Privacy
Last updated: September 2026
Cradle is built so that the questions you ask about your family stay with you. This page explains exactly what happens to your information. It describes how the Cradle software works; whoever runs the copy of Cradle you are using (the "operator", named at the bottom of this page when they have set it) is responsible for their own hosting and should update this page if they change anything.
The short version
- No accounts, no sign-in, no cookies, no analytics, no ads, no trackers.
- Your history lives in your browser, not on our server. Clear your browser data or press Erase everything in Settings and it is gone.
- To answer a question, it must be sent to an AI model. Your question passes through the Cradle server to the model provider, is used to produce the answer, and is not stored by Cradle.
- Children's names never leave your browser. If you tell Cradle about a child or pregnancy, only an age ("2 years 4 months") or weeks of pregnancy is sent with your question.
What is stored, and where
| What | Where | Who can see it |
|---|---|---|
| Household profiles (names/nicknames you choose) | Your browser (localStorage) | Anyone using this browser |
| Children and pregnancies (nickname, birthday or due date) | Your browser | Anyone using this browser |
| Your questions, answers and history | Your browser | Anyone using this browser |
| Your own model API key and access code, if you enter them | Your browser | Anyone using this browser |
| Theme preference | Your browser | - |
Profiles are a convenience for sharing a device, not a security boundary: anyone who can use the browser can switch profiles. On a shared or public computer, erase your data when you are done.
Nothing in the table above is stored on the Cradle server. There is no database.
What is sent when you ask a question
When you press Get guidance, your browser sends the Cradle server:
- your question, and the plan or claim you pasted (if any);
- the anonymous context line for the child or pregnancy you selected (an age or weeks - no name);
- your model connection, if you added your own (provider, model and API key), or the access code.
The Cradle server then:
- finds relevant passages in its built-in library (this happens on the server; nothing leaves it);
- sends your question, the context line and those passages to the AI model provider - either the one the operator configured, or the one you chose in Settings;
- checks the model's drafts, builds the answer, sends it back to your browser, and discards everything. Each analysis runs in memory and is not written to disk or a database.
Cradle's own logs record only technical metadata (for example which model was called, how long it took, and a one-way hash of the prompt) - never the text of your question or the answer. Your API key is never logged.
The AI model provider
Your question is processed by a third-party AI provider (for example Anthropic, OpenAI, Groq, Google, or a hosted open-model service), which handles it under its own privacy policy and data-retention terms. When no model is configured, Cradle uses a free community model (Pollinations) that needs no key; it is run by a third party with its own terms, and the Ask page says when it is in use. Add your own free key under Settings to choose the provider yourself. If you use your own API key, your agreement with that provider applies. Please avoid including information you would not want that provider to process, such as full names, addresses or medical record numbers. Cradle never needs them.
Hosting and network logs
Like any website, the hosting platform (for example Vercel or a server run by the operator) may keep standard request logs - IP address, time, the page requested - for security and reliability. If the operator limits how many questions can be asked per hour, your IP address is kept in the server's memory for up to an hour to count requests, and then forgotten.
Children
Cradle is intended for adults - parents, expecting parents and caregivers. It is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect information from them. Information you enter about your child stays in your browser, except for the anonymous age described above.
Your choices
- See everything Cradle has about you: Settings -> Export to a file.
- Delete it: Settings -> Erase everything in this browser, or clear this site's data in your browser settings. Deleting a single answer: open it and press Delete.
- Keep your question away from the operator's AI provider: add your own key under Settings.
Follow-up conversations
When you keep talking under an answer, the whole conversation (with the original question and answer) is sent with each new message, answered, and forgotten by the server. The conversation itself is saved with the answer in your browser.
Voice input
The mic button listens only while it is switched on. The recording is sent to Cradle's server, forwarded to a transcription service (Groq Whisper, a free AI model on OpenRouter, or OpenAI Whisper) and discarded; only the text comes back, and neither the audio nor the text is kept by Cradle. Free models on OpenRouter may be run by providers that log or train on what they receive. Chrome, Edge and Safari also have their own speech recognition, which may send the audio to the browser maker (for example Google or Apple). Cradle uses it when the server has no transcription service, for a day after the server's transcription has failed on your device (remembered in your browser), and, on desktop, alongside every recording as a backup whose text is only used if the server fails. You can always type instead.
Changes
If this changes, the "last updated" date above will change too. Because Cradle keeps no contact details, we cannot notify you directly; check this page.