# Security and privacy

This document describes current repository behavior. Published releases can lag
source; verify the tag you install when policy depends on an exact version.

## Supported versions

Only the latest stable release receives security patches.

## Report a vulnerability

Do not open a public issue for suspected arbitrary code execution, path escape,
credential exposure, proxy isolation failure, recovery-data exposure, or similar
security bugs. Use [GitHub private vulnerability
reporting](https://github.com/JuliusBrussee/caveman/security/advisories/new).

## Data-flow summary

| Surface | Caveman account required? | Where content goes |
|---|---:|---|
| Caveman skill and classic output hooks | No | Local agent context and local files. These components do not directly call a Caveman service. |
| Local Proxy + Engine | No | Request content, possibly transformed, and provider credentials go to the provider selected by the agent. Recovery originals stay in local CCR storage unless the agent retrieves and sends them later. |
| Agent SDK `observe-only` | No | Directly to the configured provider. No Caveman gateway telemetry. |
| Managed Caveman gateway | Yes | Requests and responses transit Caveman Cloud and the selected provider. Do not treat managed mode as local-only. |
| Anonymous CLI telemetry | No | Content-free usage events go to Caveman by default (opt-out). First interactive run prints the disclosure; `caveman telemetry off` or `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` turns it off for good. |
| Authenticated dashboard sync | Yes | Local span metadata and aggregate findings go to Caveman Cloud when credentials are present. Raw prompt and response bodies are excluded. |

Your model provider, MCP servers, browser targets, agent plugins, and any command
the agent runs remain separate data processors. Caveman cannot make those tools
offline or private.

## Anonymous CLI telemetry

Telemetry is **on by default and opt-out**.
The default is never silent: the first interactive command persists the decision
(with a stable anonymous identifier) and prints a one-line disclosure naming the
scope and the off switch. Nothing sends before that disclosure run, and CI /
non-interactive runs never send and never persist the default. Login is not
required; anonymous events go to `https://api.caveman.so/telemetry/cli`.

```bash
caveman telemetry status
caveman telemetry on
caveman telemetry off
```

Controls, in precedence order:

- non-empty, non-zero `DO_NOT_TRACK` forces telemetry off;
- `CAVEMAN_TELEMETRY=1|true|on` enables it and other non-empty values disable it;
- CI and non-interactive runs are always off;
- otherwise the persisted choice in `~/.caveman-cloud/config.json` applies —
  a persisted opt-out (from any version, including the old opt-in prompt's "no")
  is honored forever;
- no persisted choice means on, persisted with a printed disclosure on the
  first interactive command.

`CAVEMAN_TELEMETRY_URL` overrides the destination, mainly for testing. Telemetry
requests time out after 1.5 seconds and failures do not fail the CLI command.

Anonymous events can contain:

- random anonymous ID; CLI version; OS; architecture; Node major version;
- allowlisted command, subcommand, and known agent ID; duration; outcome; broad
  error class;
- local Proxy session aggregates: request and token counts, compression counts,
  cache read/write counts, measurement mode, and headline-suppression state;
- first-run aggregate scan counts from local Claude Code or Codex history,
  including sessions, turns, tokens, estimated cuts, scan timing, and whether an
  account was already connected;
- Caveman MCP tool name, duration, and outcome.

Anonymous telemetry does **not** include prompt or completion bodies, raw argv,
file paths, tool arguments or results, provider credentials, or local database
rows/files. Source enforcement and runtime tests live in
[`packages/cli/src/index.ts`](./packages/cli/src/index.ts) and
[`packages/cli/tests/telemetry.runtime.mjs`](./packages/cli/tests/telemetry.runtime.mjs).

## Authenticated Caveman Cloud traffic

Connected commands require stored credentials or `CAVE_TOKEN`; new logins are
blocked during beta. Sync sends usage metadata and aggregate findings, never
prompts, responses, credentials, tool evidence, or source paths. Subscription
traffic omits dollar figures, and synced local data remains `inferred`. Managed
gateway mode carries request and response content through Caveman Cloud; local
mode sends it only to your provider. `CAVEMAN_OFFLINE=1` disables entitlement
refresh and sync, but opted-in telemetry needs `CAVEMAN_TELEMETRY=0` or
`DO_NOT_TRACK=1` too.

## Local storage

Caveman stores runtime data under `~/.caveman/` and account/config state under
`~/.caveman-cloud/` unless a documented environment override changes a path.
Important files include:

- `~/.caveman/caveman.db`: per-request metadata, usage, local savings estimates,
  transformed prefix replacements, and related local evidence. Normal request
  rows do not store raw request or response bodies, but transformed content can
  remain in this database. Treat it as sensitive.
- `~/.caveman/ccr.db`: exact originals for recoverable transforms. This file can
  contain prompts, credentials embedded in content, and tool results. Treat it
  as sensitive.
- explicit `caveman trial` runs store raw request payloads in the local
  `trial_payloads` table for replay. Reports exclude those payloads.
- local learn/first-run scans read supported Claude Code and Codex history files
  and write aggregate reports/state locally. Raw session content is not included
  in anonymous telemetry or authenticated scan sync.
- `~/.caveman-cloud/config.json`: endpoints, project/account pointers, telemetry
  decision, and other CLI state.
- account credentials: macOS Keychain when available, otherwise
  `~/.caveman/credentials` with file mode `0600`. `CAVE_TOKEN` remains owned by
  the parent environment.

CCR SQLite files and sidecars are created or tightened to mode `0600` and refuse
unsafe symlink/non-regular-file paths. This is filesystem access control, not
database encryption. Default retained CCR payload budget is 512 MiB;
`CAVEMAN_CCR_MAX_BYTES` can change it. Existing recovery handles are never
evicted. When the budget is exhausted, new recovery writes fail and lossy
transforms must fall back to pass-through.

Uninstall removes installed integrations and hooks. Do not assume it erases
runtime databases, reports, backups, or credentials; inspect `~/.caveman/` and
`~/.caveman-cloud/` separately if data deletion is required.

## Local Proxy security

`caveman start` defaults to `127.0.0.1:8787`. Standalone Proxy authentication
accepts every inbound request because loopback, single-operator isolation is the
security boundary. Startup rejects non-loopback `--host` and `CAVEMAN_LISTEN`
values. A firewall does not turn standalone mode into an authenticated external
gateway; use the managed authenticated gateway for remote access.

Proxy upstream clients apply SSRF controls. Compression is recovery-first:
parse failure, unsafe transform, unavailable durable recovery, storage failure,
or a result that is not smaller returns original bytes instead of a lossy
replacement. This reduces corruption risk; it does not make model output or
third-party tools trustworthy.

## Install and update network access

Network installers fetch source from GitHub and may invoke npm or agent-specific
registries. Per-agent installers can contact Anthropic/GitHub, Gemini extension,
npm, or other configured registries. Detached hook installation downloads files
from an immutable release tag and verifies SHA-256 manifest entries. Runtime
companion setup downloads a signed checksum manifest and verifies each binary's
signature and SHA-256 before installation.

For inspection-first installation, clone a pinned tag and run the local installer
instead of piping a remote script into a shell. A source clone avoids installer
downloads only when required dependencies and runtime binaries are already
available locally.

## Scanner warnings

- Windows Defender or SmartScreen can flag `install.ps1` because it pipes a
  downloaded script into PowerShell and writes agent configuration. Clone and
  inspect the pinned source first if policy forbids pipe-to-shell installation.
- Generic scanners can flag `caveman-compress` because it rewrites the file the
  user names and creates a backup. That file mutation is intentional. Review
  [`skills/caveman-compress/`](./skills/caveman-compress/) before enabling it.