Cookies and storage
Version 2026-09-29 · covers the private pilot of Terms of Us
There is no analytics, no advertising, no tracking, and no third-party cookie anywhere on this service. There is no cookie banner because there is nothing on this list that the law requires one for. This page names every cookie we set — the complete list, from the code.
The cookies
- tou-pilot
- Proves you entered the pilot passphrase, so the private instance stays private. Strictly necessary.Lasts: 30 days
- authjs.session-token
- Keeps you signed in. Strictly necessary. (Served with a __Secure- prefix over HTTPS.)Lasts: your session — about 30 days
- authjs.csrf-token and authjs.callback-url
- Protect the sign-in flow against forgery and return you to the right page after signing in. Strictly necessary, set only around sign-in.Lasts: the sign-in flow
- tou-age-declared
- Carries your signed 18-or-over declaration from the sign-up form to the moment your account is created. Strictly necessary for the age gate.Lasts: 24 hours
- tou-look
- Remembers that you chose to look around the site past the coming-soon page, so it does not show again on every page. Set only if you choose it. Functional.Lasts: 30 days
- tou_oriented
- Remembers that you have seen the three orientation screens, so they show once instead of every visit. Functional.Lasts: 1 year
Browser storage that is not a cookie
- tou-theme (localStorage)
- Your light/dark/system choice, kept on your device only — it is never sent to us and never reaches our servers. Functional.Lasts: until you clear it or choose System
The legal position, plainly
Under PECR, strictly necessary cookies never need consent — that covers the passphrase, sign-in and age-declaration cookies above. The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (s.112) additionally exempts certain low-risk functionality and appearance storage from consent; the orientation cookie and the on-device theme choice sit within that. Everything we set is one or the other, so we do not ask you to click through a banner for it. If we ever add a cookie that genuinely needs consent, we will ask for it properly — before setting it, not after.
The crisis pages
The crisis pages set nothing: no cookie, no storage, no request that carries an answer. This is held by automated tests that fail the build if it stops being true.
Questions: write to us.