Privacy
Privacy notes.
HeyMate is a Mac app. There is no HeyMate account and no HeyMate server that stores your chats. The short version, which is also written in the app: nothing runs in the background. HeyMate only takes a screenshot when you press the hotkey, and screenshots are never stored.
What HeyMate captures
- A screenshot only when a question needs to see the screen. Text-only chat skips the capture.
- That screenshot is temporary. It is deleted after the turn and is not written into chat history.
- Password managers and System Settings are excluded by default.
- You can limit capture to the frontmost window.
- Voice in uses Apple Speech on the device unless you turn on a cloud voice.
What it stores, and where
Everything below is on your Mac, under ~/Library/Application Support/heymate/.
| File | What it is |
|---|---|
| chats.json | Chat history. Text only. No screenshot or audio bytes. |
| memory.json | Things HeyMate decided were worth remembering. You can clear it. |
| mates.json | Mate names, jobs, personalities, and settings. |
| routines.json | Schedules for mates. |
| behavior-contract.md | The rules you can edit. |
| skills/ | Your Markdown skills. |
| faces/ | Custom mate faces you imported. |
API keys and connector tokens go in the macOS Keychain, not in those files. Clipboard history stays in memory and is dropped when you quit.
What leaves your Mac
- Talk and coding-agent turns go to the CLI you already use — Claude Code, Codex, or OpenCode — or to a Custom API endpoint you configure yourself. HeyMate does not add its own bill.
- Cloud speech (optional) only if you enable it.
- Composio and other connectors only call the apps you connect, and anything that sends, deletes, or pays asks first.
- Analytics ships only in a build that was compiled with an analytics key. The downloadable release has none.
This website
getheymate.vercel.app uses Hotjar to see how visitors use the page: which sections they reach, where they click, and anonymised session replays. It sets Hotjar cookies. The page has no forms, and Hotjar masks typed text by default. None of this is in the app. Block it with any content blocker, or opt out at hotjar.com/policies/do-not-track.
How to delete everything
In the app, clear memory from the Memory section. To remove the local files entirely, quit HeyMate and delete ~/Library/Application Support/heymate/. Keychain items named for HeyMate can be removed in Keychain Access.