Overview
Researchful uses cookies and similar technologies (collectively, "cookies") to operate the platform, keep you signed in, remember your preferences, and understand how the product is used. This Cookie Policy explains what cookies we use, why, and how you can control them.
This policy should be read alongside our Privacy Policy, which explains how we process personal data more broadly.
Types of cookies
We categorize cookies into four types:
- Essential — required for the platform to function. Without these, you cannot sign in, save changes, or load pages.
- Functional — remember your preferences (theme, last-used project, sidebar state) so you do not have to re-configure them every visit.
- Analytics — pseudonymous, aggregated data about which features are used and where users encounter friction. We use this to improve the product.
- Advertising — we do not use advertising cookies. We do not run cross-context advertising, retargeting, or lookalike audiences.
Essential cookies
These cookies are set automatically and cannot be disabled:
- researchful_session — your authentication session. Without this, you cannot stay signed in across page loads. Marked
HttpOnly,Secure,SameSite=Lax. Expires after 24 hours of inactivity or 7 days absolute. - researchful_csrf — the CSRF token that protects state-changing requests from cross-site request forgery. Marked
HttpOnly,SameSite=Lax. Expires when the session expires. - researchful_consent — records your cookie consent choice (which categories you have accepted). Persists for 12 months.
Functional cookies
These cookies remember your preferences. They are set only after you have accepted the functional category in the consent banner:
- rf-theme — your selected theme (light or dark). Persists for 12 months.
- rf-sidebar-state — whether your sidebar is open or collapsed on desktop. Persists for 12 months.
- rf-last-project — the ID of the last project you opened, so we can offer to resume it on your next visit. Persists for 30 days.
Analytics cookies
We use pseudonymous, first-party analytics to understand product usage. Analytics data is aggregated and never linked to your identity in our reports. Analytics cookies are set only after you have accepted the analytics category:
- rf_anon_id — a randomly generated, pseudonymous identifier used to deduplicate analytics events from the same browser. Persists for 24 months.
We do not use Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, or other third-party analytics SDKs that might profile users across the web. Our analytics are first-party and self-hosted.
No advertising cookies
Researchful does not show advertising, does not sell ad space, and does not share data with advertising networks. We do not use cookies for advertising, retargeting, or lookalike audience building. We do not embed social media widgets that set their own tracking cookies.
Third-party cookies
We embed a small number of third-party services that may set their own cookies when you interact with them:
- Payment processor — when you subscribe to a paid plan, the payment form is hosted by our payment processor, which may set its own cookies for fraud prevention. We do not receive or store your card details.
- AI model providers — when an AI agent runs, your prompt and sources are sent to the configured provider (OpenAI-compatible or Gemini). These providers may log requests for their own abuse-prevention purposes, but they do not set cookies in your browser.
We do not embed YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter, Facebook, or other social embeds that set cross-site tracking cookies. Embedded content is hosted on our own infrastructure.
Managing cookies
You can manage cookies in the following ways:
- Consent banner — on your first visit, the consent banner lets you accept or reject functional and analytics cookies. You can change your choice at any time from
/app/settings→ Privacy. - Browser settings — you can block or delete cookies in your browser's settings. Blocking essential cookies will prevent you from signing in.
- Do Not Track — we respect
DNT: 1for analytics cookies. If your browser sends DNT, we do not set analytics cookies. - Global Privacy Control — we respect GPC for users in jurisdictions where it applies.
Changes to this policy
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time. When we add a new cookie category or materially change how we use cookies, we will re-display the consent banner so you can re-confirm your choice. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.
Contact
For any question about cookies or this Cookie Policy, contact privacy@researchful.app.