Scope
This Privacy Policy explains how Vulcan, operated by RuggedX, collects, uses, discloses, and protects information when you access https://vulcan.ruggedx.ai, use the application environment in the application environment, create an account, subscribe, contact support, connect third-party services, or otherwise use the Services. This Privacy Policy is incorporated into the Terms.
Information We Collect
- Account information: name, email address, username, password hash, account settings, verification status, and authentication details.
- Billing information: subscription plan, invoices, payment status, tax information, and limited payment details provided by payment processors.
- Usage and device data: IP address, browser, device identifiers, log data, pages viewed, feature usage, diagnostics, cookies, and similar technologies.
- Project and integration data: projects, product requirements, user stories, goals, prompts, journal entries, and settings you choose to submit, the metadata of accounts or API keys you choose to connect, and third-party service responses needed to provide the Services.
- User Content: prompts, comments, files, feedback, messages, settings, support requests, and other content you provide.
How We Use Information
We use information to:
- Provide, secure, operate, personalize, troubleshoot, and improve the Services.
- Create accounts, authenticate users, process subscriptions, send invoices, and manage billing.
- Connect third-party services at your direction and display related data inside the Services.
- Generate analytics, AI outputs, alerts, product insights, and support responses.
- Monitor abuse, prevent fraud, enforce Terms, protect rights, and comply with legal obligations.
- Send service notices, security alerts, policy updates, and marketing communications where permitted. You may opt out of marketing emails.
Cookies and Tracking
We use cookies, local storage, pixels, and similar technologies for authentication, security, preferences, analytics, performance, and product improvement. You can control cookies through your browser settings, but disabling certain cookies may limit functionality.
How We Share Information
We do not sell personal information in the ordinary meaning of selling data for money. We share information with the categories of service providers and processors listed below. We may also share information when you direct us to connect a third-party service, during a business transfer, to comply with law, to enforce our rights, or to protect users and the public.
Third-party processors we use today
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Large-language-model providers (process your prompts and AI outputs):
- Kimi (Moonshot AI) — hosted in China; processes prompt text to generate project specifications, user stories, enhanced prompts, AI chat replies, and journal reviews.
- MiniMax — hosted in the United States and Singapore; processes prompt text to generate project specifications, user stories, enhanced prompts, AI chat replies, and journal reviews.
- Google Gemini — hosted in the United States (with EU/UK sub-processing); processes prompt text to generate project specifications, user stories, enhanced prompts, AI chat replies, and journal reviews.
- OpenAI ChatGPT — hosted in the United States; processes prompt text to generate project specifications, user stories, enhanced prompts, AI chat replies, and journal reviews.
- DeepSeek — hosted in China; processes prompt text to generate project specifications, user stories, enhanced prompts, AI chat replies, and journal reviews.
- Payments: Stripe, Inc. (US). Processes card details, subscription state, invoices, refunds, and chargebacks. Subject to PCI-DSS.
- Security, IP Geolocation & Content Moderation: IPInfo.io (processes signup/login IP addresses for security and fraud prevention), Google reCAPTCHA (processes signup challenge tokens and device signals to block automated abuse), and Sightengine (processes user-uploaded images and frames from uploaded videos for automated safety and nudity/scam moderation).
- Analytics, error monitoring & notifications: Google Analytics (measures site and page usage on every visit; it runs regardless of your cookie-banner choice), Bugsnag (SmartBear Software — receives error stack traces, request metadata, environment data, the database query values involved in an error, and, when you are signed in, your account profile details such as name, email address, IP address, and billing identifier; used only to diagnose and fix errors), and Discord / Slack webhooks (deliver notifications you configure and internal support alerts).
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Hosting, email delivery & newsletter intake: AWS (including Amazon S3 for uploaded avatars, cover images, files, and post media) / GCP / equivalent cloud providers in the United States; transactional and notification email delivery via Mailgun; and our internal newsletter intake service (
library.paulkamau.com) when you subscribe to product updates. - News and market data: Third-party news and market data providers that supply the news and market widgets (for example Currents, AlphaVantage, and Financial Modeling Prep). Subject to their own terms.
Security and Retention
We use administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information. No internet transmission or storage system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Retention categories and periods. We retain different categories of information for different periods, summarised below. "Account" means the user PII we associate with your login (name, email, password hash, billing details). "Content" means the research, theses, pillar rows, stock rows, milestones, AI insights, AI request logs, and any other user-generated data you have produced inside the Services.
- Account PII (name, email, password, billing tokens): retained while your account is active; hard-deleted or irreversibly anonymised within 30 days of account closure.
- Content (theses, pillars, stocks, milestones, AI insights, AI request logs, prompts, responses): retained while your account is active. After account closure, identifying fields are removed; content rows are retained in anonymised form as part of our research product and our legitimate interest in operating the platform. Anonymised content is not linked back to a natural person.
- Billing records (invoices, Stripe events): retained for at least 7 years to satisfy tax, accounting, and AML obligations.
- Audit and security logs: retained for at least 1 year for fraud detection and incident response.
- Support correspondence: retained for at least 2 years for service quality and legal defence.
Your Choices and Rights
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, export, restrict, or object to certain processing of your personal information. You may also have the right to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent. To make a request, contact [email protected]. We may need to verify your identity before completing a request.
Account closure and PII deletion. You can request account closure at any time through account settings. We will hard-delete or irreversibly anonymise your Account PII within 30 days. Note that anonymised Content (research, theses, pillars, AI insights) is retained per §6 as part of the research product.
International Processing
Information may be processed in the United States and other jurisdictions where Vulcan or its service providers operate. Those jurisdictions may have data protection laws different from those in your location.
Children's Privacy
The Services are not directed to children or anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor provided information to us, contact [email protected].
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy by posting a revised version on this page or otherwise providing notice. Continued use of the Services after an update means the revised policy applies to information collected after the effective date, subject to applicable law.
