How we use cookies

What a cookie is

A cookie is a small text file that a website saves in your browser. The next time you visit, the site can read that file back, which is how it remembers you are signed in, or counts how many people used a page this week. A cookie can only be read by the site that set it, and you can view or delete cookies at any time from your browser.

A few of the things we save work the same way but live in your browser's local storage rather than a cookie. They do the same job, so we cover both here.

What we use them for

We keep this short on purpose. There are two kinds.

• The ones we need to run the site. These keep you signed in and remember the cookie choice you made, and they help block automated abuse on the sign-up form. On most pages the sign-in and your choice are stored in your browser's local storage rather than a cookie, but either way you cannot turn them off without breaking sign-in. They carry nothing about who you are beyond keeping your own session working.
• Analytics, only if you say yes. When you choose Accept, our product-analytics tool (PostHog) sets a cookie and stores an id in your browser so we can see which pages and tools people actually use, and know what to fix and build next. It tells us what got used, not who you are. We do not set it until you choose Accept, and if you Decline we never set it.

We also count page visits with a separate tool (Ahrefs) that uses no cookies at all and cannot identify you. It only adds up totals, like a tally on a wall, and it runs whether you accept or decline, because there is nothing on your device to switch off.

Every page also loads Jam, the service we use to receive bug recordings, so that a recording link we send you works. On an ordinary visit it sets no cookie and stores nothing for this site. A hidden Jam frame keeps one note in its own session storage, which your browser deletes when you close the tab. If you start a recording and your browser fails to encode the video in one format, Jam's recorder notes that format in this site's local storage so the next recording tries another. The note names a video format and nothing about you. The Privacy Policy, section 8, says what a recording holds.

Our pages also load Sentry, the service we use to find out when a page breaks. It sends nothing unless the code running a page hits an error that nothing caught, and then it sends an error report, which the Privacy Policy, section 7, describes. It sets no cookie and stores nothing on your device, so there is nothing to switch off, and it runs whether you accept or decline. It is not analytics, and it does not tell us who you are.

What we do not do

Changing your mind

You can change your cookie choice whenever you like. The Privacy Policy has a "Clear my cookie choice" button that clears your saved answer, so the banner asks again next time. Decline at any time and we stop setting the analytics cookie from then on. The banner itself also has a Manage preferences button, which opens the two categories above and lets you save the analytics one on or off.

Turning cookies off in your browser

You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings. It takes a few clicks:

• Chrome: Settings, then Privacy and security, then Third-party cookies.
• Safari: Settings, then Privacy, then Prevent cross-site tracking (or Block all cookies under Advanced).
• Firefox: Settings, then Privacy and Security, then Enhanced Tracking Protection.
• Edge: Settings, then Cookies and site permissions, then Manage and delete cookies.

For step-by-step help with any browser, allaboutcookies.org walks through it. One thing to know: if you block all cookies and storage, you will be signed out and some parts of the site stop working, because keeping you signed in is one of the things we need.