FAQ

Does my data go to pii-airlock's authors?

No. It runs entirely on your computer. Detection makes no network calls.

Does it work offline?

Detection does, once the models are downloaded. The AI tool itself still needs the internet.

Do I need an account or an API key for pii-airlock?

No. You use your own accounts with your AI providers as before. The gateway passes your key through and does not log it.

Does it slow things down?

Cleaning a message takes a few milliseconds to tens of milliseconds. Hooks add about 60 ms once their helper has started.

Will the AI still understand my text?

Mostly yes. The same person always gets the same placeholder, so it can follow who did what. If a model handles <TOKENS> badly, try realistic fakes.

Can I use it with ChatGPT.com, claude.ai or a phone app?

Not through the gateway. For those, clean the text by hand before pasting it.

Which languages work?

English and French out of the box. Add others with a spaCy model or the multilingual GLiNER model. Some identifiers are recognised in any language: French, Swiss, German and Italian IDs, phone formats, and secrets such as API keys.

What counts as personal data here?

Names, emails, phone numbers, bank and card numbers, IP addresses, national IDs, API keys and passwords, and more. See What it detects.

Can it miss something?

Yes. See Safety and limits.

Can I run it for my team on a server?

It is designed for one person's computer and binds to 127.0.0.1 by default. Exposing it more widely is your responsibility. The file mapping backend and its settings are covered in Settings.

Does it work on Windows?

Yes. macOS, Linux and Windows are tested in CI. The Claude Code plugin needs a shell script, so on Windows use install-hook instead.

How do I update or remove it?

pipx upgrade pii-airlock and pipx uninstall pii-airlock. See Install, all options.

How can I contribute?

Adding a language or a provider adapter is a good first contribution. See CONTRIBUTING.