Privacy Policy
Last updated: 24 August 2026
The Woodworking Bench is run by one person, Ruben Arredondo, as a hobby project. It is not a business. There are no ads, nothing is sold, and no data about you is sold, rented, or shared with anyone for marketing.
This page describes exactly what the site stores and why. It is written to match what the code actually does.
If you browse without an account
You can use nearly all of the site without signing up. When you do, the following is recorded:
Anonymous usage rows. When you view a species page, run a search, or use one of the calculators, a row is written recording what was viewed or which tool was used, and when. These rows are not attached to you. Search text specifically is never tied to any account, because what people type into a search box can be personal and aggregate search data does not need to know who typed it.
A per-tab identifier. So that one visit's calculator use can be counted as a single visit, a random identifier is stored in your browser's sessionStorage. It disappears when you close the tab. It is not a cookie, it is never sent with ordinary page requests, it contains nothing derived from you, and it cannot follow you between visits. A usage row carries either this identifier or an account id, never both, so the anonymous identifier cannot be quietly joined up into a named one.
File downloads. When a design file is downloaded, the site records which file and when. No account or session identifier is stored with it.
Rate limiting. Sign-in and sign-up attempts are rate limited, which involves the request's network address in memory for a short window.
If you create an account
An account stores your email address, your display name, a username, and, if you signed up through Google, the profile image Google provides. Passwords are handled by the authentication library and are never stored in readable form.
Beyond that, the site stores what you deliberately create: designs you publish, files and photos you upload, comments, ratings, projects and cut lists, favourites, follows, and notifications.
Photos submitted for species pages keep some of the metadata your camera wrote into the file: the camera make and model, and when the photo was taken. Whether the file contained GPS data is recorded as a yes or no; the coordinates themselves are not stored.
While you are signed in, usage rows for things other than search may be attributed to your account rather than to a session.
Third parties
Two external services load on every page:
Vercel Analytics, which collects aggregate page-view data.
MachFive Magnet, a visitor analytics tool operated by MachFive Group.
Neither loads until you allow it. You are asked on your first visit, and nothing third-party runs before you answer. You can change that answer at any time using the control below.
The site is hosted on Vercel, the database is hosted by Neon, uploaded files are stored on Vercel Blob, and account emails are sent through Resend. Each of these necessarily processes the data described above in order to run the site.
You have not chosen yet, so analytics is off.
Uploaded files
Design files you upload are stored with a randomly generated, unguessable filename. Downloads go through a route that requires you to be signed in.
Be aware of one limitation, stated plainly: the underlying storage is public to anyone holding the exact file address. The address is never shown to anyone and cannot realistically be guessed, but if one were shared, it would work without signing in, and it would keep working after the design was deleted. Do not upload anything you would not be comfortable being readable by someone who obtained the link.
What is kept, and for how long
Your account and everything attached to it is kept until you ask for it to be removed.
Anonymous usage rows and download records are currently kept indefinitely. This is being changed: the intention is to delete usage data after 24 months, and this page will be updated when that is in place.
Two things deliberately outlive an account deletion:
- •Moderation reports keep the report itself, because a report is about the reported content and an open report should not vanish from the queue when its author leaves. The link to the reporter is removed.
- •Administrative logs record moderation actions, including a text snapshot of which administrator acted. That snapshot is kept so the record of who did what remains intact.
Getting your data removed
You can delete your own account from your account settings. Email privacy@thewoodworkingbench.com and your account and its contents will be removed, subject to the two exceptions above.
Where the site operates
The site is run from the United States and hosted on infrastructure in the United States. If you are in the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, you have rights of access, correction, deletion, and objection under the UK GDPR and EU GDPR. Email the address above to exercise any of them.
Children
The site is not intended for children under 13, and accounts should not be created by them.
Changes
Material changes will be noted by updating the date at the top of this page.