← Branch HQ

For IT

What Branch HQ connects to, what it keeps, and how to switch off what runs on its own.

Contacted only when someone uses it

  1. The AI provider chosen in Settings, and only that one: generativelanguage.googleapis.com (Gemini), api.anthropic.com, api.openai.com, your <resource>.openai.azure.com, or bedrock-runtime.<region>.amazonaws.com. A local model (Ollama) stays on the computer.
  2. Code hosts, for pull requests and sharing branches: github.com and api.github.com, or your own GitHub Enterprise or GitLab address.
  3. Package registries while building or testing a project (registry.npmjs.org, pypi.org). A package the AI names that the project does not already list is installed only after a person allows it.
  4. Deploy and email services only when an account for them is added: Render, Vercel, Resend, or your mail server.

Contacted on its own, and how to turn it off

  1. Update check: api.github.com/repos/shrestha-droid/branchhq, the version number only. Off with the environment variable BRANCH_HQ_UPDATE_CHECK=off.
  2. Timestamping the audit record: timestamp.digicert.com receives a fingerprint (SHA-256) of the record, never its content. Off with BRANCH_HQ_TIMESTAMPS=off; the record is still kept and hash-chained, without the outside timestamp.
  3. The chosen AI provider's list of models, at most once a day, to keep model names current.

Network

  1. Outside calls use the computer's own proxy settings (including PAC files and proxy sign-in) and the operating system's trusted certificates, so a company proxy and TLS inspection work as they do for the browser.
  2. No port is opened and nothing is announced on the local network unless someone uses device pairing (the Devices panel): then TCP port 47821 (or a free port) and mDNS/Bonjour. Every paired message is signed, and work sent from another device runs only after a person approves it.
  3. No analytics, tracking or crash reporting is sent anywhere.

Data

  1. Projects, chats, settings and the audit record stay on the computer, in the app's data folder (~/Library/Application Support/branch-hq on macOS, %APPDATA%\branch-hq on Windows).
  2. API keys and code-host tokens are encrypted with the operating system's keychain (Keychain on macOS, DPAPI on Windows).
  3. The privacy record lists every request sent to an AI provider: when, to which model, how much, and its fingerprint. The optional privacy shield replaces personal details and secrets with placeholders before anything is sent, and puts them back in the answer.
  4. Commands the AI runs on a repository run in a throwaway copy, one plain command at a time with no shell, with secrets removed from their environment. Pushing, accounts, privileged and network-shell commands are refused.

Need this in your own security questionnaire's format? See the licence, or ask us.