Privacy Policy

Effective date: ”18 May 2026”. This policy is written for a UK-operated service and uses UK GDPR and ICO guidance as its baseline.

1. Data controller

Controller: ”Wassim El Youssoufi”
Address: Postal address available on lawful request
Contact: ”wassim@recipe-raccoon.com”

2. Data we collect

Account data: email address, password hash, verification state, registration date, login/session state, and subscription tier.
Kitchen content: recipes, tags, images, pantry items, staples, use-soon items, meal plans, cook notes, ratings, and preferences.
AI settings: selected model provider and encrypted bring-your-own-key API keys. Saved API keys are encrypted at rest and are not intentionally returned to the browser.
Billing data: Stripe customer and subscription identifiers, subscription status, and payment state. Card details are handled by Stripe.
Usage and security data: request logs, usage counts, token/cost records, audit events, delivery outcomes, and operational diagnostics.
Email data: verification, password reset, transactional email, and optional digest delivery data.

3. Why we use data and lawful basis

Purpose	Lawful basis
Operate accounts, recipes, pantry, meal plans, AI requests, export, and settings	Contract
Process Pro billing and subscription status	Contract; legal obligation where accounting records must be retained
Protect the service, prevent abuse, keep audit logs, and diagnose errors	Legitimate interests
Send verification, password reset, billing, security, and service messages	Contract or legitimate interests
Send optional weekly digest or retention email	Consent

We do not sell personal data and do not use recipe content or preferences for advertising.

4. Third-party processors

Processor	Purpose	Data shared
Stripe	Payment processing and billing portal	Email, billing amount, customer and subscription state
Resend	Transactional and optional digest email	Email address and email content
OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, Google, or selected AI providers	AI features for Free BYOK, Pro, or admin-managed requests	Prompt text and relevant recipe, pantry, preference, image, or meal-planning context sent in the request
Contabo VPS or hosting provider	Application hosting, database, files, and backups	Application data at rest

5. International transfers

Some providers may process data outside the UK, especially AI providers, email, billing, and hosting vendors. Before broad launch, the current vendor data processing terms should be checked and the applicable safeguard wording should be confirmed.

6. Retention

Account and kitchen content: kept while your account is active.
Account deletion: account data and associated app content are deleted from active storage when the delete flow completes.
Backups: deleted data may remain in scheduled backups for up to 30 days before rotation removes it.
Usage, metering, audit, and security logs: normally retained for up to 12 months for billing, abuse prevention, support, and service security.
Accounting records: retained where required by law.

7. Your rights

UK residents have rights to access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection, and data portability where those rights apply. You can export account content from Settings. You can also contact us at ”wassim@recipe-raccoon.com”.

You can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office if you are unhappy with how your personal data is handled.

8. Cookies, local storage, and similar technologies

The service uses session cookies for login and security. It also uses low-risk browser storage for necessary app preferences and local interface state such as theme, density, sidebar size, pantry overview state, shopping-list checks, and draft cooking context. No third-party tracking cookies are used.

We disclose this storage rather than showing a separate consent banner because it supports the requested app experience and is not used for advertising, profiling, or cross-site tracking. This decision should be reviewed if analytics, marketing pixels, or third-party tracking scripts are added later.

9. Email choices

Transactional email is used for account operation. Optional weekly digest and retention email are off by default and can be disabled in Settings or through unsubscribe links in those emails.

10. Security

Data is transmitted over TLS. Passwords are stored as hashes. Saved API keys are encrypted at rest. Access is scoped per user account, and audit logs are kept for important account and administrative events.

11. Changes

We may update this policy as the product changes. Material changes should be communicated with reasonable notice.