What “local” actually means
“Local” is a useful word only when its boundary is clear.
What stays inside the Capsule, what may need the internet and why Heliarko intends to keep those two things visible.
Local means it is here, with you.
Your Capsule is one folder on your own computer, or on a drive you choose.
Your originals are ordinary files, byte for byte; you can open them without Heliarko.
Your archive, Identity, Workspace, search by meaning and backups work without the internet.
Your personal license is checked on your computer.
If Heliarko stops, your Capsule keeps working.
Some things need the internet. We name them.
Synapse AI: a question passes through Heliarko’s server to our AI provider, Nebius, in Finland.
Messenger: messages are sealed on your computer and opened on the receiving one; the relay carries what it cannot read.
Updates and email confirmation.
Before its first online request, Synapse asks you what it may use.
None of these is needed to keep your Capsule working.
Local is not the same as locked.
Files on disk are not encrypted.
Someone with access to your computer can read them.
Local also means the care is yours: protect the computer and keep two backups in different places.
Settings → Backup makes one file with everything.
A boundary you cannot see is not a boundary.
Privacy is not one switch.
We would rather show you where the line is than ask you to trust a word.