AI and Your Data
Last updated: October 2026
MechCircle is adding features that use AI. This page says exactly what leaves MechCircle when you use one, who receives it, what happens to it afterwards, and what we keep. It is written to be accurate, not reassuring.
AI features are switched off for every company until they are turned on for yours. While they are off, nothing on this page happens. Our general Privacy Policy still applies to everything else.
What gets sent
Only the specific thing the feature needs. If you type a reminder in your own words, we send that sentence. Not your file list, not your contacts, not anything the feature does not need.
When you attach a document, the document itself is sent. If you attach a commercial document to the AI panel — an order, a bill, a price you were given — the whole file goes to Anthropic so it can read it, including every page, the names on it, the prices and the GSTINs. Nothing is sent from your files, records or contacts unless you attach it yourself, one file at a time.
When you paste an email, the text you pasted is sent. If you paste an email into the AI panel — an enquiry or an order that arrived as a message — everything you pasted goes to Anthropic so it can read it: the sender line, the message and the signature, with the names, phone numbers and addresses in it. If you choose the file that came with it, that file is sent too. Nothing else from your inbox is read; only what you paste.
When you read a drawing, the drawing itself is sent. If you attach an engineering drawing to the drawing reader — from the Tools rail, the AI panel, or a part's own record — the whole file goes to Anthropic so it can read the sizes and the title block (one page for now; a longer file is refused before anything is sent), together with an enlarged copy of the page's bottom-right corner, made in your browser, so the small print of the title block can be read. It is kept by Anthropic for up to 30 days like any other input, longer only in the flagged case described below, and MechCircle has no zero-retention arrangement. If a customer's contract forbids their drawing leaving your premises, do not attach it — a drawing uploaded to a part record without being read never leaves MechCircle. The reader says, before it runs, that the drawing is sent and that an AI cost is involved. A drawing that is read is not stored on our servers by the reading itself: what was read off it (not the drawing) is kept in your browser's local storage on your own device, the last ten reads, so one can be opened again without paying for it again. Only pressing Add to Parts keeps it on MechCircle, on the part's drawing revision, where it is restricted from outward sharing as every customer drawing is.
The free drawing reader (no account)
Anyone can use our free drawing reader without an account. This section is for you if you did; the rest of this page is about AI features inside a MechCircle account.
The whole drawing is sent to Anthropic. When you press Read the drawing, the file you chose goes to Anthropic so it can read the sizes and the title block — every line, name and number on the page — with an enlarged copy of the page's bottom-right corner, made in your browser. One page only; a longer file is refused before anything is sent.
Anthropic keeps it for up to 30 days and does not train on it — the same terms as everything else on this page (see Does it train anything and How long is it kept below), including the exception: content their safety systems flag may be kept for up to 2 years. MechCircle has no zero-retention arrangement with Anthropic.
If a customer's contract forbids their drawing leaving your premises, do not upload it.
What MechCircle keeps. No copy of the drawing and no copy of what was read from it. We do not keep your email address. We keep a fingerprint of it (a one-way code made from the address) to count reads, and a record that a read happened, what it cost to run and whether it worked. The 6-digit code is kept only as a fingerprint too; it stops working a short time after it is sent, and as soon as a read succeeds.
What your browser tab holds. While you use the page, the tab keeps four things so that a reload does not lose your work or cost you a second code: the result of the read, what you type in the Costing tab, the fingerprint of your address, and your code. Not your address, and not the drawing — after a reload the page asks you to choose the file again to show it, and it is not sent again. What you type in Costing is never sent anywhere; the costing is worked out in your browser. All four are gone when you close the tab.
The code email. It is sent through Resend, our email provider. Resend keeps a record of every email it sends — the address it went to and the email itself — for 30 days. That record is Resend's, not ours: “we keep no address” is true of MechCircle, not of the email provider.
Cloudflare Turnstile. Before a code is sent, Cloudflare Turnstile checks that a person, not a program, is using the page. To do that, Cloudflare sees your IP address and signals from your browser. It does not see your email address or your drawing.
Your IP address. We use it to limit how many codes one connection can ask for. We keep it only as a keyed fingerprint (a one-way code made with a secret only our server holds) and delete it within 24 hours.
When
Only when you use an AI feature. Never in the background, never on a schedule. Each use is one request, made at the moment you make it.
Who processes it
Anthropic, through their API. Anthropic makes the Claude models. We use their commercial API under their Commercial Terms of Service, which is a different arrangement from the consumer Claude app that people use on their phones.
Does it train anything
No. Anthropic's Commercial Terms of Service say:
“Anthropic may not train models on Customer Content from Services.”
Customer Content means what we send them and what comes back. This is the opposite of Anthropic's consumer products, where their Privacy Policy says:
“We may use your Inputs and Outputs to train and improve Anthropic AI models, unless you opt out through your account settings.”
MechCircle is on the commercial API, so that consumer rule does not apply to anything sent through MechCircle. One thing to know: Anthropic can use content that its customer explicitly submits to it as feedback. MechCircle does not send feedback to Anthropic, and there is no button in MechCircle that does.
How long is it kept
Up to 30 days, then deleted. Anthropic's own words:
“we automatically delete inputs and outputs on our backend within 30 days of receipt or generation”
One exception you should know about. If Anthropic's automated safety systems flag something, they may keep it longer. Their words:
“if a chat or session is flagged, Anthropic may retain inputs and outputs for up to 2 years.”
This applies to an attached document too: a customer's order you attach is kept by Anthropic for up to 30 days, longer only in the flagged case above. MechCircle has not arranged zero-retention handling with Anthropic.
What we record
That a call happened: which company, which person, which feature, how much text went in and came back (counted in tokens, the unit Anthropic bills in), how long it took, and whether it worked.
We do not record what was in it. Not the text you typed, not the answer. The table that holds this record has no column for either, so it cannot be stored by mistake.
When a document or a pasted email is read, what was read off it (the names, the numbers, the prices) sits in your browser's local storage on your own device until you have reviewed each form or discarded it. It becomes a record only when you press Save on a form.
If you press “Save and exit” part-way, the unfinished read is kept on MechCircle's server so you can pick it up again, from this or another device. Only you can see it — not your colleagues, not your company's admins. It is deleted as soon as you finish it or discard it, and in any case seven days after you last saved it. Nothing is saved this way unless you press that button.
What AI can see
Nothing you could not already see yourself. An AI feature runs as you, with your permissions. If you cannot open something in MechCircle, neither can the AI feature.
Two things we are required to tell you
You are using AI. When a MechCircle feature uses AI to produce a suggestion or a result, MechCircle will say so at the point where you see it. Anthropic's Usage Policy requires this of us:
“If model outputs are presented directly to individuals or consumers, you must disclose to them that you are using AI to help produce your advice, decisions, or recommendations.”
Check what it gives you. Anthropic's Commercial Terms require us to tell you that:
“factual assertions in Outputs should not be relied upon without independently checking their accuracy.”
In plain words: treat what an AI feature produces as a draft. A date it reads, a name it picks, a number it fills in can be wrong. Look before you save.
Sources
Every quote on this page is from Anthropic's own published documents, as they read in September 2026:
- Commercial Terms of Service — training, and the accuracy notice
- How long do you store my organization's data? — the 30 days
- API and data retention — the flagged-content exception
- Anthropic Privacy Policy — the consumer rule
- Usage Policy — the AI disclosure requirement
Questions
Ask us anything about this through our Contact Us page. If something here stops being true, this page changes first.