Ostler is local-first software that runs entirely on your hardware. We provide the tool. You own the data. We never see it.
By downloading, installing, or using Ostler, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the App.
Ostler is a personal knowledge system that runs on your Mac. It imports data from your GDPR exports and connected services, builds a searchable knowledge graph of your relationships and history, and uses local AI models to help you query and understand your own data.
By downloading, installing, or using Ostler (“the App”), you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the App.
Creative Machines Limited is incorporated in Hong Kong (Companies Registry no. 78699170). We publish Ostler.
Ostler processes your personal data entirely on your hardware. This includes contacts, conversations, calendar events, browser history, and any other data you import.
We are a tool provider. Creative Machines provides Ostler as software. We do not access, collect, receive, transmit, or benefit from any personal data generated or processed by the App. Think of us as the manufacturer of a filing cabinet – not the owner of what is stored inside it.
Your data is stored in local databases (Qdrant, Oxigraph, Valkey) running as local container services on your Mac. These databases run on localhost only. They are not exposed to the internet.
You are the Data Controller. Under applicable data protection laws (including GDPR), you are the sole Data Controller for all personal data processed by Ostler on your device. Creative Machines is neither a Data Controller nor a Data Processor for this data – we never access, receive, process, or store it.
You are responsible for:
Ostler imports data from GDPR data exports you obtain from third-party platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Google, and others). By using this feature, you represent and warrant that:
Creative Machines does not access, receive, or process your GDPR exports. They are imported directly into your local databases on your hardware.
Ostler processes personal data of people other than you – contacts, message participants, and individuals referenced in your GDPR exports and connected services. This processing may include AI-generated relationship summaries, interaction frequency analysis, and contact enrichment.
Household exemption limitations: The GDPR household exemption (Article 2(2)(c)) may not cover systematic, AI-assisted processing of third-party personal data at scale. If you use Ostler to process data about a significant number of individuals, you should consider whether you have a lawful basis for that processing.
Legitimate interest guidance: Where the household exemption does not apply, the most likely lawful basis for your processing of third-party data is legitimate interest (GDPR Article 6(1)(f)). You should consider:
Contact exclusion: Ostler provides the ability to exclude specific contacts from AI processing. You should use this feature to honour any requests from individuals who do not wish their data to be processed in your knowledge graph.
Data subject requests: If any person whose data appears in your Ostler instance exercises their rights under applicable data protection law (access, deletion, rectification), you are responsible for responding to those requests. Creative Machines cannot assist, as we have no access to your data.
Creative Machines offers two products that together provide the Ostler experience:
The Hub is a one-time purchase. Once paid, it is yours to use indefinitely. No ongoing payment is required. Software updates are delivered automatically and are included in the purchase price.
The Hub Software Licence grants you perpetual rights to use the Hub Software on the Mac on which it is installed, and to access the data the Hub Software has captured prior to any Pro subscription lapse. Your existing wiki, timeline, people graph, and your Ostler assistant chatting locally over the snapshot continue to function whether or not you maintain an active Ostler Pro subscription.
Your existing data stays accessible. Your wiki, timeline, people graph, and your Ostler assistant chatting locally over the existing snapshot keep working. Your Hub keeps doing what you paid for. You retain full read access to data captured prior to the lapse, and you can export everything at any time.
What pauses when your Ostler Pro subscription is not active:
You can reactivate your Ostler Pro subscription at any time. Your existing data will be exactly as you left it; new-data ingestion resumes from the date of reactivation.
Soft-landing grace period. When a subscription first lapses, the Hub allows new-data ingestion to continue for a short additional window (currently 14 days) before the gates above take effect. This avoids penalising customers for a temporary billing failure or a brief intentional pause.
Connectivity grace period. The Hub validates Ostler Pro subscription state by reaching the paired iPhone. If the Hub cannot reach Ostler on iPhone for an extended period (currently 30 days), it will continue to allow ingestion to avoid penalising customers with intermittent connectivity, and will surface a notice in the Hub Doctor view. This is in addition to the soft-landing grace.
Your data, in standard formats. Regardless of subscription state, your data lives in plain Markdown under ~/Documents/Ostler/ on your Mac, and in standard local databases (Qdrant JSON, Oxigraph Turtle/N-Triples/JSON-LD, SQLite) on your hardware. You can export everything at any time. Your data is never held hostage to subscription state, and deletion-by-customer always works.
Ostler Hub (one-time purchase). All sales are final. Once the Hub has been delivered (which happens immediately on purchase), the purchase is non-refundable. We have made this choice because the Hub does its job in a single act of one-time data processing on your hardware: the import pipeline reads your data, builds your knowledge graph, and writes the result to your Mac in standard open formats (Qdrant JSON, Oxigraph Turtle/N-Triples/JSON-LD, Markdown, SQLite). Once that is done, you have already received the value of the product, and it cannot be returned in any meaningful sense.
EU and UK consumer waiver of the right of withdrawal. If you are a consumer resident in the European Union or the United Kingdom, EU Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83/EU) Article 16(m) and the corresponding UK Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 reg. 37(1)(a) grant you a 14-day right of withdrawal for digital content supplied online. By purchasing the Ostler Hub and beginning the import process, you expressly consent to the supply of digital content beginning before the end of the 14-day withdrawal period and acknowledge that you thereby lose your right of withdrawal. This waiver is required and is collected at the Stripe checkout via an explicit tickbox titled “I consent to immediate delivery of the digital content and acknowledge that I lose my 14-day right of withdrawal”. Without that consent the purchase cannot complete.
Nothing in this clause limits your mandatory statutory rights to a remedy where digital content does not conform to the contract (see §15 and §22) or your rights under any non-waivable consumer protection law in your country of residence.
Ostler Pro subscription (App Store). Subscription refunds for Ostler Pro are handled directly by Apple under the App Store refund policy. Creative Machines does not process subscription payments and cannot issue subscription refunds.
Ostler incorporates third-party open-source libraries (including but not limited to Ollama, Qdrant, Oxigraph, and Valkey). These components are governed by their respective open-source licences.
Ostler itself (including the import pipeline, AI processing, iOS app, and all Creative Machines proprietary code) is governed by these Terms and may not be copied, modified, reverse-engineered, or distributed without permission.
Ostler may integrate with third-party messaging and social platforms to import your data. You should be aware of the following:
WhatsApp integration: Ostler’s WhatsApp data import feature uses an unofficial, reverse-engineered implementation of the WhatsApp Web protocol. This integration is not endorsed, certified, or supported by WhatsApp or Meta Platforms, Inc. By using this feature, you acknowledge that:
Limitation of liability for third-party platform access: Creative Machines is not liable for any loss, damage, or consequence arising from the use of unofficial integrations with third-party platforms, including but not limited to account suspension, data loss, or service interruption caused by changes to third-party protocols or enforcement of third-party terms of service. This limitation applies to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.
Ostler uses local AI models to generate relationship summaries, search results, timeline entries, and other outputs. These outputs are generated by machine learning models and may contain errors, omissions, hallucinations, or inaccuracies.
Do not rely on Ostler outputs for legal, medical, financial, or safety-critical decisions without independent verification. Ostler is a personal productivity tool, not a substitute for professional services.
Your data is stored in standard, open formats on your hardware:
If you stop using Ostler, your data does not disappear into a proprietary format. It remains on your machine in formats that any other tool can read. You own your data unconditionally.
To delete all Ostler data: run ostler-uninstall, which stops all Hub services and the local database containers and removes your data (~/.ostler/ and ~/Documents/Ostler/). Your data is gone. There is no server-side copy to request deletion of.
Use Ostler only for lawful purposes. You must not use it to:
Ostler runs on your hardware. We do not control your computing environment. Creative Machines is not responsible for:
You are solely responsible for maintaining backups of your data. We recommend regular Time Machine backups or equivalent.
THE APP IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
Creative Machines does not warrant that:
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW:
IN NO EVENT SHALL CREATIVE MACHINES BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF PROFITS, OR DAMAGE TO HARDWARE, except where such exclusion is prohibited by applicable law.
EU and UK consumers: The limitations in this section do not affect your mandatory statutory rights under the EU Digital Content Directive (2019/770) or the UK Consumer Rights Act 2015. In particular, nothing in these Terms limits your right to a remedy (including repair, replacement, price reduction, or termination) where digital content does not conform to the contract. These mandatory rights cannot be excluded or restricted by contract.
Local software acknowledgement: You acknowledge that Ostler runs on your hardware, and Creative Machines has no ability to access, monitor, repair, or recover your data. Data loss, corruption, or security breaches on your device are your responsibility.
You agree to use the App in compliance with applicable laws. To the extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Creative Machines from claims, damages, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising directly from:
This indemnification obligation does not apply to consumers resident in the European Union or United Kingdom to the extent that it would be considered an unfair contract term under applicable consumer protection law.
Your privacy matters. See our Privacy Policy for full details. The summary: your data stays on your device, and we never see it.
Ostler is intended for use by adults only. You must be at least 18 years old to install and use Ostler. By installing, you confirm that you are 18 or older.
We set this higher than many consumer apps because Ostler processes personal data belonging to other people (your contacts, conversation partners, and others whose information appears in your imported data exports). Handling that data carries legal responsibilities that we believe require an adult user.
If you are a parent or guardian and believe a minor has installed Ostler, please contact us. Since Ostler processes data locally and we have no access to it, our ability to assist is limited to revoking the subscription. Data can be deleted locally with ostler-uninstall.
You can stop using Ostler at any time by cancelling your subscription and deleting the App. Your data remains on your device until you choose to delete it.
We may update these Terms at any time. Updated Terms will be posted at this URL. Material changes will be communicated through the App or by email if we have your contact details. Continued use of the App after changes constitutes acceptance.
These Terms are governed by the laws of Hong Kong. Any disputes shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Hong Kong.
For consumers resident in the European Union or United Kingdom, nothing in these Terms affects your statutory rights under applicable consumer protection law, including rights that cannot be excluded or limited by contract. In particular:
Online Dispute Resolution: The European Commission provides an Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform for EU consumers at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr (EU Regulation 524/2013). Our email address for the purpose of this platform is [email protected].
Ostler does not sell, share, or disclose any personal information to third parties. Your data is processed locally on your device and is never transmitted to Creative Machines or any third party.
California consumers have the right to:
Creative Machines Limited is incorporated in Hong Kong. As we do not collect personal data from users, the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486) (“PDPO”) does not apply to our data handling practices for the core Ostler application.
Ostler uses standard encryption libraries for local credential storage. The App processes data entirely on your device and does not transmit encrypted data across borders. Users are responsible for complying with local laws regarding their use of encryption and data processing software.
Creative Machines shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performing its obligations under these Terms where such failure or delay results from circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including but not limited to: natural disasters, acts of government, internet or telecommunications failures, power outages, third-party service disruptions (including changes to third-party APIs or protocols), pandemics, or acts of war or terrorism. This clause does not affect your statutory rights as a consumer.
Creative Machines may assign, transfer, or subcontract its rights and obligations under these Terms to a third party (for example, on acquisition or merger), provided that such assignment does not materially reduce your rights under these Terms. We will notify you of any such assignment. You may not assign your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent.
If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force and effect.
Creative Machines Limited is incorporated in Hong Kong and does not have an establishment in the European Union or United Kingdom. We have not yet appointed an Article 27 representative because, in our assessment, the threshold conditions of GDPR Art. 3(2) / UK GDPR Art. 3(2) are not currently met for the data Creative Machines itself processes (no offering of goods or services to EU/UK data subjects at the requisite scale; no behavioural monitoring). The detailed analysis and our commitment to appoint within 90 days of triggering the threshold are set out in our Privacy Policy §6. EU and UK residents may direct privacy enquiries to [email protected].
Questions about these terms? Get in touch.
Creative Machines Limited
Incorporated in Hong Kong
HK Companies Registry no. 78699170
Email: [email protected]