Information we handle
- Waitlist. If you join the waitlist, we store your name, email, which describes you (for example high school student or teacher), and when you joined. We use it only to tell you about eigenquest’s launch and your early-member discount. Only the Eigenquest team can read it. Email contact@eigenquest.com to be removed.
- Account information. Your email, name, unique handle, optional profile photo, account identifier, and authentication information. Email/password authentication is handled by Supabase. If you choose Google sign-in, Google and Supabase exchange information needed to sign you in, including your basic account profile.
- Research and collaboration. Project briefs, sources, uploaded text, notes, plans, manuscripts, document versions, comments, messages, invitations, roles, and saved AI responses.
- Research records. Agreements, stated signature names, acceptance times, contribution declarations, merge approvals, deletion decisions, activity records, and content hashes associated with your account.
- Optional public profiles. Information you choose to publish, such as your name, research interests, skills, custom discovery tags, availability, qualifications, and portfolio links.
- Social activity. Updates you post to the signed-in community, comments, and likes. Private research is never automatically posted to the feed.
- Your starting point and plans. The interests, experience, weekly time, goal, coding confidence, and resources you enter when starting a project or using the Quest Method, along with plans, milestones, due dates, and any adult mentor you record (their name, role, and status).
- Lab notebook. Dated notebook entries and any photos you attach. Photos are shrunk in your browser and stored with the project, visible to its full-access members. Entries cannot be edited after saving.
- Technical information. Our hosting and authentication providers may process IP addresses, request and device information, timestamps, and diagnostic or security logs when operating the service.
How we use it
We use information to operate accounts, save and synchronize research, manage access, deliver messages, support collaboration and version review, produce exports, and run tools you request. We also use operational records to diagnose failures, prevent misuse, enforce usage limits, and preserve collaboration decisions.
The current application does not include advertising trackers or a workflow that sells research content or personal information to advertisers.
Young users and safety
- Age requirement. Eigenquest is for people 13 and older. We ask for a date of birth when you create an account and turn away anyone younger before any account information is sent.
- Your date of birth stays private. It is stored separately from your profile, is never shown to other people, and is used only to keep directory introductions between people of a similar age group (under 18, or 18 and older). Adults such as teachers and mentors join a student’s project only through an invitation the student sends.
- Reports and blocks. You can report posts, comments, messages, and profiles, and block people. Reports go to the Eigenquest team and are not visible to the person you reported. Blocking hides that person’s community posts and comments from you and stops introductions and direct messages between you.
- Parents and guardians. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, or you have a safety concern, email contact@eigenquest.com and we will review and remove the account where appropriate.
AI and research tools
AI features run only when you ask: the research mentor, the writing chat, the practice judge interview, and tasks such as explaining a paper, brainstorming questions, outlining, reviewing a draft against a journal’s rules, summarizing the project for college applications, and drafting outreach emails, reviewer responses, or poster outlines. Each request sends a limited excerpt of your project to Groq for processing. Depending on the task, that can include the project title and question, your starting point, your recent plan and notes, any passage you selected, part of the manuscript, short excerpts from up to six saved sources, the earlier messages in the same chat, and the chosen destination’s rules. Opening a manuscript alone does not trigger an AI request.
AI answers and writing-chat messages are saved to the project as records that full-access teammates can read, so the team can disclose AI use accurately. We count AI requests per student and per project each day to keep the free service within its limits.
Provider retention and processing depend on the provider’s policies and the service configuration. We do not promise zero retention or that provider processing stays within a particular country. Read Groq’s data documentation before submitting sensitive research to AI tools.
We count page visits with Vercel Web Analytics, which does not use cookies, and record error reports (the error message and technical trace, the page path without its query, the app version, and the browser type, without account details) to fix problems. Paper search sends your search words from your browser to OpenAlex, a free scholarly index. DOI lookup sends the DOI to Crossref and, when needed, DataCite to retrieve metadata. It does not send the manuscript to those registries. PDF extraction sends the uploaded file to Eigenquest’s server to extract text; the application saves the extracted text and metadata rather than the original PDF file.
The Quest Method topic finder runs in your browser and does not use AI. Your choices are saved only when you start a project from it, as that project’s starting point. Its optional “check what has been studied” step sends a few words from your question to OpenAlex. Data analysis of a CSV file, Word and BibTeX imports, calendar (.ics) exports, deadline planning, and poster and slide drafts also run in your browser. Only the results you choose to save become part of the project.
Browser storage
The optional LaTeX compiler runs in a browser worker. It downloads TeX packages from Siglum’s CDN through Eigenquest and may cache compiler assets and intermediate files on your device. Intermediate files can contain information derived from your source. Compilation does not upload the LaTeX source or PDF to that package provider. LaTeX source is saved and shared with the project through the same document-storage system as Word drafts.
Eigenquest uses browser storage for sign-in sessions, preferences, tutorial progress, local project records, and manuscript recovery and synchronization. Manuscripts may be cached in IndexedDB, including pending changes awaiting upload.
In local prototype mode, research records are kept in the browser. Server-based tools, such as DOI lookup, PDF extraction, and configured AI requests, still send the information needed to complete those actions. Clearing browser storage may remove local work; export it first. Signing out or deleting cloud content does not guarantee removal of every device cache or downloaded copy.
Retention and deletion
Account and project data remain stored while needed to provide the workspace and preserve its research records. Different records have different deletion paths; the application does not apply a single automatic deletion period to all information.
Shared-project deletion requires approval from every current member and a separate final confirmation by the owner. It deletes the shared research content covered by the request, including manuscripts and versions, sources, notes, plans, findings, saved AI outputs, invitations, and project group messages and DMs.
Signed agreements, signatures, contribution declarations, minimal membership and audit metadata, AI usage counters, and deletion consent receipts are retained separately. Your Social posts are separate from projects. You can delete your own posts and comments; deleting a post removes its comments and likes. Hiding a directory profile does not remove your Social posts or existing conversations. Project deletion is not account deletion. Copies already exported or received by collaborators, browser caches, and provider backups may remain. Leaving a project does not automatically remove contributions already incorporated into its shared record.
Your choices
You can choose whether to publish a directory profile, which collaborators to invite, whether to use AI tools, and which research materials to submit. You can edit available profile and project fields, export accessible research, leave projects, and use the project-deletion process.
Depending on where you live and the laws that apply, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or obtain a copy of personal information, or to object to or restrict certain processing. These rights can have exceptions, including for other people’s information and records that must be retained. The workspace’s shared-project deletion process does not replace applicable individual privacy rights.
There is currently no self-service account-deletion control. Individual privacy or account-removal requests need to be handled by the Eigenquest team: email contact@eigenquest.com from the address on your account.
Security and locations
Eigenquest uses authenticated access and project permissions to limit access to research. No online service or device storage can guarantee complete security. Only upload material you are authorized to share, and avoid identifiable patient records or other regulated sensitive data unless suitable agreements and safeguards have been established.
Providers may process information in countries other than your own. This policy does not promise a particular storage region, regulatory certification, or suitability for regulated clinical records. Eigenquest is not designed for children under 13.
Policy updates
We may update this policy as Eigenquest changes. The date at the top identifies the latest revision. Material changes that require additional notice or consent will be handled as required by applicable law. Questions about this policy go to contact@eigenquest.com.