Privacy and permissions
What stays on your Mac, what leaves it, and what an agent can reach.
On this page
What stays local and what leaves#
- ADE, your chat history, tasks and terminals run on your Mac.
- VideoDraft Editor projects, edits, previews and exports stay on your Mac.
- To answer, ADE sends your chat and the files the agent reads to the company behind the agent you chose.
- VideoDraft media tools upload your prompt and input media to VideoDraft servers.
- Dictation sends microphone audio to the service picked in Settings > Dictation > Transcription provider: Gemini Smart or Deepgram.
File access follows the task#
An agent starts in the current task. Attachments and linked folders widen what it can read. A folder you edit directly is changed in place, so pick it carefully.
- Check which task is active before asking for anything destructive.
- Link only the folders a task needs.
- Use Plan mode to see an approach before files change.
- Give scheduled tasks fewer folders and smaller jobs. Nobody watches them run.
Plan, Ask and Auto decide when an agent stops for your approval; see Work with agents. When an agent asks, read the command or file path on the card, then allow or deny it.
Sign-ins#
ADE uses the Claude Code and Codex sign-ins already saved on your Mac. Signing in to VideoDraft creates a separate sign-in for ADE and does not change your own videodraft CLI setup.
macOS permissions#
| Permission | When VideoDraft asks |
|---|---|
| Notifications | Optional. Alerts you when a background reply finishes or an agent needs you. |
| Microphone | Optional. Asked when you first use dictation. |
| Screen Recording | Optional. Needed to capture a browser preview screenshot into a chat. Restart ADE after granting it. Computer Use asks for its own access in Settings > Computer use. |
| Accessibility and Background input | Optional. Needed only for Computer Use. macOS lists the helper as VideoDraft Computer Use. |
Enterprise data privacy#
Your company can turn on Enterprise data privacy for everyone on its VideoDraft account. Settings > Account then shows Enterprise data privacy, marked Managed.
- Features that rely on outside AI services turn off, such as AI chat titles, custom MCP servers and importing custom agent settings.
- VD Code, Grok Build, Computer Use, dictation and telemetry are unavailable.
- Agents can still read your other chats and diffs, because that runs on your Mac.