Good to know.
The short answers. Email us if you need more.
Does Phluff phone home?
No. There is zero telemetry. The core utility runs entirely on your Mac. Cloud features (Pro) are strictly opt-in and end-to-end encrypted.
Do I need an account?
Not for the free utility. An account is only required for Pro sync, AI cloud models, and lifetime magic-link sharing.
Intel or Apple Silicon?
Both. Phluff ships as a universal binary and supports macOS 11 Big Sur and later.
How does magic-link sharing stay private?
Shared content is encrypted on your Mac. The decryption key lives only in the link's URL fragment and is never sent to our servers — we only ever store ciphertext.
Is it signed and notarized?
Yes — Apple Developer ID signed and notarized, so Gatekeeper launches it without warnings.
What does the lifetime license cover?
Everything in Pro as a one-time purchase, including magic-link sharing, capped at 5 preference installs.
Do I need the Chrome extension and MCP server?
Only for the AI bridge. The core app — clipboard, capture, tiling, hotkeys, sharing — works on its own. The bridge has three pieces: the Mac app (local bridge), the Companion extension (connects one tab), and the MCP server (lets Claude talk to Phluff). See /setup.
What is the Chrome Companion?
A small extension that connects Phluff to a specific browser tab you choose. Install it from a downloaded .zip, paste your pairing key, then arm + bind a ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini tab. Nothing connects until you bind it. Walkthrough at /setup.
Why is the extension loaded unpacked?
It isn't in the Chrome Web Store yet, so you install it via Chrome's “Load unpacked” — turn on Developer Mode and pick the unzipped folder. The /setup page walks you through it.
What is npx -y phluff-mcp, and do I need Node?
phluff-mcp is the MCP server that lets Claude Code or Desktop talk to Phluff; npx -y phluff-mcp runs it straight from npm. It needs Node.js 20+ and is only required for the bridge, not the core app. See /setup.
How do I connect ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini?
Open the site in Chrome and sign in normally, click the Companion, paste your pairing key, arm, then bind the tab. Phluff only drives the tab you control — you never hand it your AI passwords. Steps at /setup.
Does Phluff see all my tabs?
No. Only the tabs you explicitly arm and bind.