The short version
Bureaucat is a program that runs on your own computer. It has no accounts, no cloud storage and no Bureaucat server that holds your information. Your records, documents, passwords and certificate stay on your PC. Nothing you enter is posted online or sent to us.
What it does is simple: it keeps your paperwork in one place on your own machine, reads the letters and notifications the tax office, Social Security, your children's school and your bank send you, explains them in plain English, and helps you answer them. Everything it does is something you could do yourself by logging in; it just does it for you, from your own computer, with your own certificate.
How your files are protected
- Your records (profile, notifications, deadlines, cases, finances, notes) are saved in an encrypted file on your computer, using AES-256 encryption, the same standard used by banks.
- The key that unlocks that file is generated on your PC the first time you run Bureaucat, and is kept under Windows' own protection for your user account (Windows DPAPI). The file cannot be opened on another computer or by another Windows user, even if they copy it.
- Your passwords (email, the certificate's password) and your AI key are stored the same way: encrypted with Windows' protection for your account.
- Your digital certificate file is never copied or uploaded. Bureaucat only remembers where it is and keeps its password encrypted.
- Backups you export are readable files so that you can use them on a new PC; you can protect them with a password (AES-256) and they never contain your stored passwords or keys.
- Documents you file in Bureaucat (PDFs of letters, receipts) are kept as ordinary files in Documents\Bureaucat Archive on your computer. They are not individually encrypted, so we recommend switching on Windows BitLocker (or "Device encryption") for your drive, which protects everything on the machine if it is ever lost or stolen.
What Bureaucat does NOT do
- It does not upload your documents, records or finances anywhere.
- It has no Bureaucat account, no sign-up, no analytics, no tracking and no advertising.
- "Find my paperwork" only looks inside the folders you choose or drop in, on this computer. It recognises documents locally, never uploads them, and files nothing until you tick it. It does not search your whole computer.
- It never files, signs, pays or sends anything on its own. Every email waits in the Outbox for your click and confirmation. It only reads your inboxes; it never opens a legal notification (opening one starts the deadline clock), only lists it.
What does go over the internet, and when
To be fully clear, here is everything that leaves your computer. All of it is something you start or set up yourself:
- The official websites you sign in to: the tax office, the Social Security / DEHú mailbox, and the school portal. Bureaucat signs in from your computer, with your own certificate, exactly as your browser would. The data goes straight between your PC and that official site.
- Your own email provider, if you add a mailbox: Bureaucat reads it (and sends only what you approve) directly from your PC.
- Google Drive, only if you connect it.
- The AI service you choose (Anthropic, the company behind Claude, or OpenAI), only when you use AI: press a button that explains a notice, scans a letter, summarises a school message or your emails with an adviser, drafts a reply, or analyses bank figures, or chat with the cat. Only the text or photo of that item is sent, using your own API key. In the chat, your messages and whatever the assistant looks up to answer them (for example your deadlines, notification titles, or the emails with the adviser you asked about) are sent. The provider's own terms and privacy policy apply. If you never add an AI key, nothing is ever sent.
- The chat assistant asks before it changes anything in the app, and it cannot send an email, file, sign, pay or open an official notification: emails it writes wait in the Outbox until you send them yourself.
- A check for new versions of Bureaucat from our download address. Like any web request it reveals your IP address and the version number, and nothing else.
How secure is it, honestly?
It is designed to be safe: your data stays on your machine, is encrypted, and there is no server for anyone to break into. Because nothing is posted online, there is no central database of customers' paperwork to leak.
But no software can promise absolute security, and Bureaucat has not yet been independently security-audited. The protection depends on your computer being safe too. Someone who can use your unlocked Windows account, or malware running as you, could see what you can see. So: keep Windows updated, lock your screen, use a Windows password, and turn on BitLocker.