __client | Clerk | Maintains the authenticated browser session and allows short-lived session tokens to be renewed | Browser- and session-configuration dependent |
| __client_uat and related Clerk security cookies | Clerk | Supports authentication state, session updates, fraud prevention, and security; exact names can vary by environment | Session- or configuration-dependent |
| sidebar_state | MainStreet AI | Remembers whether you chose to keep the application sidebar open or closed | 7 days |
| theme | MainStreet AI | Remembers your light, dark, or system theme preference in local storage | Until replaced or browser storage is cleared |
| mainstreet.observer.claim | MainStreet AI | Temporarily keeps an anonymous Observer claim token in local storage so a deployment can later be attached to your account | Until used, replaced, or browser storage is cleared |
| Vercel Web Analytics | Vercel | Measures aggregated page views, referrers, approximate location, browser, operating system, and device type without setting an analytics cookie | The request-derived visitor hash resets and is discarded after 24 hours; aggregated reporting follows our Vercel plan |
Clerk may also use infrastructure-security cookies, such as Cloudflare anti-abuse cookies, on authentication domains where needed. The exact cookie set can differ between development and production and by sign-in method. Your browser's developer tools show the current values and expiration dates for your session.
Why we use them
The current technologies fall into two groups:
- Strictly necessary and security: authentication, session continuity, request authorization, fraud prevention, and protection of the Service. Signed-in features will not work if these cookies are blocked.
- Functional preferences: choices such as sidebar state, theme, and the user-initiated Observer claim flow. Blocking these may reset a preference or prevent the related feature from continuing across page loads.
- Cookie-free measurement: Vercel Web Analytics records aggregated page traffic without setting an analytics cookie or building a cross-site profile.
Analytics and what we do not use
MainStreet AI uses Vercel Web Analytics for aggregated traffic measurement. According to Vercel, it stores anonymized data, does not use analytics cookies, and does not associate page-view data with an individual or IP address. It can report pages, referrers, country or city, browser, operating system, and device type.
The current application code does not include advertising cookies, cross-site behavioral advertising pixels, Google Analytics, Segment, or PostHog. MainStreet AI does not currently use cookies to sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
Service, hosting, security, and network providers may create ordinary request logs that contain an IP address, user-agent string, time, and requested route. Those server-side logs are not browser cookies, but they are described in the Privacy Policy.
Third-party services
Clerk sets the authentication cookies described above when you sign in or sign up. Model requests are sent by MainStreet AI's servers to configured AI providers; OpenAI and Anthropic do not receive MainStreet AI browser cookies through that server-to-server request. Links to external sites are governed by those sites' own cookie practices.
Your choices
You can control current browser storage in several ways:
- use browser settings to inspect, block, or delete cookies for MainStreet AI and Clerk authentication domains;
- clear site data or local storage to reset theme and Observer claim information;
- use a private-browsing window, understanding that storage is generally cleared when the private session ends; and
- sign out to end the active application session, subject to the authentication provider's session controls.
Blocking necessary authentication storage will prevent sign-in and other protected features. Clearing the Observer claim token before attaching an anonymous deployment may prevent the browser from proving the right to claim that deployment.
Because MainStreet AI does not currently use advertising or cross-site behavioral tracking, there is no advertising-cookie preference center. Vercel Web Analytics is cookie-free. If we introduce analytics that stores information on a device, advertising, or similar non-essential technologies, we will update this policy and deploy any consent controls required before enabling them.
Changes to this policy
We may update this Cookie Policy when browser storage, vendors, or law changes. We will revise the date above and provide additional notice or request consent where required for a material new use.