Privacy
Your account and scientific work are separate.
This notice describes the current problems.science product as of August 19, 2026. Public scientific material comes from its named sources; private account and workspace data support the actions you choose to take.
Information handled when you use the site
- Public browsing: ordinary request information needed to deliver and protect the service. Theme and contrast choices are stored in your browser.
- Account: WorkOS provides sign-in. The product receives an account identifier, display name, email address, and session information needed to keep you signed in.
- Public profile: only if you create one, the product keeps the handle, display name, bio, affiliation, declared links, and visibility you choose. The default visibility is private; email and WorkOS identifiers are never profile fields.
- Private work: followed Problems, workspaces, approaches, attempts, discussions, assignments, artifact metadata, import state, and unsigned Contribution drafts you choose to save.
- GitHub connections: selected installation and repository identifiers, repository metadata, exact revisions, inspection results, and delivery receipts. The GitHub App requests read-only contents and metadata access for repositories you select.
- Pilot telemetry: Vela Workbench sends content-free product signals when its user turns them on. The endpoint accepts only these five fields and rejects anything else: a stage name from a closed list, a timestamp, a random install identifier created when telemetry is enabled, a random per-record identifier used to discard duplicate sends, and an elapsed stage duration. It accepts no scientific contents, repository files, prompts, credentials, or signatures, is never joined to an account, and each entry is deleted after 90 days.
What the product does not do
- It does not use your WorkOS login as a scientific identity or grant it Repository authority.
- It does not store a Repository authority key or sign scientific records for you.
- It does not store large artifact bytes in the hosted activity database; those remain in repositories or external stores.
- The current application does not include advertising or third-party product-analytics SDKs.
Service providers and source systems
WorkOS handles authentication. GitHub handles repositories you choose to connect. Vercel hosts the application, and Neon hosts its databases. Those providers process information under their own terms and privacy notices.
Provider information: WorkOS privacy, GitHub privacy, Vercel privacy, and Neon security and privacy.
Public Problems, Contributions, evidence, and exact scientific records remain tied to their named source or Repository. A source's own rights and retention rules continue to apply.
Retention and your choices
Account and workspace information is kept while it is needed to provide the feature, preserve audit integrity, meet legal obligations, or resolve abuse and security issues. No shorter universal retention period is promised where the product does not enforce one.
You can sign out, edit or hide your public profile, manage the GitHub App from GitHub, disconnect a codebase from Account connections, and request help with account data through Contact. Removing an account clears its profile presentation and exact account-to-performer convenience links; old handles remain reserved against impersonation. Public, source-owned scientific history keeps its original attribution and may need a correction or superseding record rather than silent deletion.