Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

Account Information

When you create an account, we collect your name, email address, and password. Your password is securely hashed and never stored in plain text. If you sign in with Google or GitHub, we receive basic profile information (name, email, profile image) from those providers.

Content You Create

We store recipes, ingredients, equipment, collections, shopping lists, pantry items, and other content you create or import. This includes images you upload and any text you provide for AI-powered features.

Preferences

We store your preferred grocery stores, display settings, and other preferences you configure.

2. How We Use Your Information

• Provide and maintain your account and the features of the service
• Process your recipes and content using AI-powered features (extraction, generation, ingredient matching, image creation, price lookup)
• Send transactional emails (password resets, email verification) via our email provider
• Protect against spam and abuse using bot-detection services
• Improve and develop the service

3. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to operate Forked Food Lab:

• OpenAI - Powers recipe extraction, generation, ingredient matching, image generation, and other AI features. Text and images you submit for AI processing are sent to OpenAI's API.
• Google - OAuth sign-in, reCAPTCHA v3 for bot protection, and optionally Gemini AI for recipe features and search-based price lookup.
• GitHub - OAuth sign-in.
• Resend - Transactional email delivery (password resets, email verification).

Each of these services has its own privacy policy governing their use of data. We recommend reviewing their policies for details on their data practices.

4. Cookies and Local Storage

We use cookies for session management (JWT authentication). We also use browser local storage to remember your UI preferences such as recipe scaling, cook mode progress, and theme selection. These are functional and not used for tracking.

5. Analytics

We do not currently use any analytics or tracking services. If we add analytics in the future, we will update this policy accordingly.

6. Children's Privacy

Forked Food Lab is not intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will take steps to remove that information.

7. Data Retention and Deletion

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. You can deactivate your account through your profile settings. If you would like your data permanently deleted, please contact us and we will process your request within a reasonable timeframe.

8. Data Security

We take reasonable measures to protect your information, including password hashing, encrypted MFA secrets, and secure session management. However, no method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be reflected on this page with an updated date. Your continued use of the service after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

10. Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to request data deletion, please reach out to us through the contact information provided on the site.