Privacy

Sidecar is a local-first terminal application. This document describes what data it accesses, what network requests it makes, and what it writes to disk.

Local Data Access

Git repository

Runs git CLI commands (status, diff, log, show, branch, worktree, stash, rev-parse, rev-list, fetch, tag, blame, check-ignore) in the current project directory. Read-only except when you explicitly stage, commit, push, merge, fetch, or create worktrees.

AI agent sessions (read-only)

Reads conversation history from local agent data directories to display in the Conversations plugin:

• Amp — ~/.local/share/amp/threads/ (or $AMP_DATA_HOME) — JSONL thread files
• Claude Code — ~/.claude/projects/ and ~/.config/claude/projects/ (JSONL session files), ~/.claude/stats-cache.json (token usage stats)
• Codex — ~/.codex/sessions/ (JSONL)
• Cursor — ~/.cursor/chats/ (SQLite per-workspace, read via modernc.org/sqlite)
• Gemini CLI — ~/.gemini/tmp/ and ~/.gemini/ (JSON session files)
• Kiro — ~/.kiro/data.sqlite3 and platform-specific fallbacks (~/Library/Application Support/kiro-cli/, $XDG_DATA_HOME/kiro-cli/, legacy ~/.amazonq/)
• OpenCode — ~/Library/Application Support/opencode/storage/ (macOS), $XDG_DATA_HOME/opencode/storage/ (Linux)
• Pi — per-project session directories (JSONL, read with incremental parsing)
• Warp — ~/Library/Group Containers/2BBY89MBSN.dev.warp/... (macOS), $XDG_STATE_HOME/warp-terminal/warp.sqlite (Linux), %LOCALAPPDATA%\warp\Warp\data\warp.sqlite (Windows) — read via go-sqlite3

Parsed data includes session metadata (IDs, names, timestamps, duration), messages (text, tool calls, thinking blocks), token counts, model names, and estimated costs. These files are read-only. Sidecar never writes to agent data directories.

File browser

The File Browser plugin reads local files in the project directory for preview and navigation. It reads file contents for syntax-highlighted previews, queries git status and blame information, and watches the filesystem for changes via fsnotify. The inline editor can write to files when you explicitly edit them.

Notes

The Notes plugin reads and writes to a SQLite database at .todos/issues.db (shared with td via .td-root links). Data stored: note ID, title, content, timestamps, pinned/archived/deleted flags. Uses WAL mode for concurrent access.

TD tasks

If td is installed, sidecar runs td CLI commands (td version, td search) and reads the .todos/issues.db SQLite database (shared across worktrees via .td-root).

Config and state (read/write)

Sidecar reads and writes its own files under ~/.config/sidecar/:

File	Purpose
config.json	User configuration (projects, plugin settings, theme, keymaps, feature flags)
state.json	Persistent UI state (diff modes, pane widths, active plugin, scroll positions, per-project state)
version_cache.json	Cached sidecar version check result (3-hour TTL)
td_version_cache.json	Cached td version check result (3-hour TTL)
debug.log	Debug log output (only when --debug flag is used; append-only, 0644 permissions)

Project-level dotfiles (read/write)

In workspace directories, sidecar may create:

• .sidecar/config.json — per-project configuration (prompts, theme overrides)
• .sidecar/shells.json — shell display names and metadata
• .sidecar-task, .sidecar-agent, .sidecar-agent-start, .sidecar-pr, .sidecar-base — workspace state files
• .sidecar-start.sh — temporary agent launcher script
• .sidecar-rename-tmp — temporary file for rename operations
• .td-root — links worktrees to a shared td database root
• .worktree-env — environment variable overrides for worktree isolation (read on worktree creation; format: KEY=VALUE pairs)

These are added to .gitignore automatically.

Tmux sessions

The Workspaces plugin creates and controls tmux sessions to run agents and shells. It sends commands via tmux send-keys, captures terminal output via tmux capture-pane (capped at tmuxCaptureMaxBytes, default 2 MB), reads the tmux prefix key via tmux show-options -g prefix, and manages session lifecycle.

Clipboard

Sidecar writes to the system clipboard (via atotto/clipboard) for user-initiated copy operations: yanking commit hashes, file paths, session details, resume commands, and note content. It reads from the clipboard for paste operations in interactive/shell mode and the inline editor.

Filesystem watchers

Sidecar uses fsnotify to watch for changes in git repositories, project files, and agent session directories. Watched paths include the .git directory, the project file tree, and adapter-specific session directories. These watchers trigger UI refreshes — no data is sent anywhere.

Environment variables

Sidecar reads:

• HOME — base path for all config and data directories
• EDITOR, VISUAL — to open files in your editor
• SIDECAR_PPROF — profiling server port (development only)
• SIDECAR_WORKSPACE_DEFAULT_AGENT_TYPE, SIDECAR_DEFAULT_AGENT_TYPE — override workspace default agent type at startup
• XDG_DATA_HOME, XDG_CONFIG_HOME, XDG_STATE_HOME — standard directories for locating agent data on Linux
• AMP_DATA_HOME — Amp-specific data directory
• APPDATA, LOCALAPPDATA — Windows data directories
• TMUX — unset on startup to isolate sidecar's tmux sessions
• GOBIN, GOPATH, GOFLAGS, NODE_OPTIONS, NODE_PATH, PYTHONPATH, VIRTUAL_ENV — read and selectively cleared in worktree environments to prevent build conflicts
• TD_SESSION_ID — task tracker session context

Sidecar does not read or require API keys or tokens.

Session export

The Conversations plugin can export a session to a markdown file in the current working directory, or copy it to the clipboard. This is user-initiated only.

Executable detection

On startup and when needed, sidecar checks PATH for: tmux, brew, git, td, go. It also reads os.Executable() to detect its own installation method (Homebrew vs go install).

Network Requests

Sidecar makes outbound HTTP requests in the following cases:

Version checks (automatic, cached)

On startup, sidecar checks for updates by fetching the latest release tag from:

• api.github.com/repos/marcus/sidecar/releases/latest
• api.github.com/repos/marcus/td/releases/latest

These requests use a 5-second timeout, send no authentication, and are cached locally for 3 hours (version_cache.json, td_version_cache.json). After the first successful check, no network call occurs until the cache expires. Development builds (untagged or devel versions) skip these checks entirely.

Changelog fetch (user-initiated)

When you open the changelog from the update modal, sidecar fetches raw.githubusercontent.com/marcus/sidecar/main/CHANGELOG.md with a 10-second timeout.

Self-update (user-initiated)

When you confirm an update from the update modal, sidecar runs brew upgrade sidecar or go install ... depending on your install method. These commands make their own network requests to Homebrew or the Go module proxy.

External CLI tools

The Workspaces plugin runs gh CLI commands (e.g., gh pr list, gh pr create) using your existing GitHub CLI authentication. These run only in response to explicit user actions such as fetching a PR or creating one from the merge workflow.

Git push, pull, and fetch operations use the local git CLI with your configured remotes and credentials.

Browser URLs

Sidecar opens URLs in your system browser (open on macOS, xdg-open on Linux, cmd /c start on Windows) when you choose to view a commit, PR, or file location on GitHub, or reveal a file in your system file manager. No data is sent by sidecar itself — your browser handles the request.

What Sidecar Does NOT Do

• No telemetry, analytics, or usage tracking
• No crash reporting
• No data transmitted to any server other than the GitHub API calls listed above
• No account or login required
• No cookies, local storage, or browser fingerprinting
• No reading of SSH keys, credentials, or secrets
• No access to contacts, email, camera, microphone, or system processes

Opting Out of Network Requests

Version checks are skipped automatically for development builds (untagged or devel versions). There is currently no config flag to disable version checks on release builds. If you need fully offline operation, run sidecar with network access blocked at the OS or firewall level.

pprof Profiling Server

When the SIDECAR_PPROF environment variable is set, sidecar starts a Go pprof HTTP server on localhost (default port 6060). This is localhost-only and intended for development profiling. It is never started unless you explicitly set the variable.