Cairn by Alberta Consulting

Cairn Privacy Policy

Browser extension for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge · version 2.6Effective October 23, 2026

Alberta Consulting LLC (“Alberta Consulting”, “we”, “us”) makes Cairn, a browser extension that records a task you do in the browser and turns it into a step-by-step guide, and runs the Cairn server that Cairn signs in to. This policy explains what Cairn collects, how it is used, who it is shared with, how long it is kept, and the choices you have. It applies to the Cairn extension, the Cairn server and Cairn share pages.

01Two ways to use Cairn

• Without signing in. Recording, editing, exporting and Guide Me all work in your browser, and nothing is sent to Alberta Consulting. Information leaves your computer only if you use an online feature: Microsoft Learn search (section 6), AI features with your own key (section 5), or ElevenLabs voice-over (section 5).
• Signed in with Microsoft. Signing in connects Cairn to the Cairn server, which provides share links, guide sync, the team library and AI features through Alberta Consulting’s account. What the server stores is described in section 4. Accounts are either Alberta Consulting staff or customer users from an organisation that Alberta Consulting has linked to Cairn.

Once you have signed in on a browser profile, Cairn on that profile requires sign-in from then on.

02What Cairn collects

What Cairn never records:

• Anything typed into password fields, or into fields that look like they hold passwords, secrets, card numbers or Social Security numbers. Cairn stores only a placeholder step such as “Enter your password”.
• Anything while you are not recording, or while recording is paused. Cairn does not collect your browsing history: it records web addresses only for pages you record on.
• Clicks on Cairn’s own recording bar and Guide Me panels.
• Browser pages such as chrome:// and edge:// pages, and extension store pages. Browsers don’t allow extensions to record these.
• Sound, video of your screen, your camera or microphone, network traffic, or cookies. Narrated videos are built from the guide’s screenshots.

Screenshots and blur. Screenshots show whatever is visible in the tab, which may include personal or confidential information. Before sharing a guide, review it and use Cairn’s blur tool to hide anything sensitive. Blur is saved separately from the original screenshot:

• PDF, Word, HTML and Markdown exports and share links contain only the blurred image.
• A Cairn file (.json), guide sync and team-library releases keep the original screenshot together with the blur, so the blurred area can still be adjusted. Treat these like the original.
• Find sensitive data sends the original screenshots to an AI provider so it can suggest what to blur (section 5).

Imported documents. When you import a document that contains images stored on the web, Cairn downloads those images from their web addresses so they can appear in the guide.

03What is stored in your browser

Everything in section 2 is stored locally in your browser profile on your computer, using the browser’s built-in extension storage. This includes saved voice-over audio clips and a short log of recent Guide Me steps used for troubleshooting. Cairn does not use the browser’s sync storage, so this data is not copied to your other devices by the browser.

• API keys you enter for AI providers or ElevenLabs are kept in this storage and are not encrypted by Cairn. Don’t enter them on a shared browser profile.
• Microsoft sign-in tokens are kept in the browser’s session storage and are cleared when the browser closes.
• Your guides stay until you delete them or remove the extension. Removing Cairn deletes its local data. Export any guides you want to keep first (Share / Export → Cairn file (.json)). Copies already on the Cairn server are not removed by uninstalling (see section 8).

04The Cairn server

When you sign in, Cairn talks to the Cairn server, which Alberta Consulting operates on Microsoft Azure (Canada Central region). Connections are encrypted (TLS 1.2 or later), and the server’s secrets are kept in Azure Key Vault. The server stores:

• Your account record: name, email, organisation ID, account ID, role, permissions, the customer organisation you belong to (if any), when the account was created and when you last signed in.
• Synced guides (staff accounts only). After you sign in, every guide you create or change uploads automatically a few seconds after it is saved, including its screenshots, and the latest guides are downloaded to your other devices. The server keeps the last 20 versions of each guide so you can restore an earlier one. Deleting a guide in Cairn also deletes it on the server (see section 8). Guides that existed before you signed in upload the next time you change them. Sync runs whenever you are signed in; signing out stops it.
• Guide status summaries. While you are signed in, Cairn regularly reports a summary of your guides (title, customer folder, status, step counts and last-changed time, but no step text or screenshots) so Alberta Consulting administrators can see the team’s open work.
• Share links. When you choose Share / Export → Shareable web link, Cairn uploads the guide as a web page (text and blurred images), with your email as the publisher. The link has an unguessable address.
  • By default, viewers must sign in with Microsoft and be Alberta Consulting staff or belong to the customer organisation the guide is for.
  • An Alberta Consulting administrator can make a link public (Anyone with the link can view (no sign-in)). Anyone who has a public link can view the guide, so share it only with the people who need it.
  • Share pages ask search engines not to index them. Choosing Unpublish removes the page.
• Team library releases. When staff release a guide to the team library, the full Cairn file (including original screenshots, see section 2), the release notes and the releaser’s name are stored. Customer users can view guides released to their organisation’s folder.
• Customer organisation settings: the organisation’s Microsoft tenant ID, branding, a monthly AI spending limit, which AI providers it allows (Anthropic only unless an administrator adds others), whether its AI requests must stay on Alberta Consulting’s own network, and any AI connection the organisation provides with its own API key. Keys are stored encrypted and are never sent back to the extension; Cairn shows only the last four characters of longer keys.
• AI connections and routing. The AI providers Alberta Consulting has connected, the models allowed for each, and which provider and model each AI feature uses. Provider keys are stored encrypted.
• AI usage records. For each AI request made through the server, the server records the time, your account ID, name, email, role and organisation, the feature used, the provider, connection and model that answered, the number of tokens and the cost. These records are used for billing and spending limits. They do not contain your prompts, guide content or the AI’s responses.
• Azure DevOps (when enabled). If Alberta Consulting links a project in Azure DevOps, the server reads project and work-item details and attaches released guide files and share links to work items you choose.

Who can see it. Customer users see only their own organisation’s released guides and share links. Staff see their own synced guides, the team library and share links. Alberta Consulting administrators can see all of the above, including the list of users, AI usage records, guide status summaries and, read-only, staff members’ synced guides. Alberta Consulting personnel who manage the Azure subscription can also access stored data when needed to run or support the service (see section 10 for when people read your content).

Logs. The Cairn server does not log your guide content, prompts, AI responses, sign-in tokens or IP addresses. Its error logs are kept in Azure for 30 days. Microsoft Azure may keep its own technical logs as part of running the service.

05AI features and voice-over

AI features are optional, and an administrator can turn them off for an account. Every AI result in Cairn says which provider and model produced it, for example “Answered by Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Anthropic)”.

Signed in. Requests go to the Cairn server, which sends them to an AI provider using Alberta Consulting’s account (or your organisation’s own AI connection), and keeps only the usage record described in section 4.

Not signed in (personal AI connection). In Branding & settings → AI & voice, you can enter your own API key for Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini or OpenRouter, or the address of a local AI model (an OpenAI-compatible server you run, such as LM Studio or Ollama). Cairn then sends requests directly from your browser to that provider or address. Nothing passes through Alberta Consulting. The provider handles the requests under your agreement with it, which may differ from the terms in the table below: for example, Google’s free (unpaid) Gemini API tier may use submitted content to improve Google’s products, and human reviewers may read it.

What each feature sends:

AI providers used through the Cairn server

Anthropic is the default provider. Alberta Consulting can also connect the providers below, but a customer organisation’s requests go to them only after an Alberta Consulting administrator has added that provider to the organisation’s allow list. Until then, an organisation’s requests go to Anthropic only. Each provider handles the information as its business or API terms and data processing agreement describe. For customer content, Alberta Consulting uses only paid or business services, never free tiers that may use content to improve products.

Where a request reaches the local model, it travels from the Cairn server to that computer over an encrypted connection provided by Tailscale. Tailscale sees technical details such as device names and connection times, but not the content of the request. A customer organisation can ask that its requests be kept on Alberta Consulting’s own network, in which case only the local model is used.

Please tell us if your organisation needs processing only in Canada: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and OpenRouter don’t all guarantee that, and the local model is the option that stays in Calgary.

Providers and their terms change, so we review this list regularly and update this policy when we add or remove a provider. See each provider’s privacy policy: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter and Tailscale.

Voice-over (ElevenLabs). If you enter your own ElevenLabs API key, Cairn sends voice-over text directly to ElevenLabs to create the audio, and checks your key and remaining credit when you open the settings. The audio is saved in your browser. ElevenLabs handles this under its privacy policy.

06Microsoft services

• Sign-in (Microsoft Entra ID). Cairn signs you in with Microsoft and asks only for your basic profile (name, email) and access to the Cairn server. It doesn’t ask for access to your email, files, calendar or other Microsoft 365 data. Microsoft uses its own cookies during sign-in, and Cairn may use your existing Microsoft session to sign you back in silently.
• Microsoft Learn search. When you click Find on Microsoft Learn, run a search in the Online resources panel, or use Ask AI, Cairn sends search words (made from the guide title and detected product, or what you typed, including your Ask AI question) to Microsoft’s public Learn search service (learn.microsoft.com) and downloads matching articles without sending cookies.

Microsoft handles these requests under the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

07Who we share information with

We share information only as needed to provide the Cairn features you use, and only with:

• Microsoft (Azure hosting of the Cairn server, Entra ID sign-in, Learn search, and Azure DevOps when enabled);
• the AI provider that handles an AI request (section 5), and Tailscale for requests to our local model;
• ElevenLabs, when you use voice-over with your own key;
• people you share guides with, through share links and the team library;
• your organisation’s Cairn administrators, as described in section 4;
• authorities, when required by law, or to protect the security of Cairn and its users;
• a successor, if Alberta Consulting’s business is merged or sold, under this policy or one at least as protective, after notice to you.

08How long information is kept

• In your browser: until you delete it or remove the extension.
• Synced guides: while the guide exists. When you delete a guide, the server marks it deleted and removes it and its versions after 30 days (the next time its owner uses sync after that). Screenshots uploaded by sync are currently kept even after the guides that used them are deleted.
• Share links: until unpublished. A public link may stay in browser or network caches for up to a minute after unpublishing.
• Team library releases: every released version is kept, including after a guide is retired from the library.
• Account records, guide status summaries and AI usage records: kept while you use Cairn, and afterwards until we delete them on request or when we no longer need them for billing or records.
• Server error logs: 30 days.
• Backups: the server’s storage keeps previous versions of changed or deleted items for recovery. These copies may remain after the item is deleted or unpublished, until we delete them.

To have your information deleted from the Cairn server, contact us (section 17).

09Cookies

The Cairn extension doesn’t set cookies or use tracking technologies. Share pages that require sign-in set two strictly necessary cookies: one that keeps the sign-in secure (10 minutes) and one that keeps you signed in to the page (8 hours). They hold no personal details beyond an account identifier and aren’t used for tracking.

10Limited use of your data

Cairn’s use of information it collects, including web page content, screenshots, web addresses, what you type while recording, and your account details, complies with the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements. In particular:

• We use this information only to provide and improve Cairn’s single purpose (creating, sharing and following step-by-step guides) and the features you use, as described in this policy.
• We don’t sell it, or transfer it to anyone except as described in section 7.
• We don’t use or transfer it for advertising, including personalised, re-targeted or interest-based advertising.
• We don’t use or transfer it to determine creditworthiness or for lending.
• No one at Alberta Consulting reads your guide content unless you or your organisation ask us to (for example for support, or when you share a guide with us), it is needed for security purposes such as investigating abuse, it is needed to comply with the law, or the information has been aggregated and anonymised for internal operations. Organisation administrators can see guides as described in section 4.

We don’t use third-party analytics, advertising or crash-reporting services. Cairn doesn’t download or run code from the internet: all of its code is included in the extension.

11Why Cairn asks for its browser permissions

12Where information is processed

The Cairn server and its storage are in Microsoft Azure’s Canada Central region. The AI providers in section 5 and ElevenLabs may process information in the United States and other countries; our local model processes it in Calgary, Canada. Microsoft may process sign-in and Learn search requests in the countries where it operates.

13Security

Connections to the Cairn server are encrypted, its secrets are kept in Azure Key Vault, stored API keys are encrypted, and access to stored data is limited to the people described in section 4. No system is perfectly secure. If we learn of a security incident affecting your information, we will notify you and, where required, the authorities, as the law requires.

14Children

Cairn is a business tool and is not directed to children under 13 (or the minimum age in your country). We do not knowingly collect information from children.

15Your choices and rights

• Turn off Capture typing in Branding & settings → Recording to stop recording text you enter and options you pick.
• Pause or stop recording at any time from the in-page recording bar.
• Use Cairn without signing in to keep your guides in your browser (on a browser profile where you haven’t signed in yet).
• Don’t use the AI features, or use your own personal AI connection without signing in. Ask us to restrict your organisation to Anthropic only (the default) or to our local model. Voice-over with ElevenLabs is optional.
• Sign out to stop guide sync and other server activity.
• Delete individual steps, screenshots or whole guides in the editor or library. For staff, deleting a synced guide also deletes it on the server.
• Unpublish any share link you published.
• Remove the extension to delete all locally stored Cairn data.

Your information on the Cairn server. Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct or delete your personal information, or to object to or restrict how we use it. You can ask us for a copy of the information the Cairn server holds about you, or ask us to correct or delete it, by contacting us (section 17). If you use Cairn through your employer or a customer organisation, that organisation may also make requests on your behalf. We may keep some records, such as AI usage records used for billing, where we need them for legal or accounting reasons. You may also complain to your local privacy regulator.

Information stored only in your browser never reaches us, so we can’t access, correct or delete it for you. You control it directly.

16Changes to this policy

If we change how Cairn handles information, we will update this page and its effective date. Significant changes will also be noted in the extension’s release notes, and where the law requires, we will ask for your consent before using information in a new way.

17Contact