OtakuMesh

What the OtakuMesh desktop app and browser extension do with your data — in plain terms, and in full.

Effective2026-08-31 Applies toDesktop app & browser extension, all versions ContactGitHub Issues

In short

OtakuMesh runs entirely on your own computer. The browser extension only ever talks to the desktop app on http://localhost — never to us, never to any third-party analytics or ad service. The desktop app talks directly to AniList, MyAnimeList, and Kitsu using your own account credentials, only when and because you connected those accounts yourself.

We don't operate any server that your data passes through. There is no OtakuMesh backend to breach, sell to, or subpoena.

What OtakuMesh is

OtakuMesh is two pieces of software you install and run yourself: a desktop app that stores your watch history in a local database on your machine, and a browser extension that detects what anime you're watching and reports it to that desktop app. The desktop app then updates your lists on AniList, MyAnimeList, and/or Kitsu — whichever of those you've connected.

What the browser extension collects

While a video is playing in your browser, the extension reads:

The page's title and visible text, to find an episode number (patterns like "Episode 12," "Ep. 12," or "S1E12").
Whether a video element is present and playing, and roughly how far into it you are.

That's the entire scope. The extension does not read your browsing history, does not track sites where no video is playing, and does not collect anything about who you are.

Where that data goes

Browser extension

Sends detected titles/episodes only to http://localhost:42821 — the OtakuMesh desktop app running on the same computer. This is a loopback address; it never leaves your machine, and no OtakuMesh-operated server ever receives it.

Desktop app

Stores your watch progress in a local SQLite database on your own disk, and — only for the sites you've explicitly connected — pushes status/progress updates directly to AniList's, MyAnimeList's, or Kitsu's own APIs, authenticated with your own account tokens.

We (the developers) never see, receive, or have access to any of this data at any point.

What we don't do

We don't run any server your data passes through — there's nothing for us to log, sell, or leak.
We don't use analytics, telemetry, or crash reporting of any kind.
We don't show ads or work with advertising or data-broker networks.
We don't collect account credentials — OAuth tokens for AniList/MyAnimeList/Kitsu are requested and stored locally by the desktop app, exactly the way any app you authorize on those platforms works; a Kitsu password (Kitsu has no OAuth app flow) is used once to obtain a token and is never itself stored.

Third-party services

If you connect an account, the desktop app communicates directly with that service's own API under its own privacy policy: AniList, MyAnimeList, and Kitsu. OtakuMesh is not affiliated with any of them, and none of them receive data from OtakuMesh beyond the watch-status updates you're explicitly syncing.

Data retention and deletion

All data lives in a local database on your own computer for as long as you keep the app installed. Uninstalling the desktop app and removing its data folder deletes everything OtakuMesh has ever stored about you — there is no copy anywhere else to separately request deletion of.

Children's privacy

OtakuMesh is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect data from anyone, of any age — see above.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the update will be reflected here with a new effective date, and noted in the project's release notes on GitHub.