Symbio Basic is an open-source desktop companion app. It connects to external AI services that you configure yourself. Please be aware of the following:

• Your API keys are your responsibility. Symbio Basic stores API keys in a .env file on your local machine. Never share this file or commit it to version control.
• AI services interact with your data. When you chat with your companion, your messages are sent to the AI gateway you configured. Read your gateway provider's privacy policy.
• Screen capture is user-controlled. The companion can only take screenshots when you or the companion explicitly request it. No screenshots are sent anywhere without your knowledge.
• Voice data goes to OpenAI. If you use speech-to-text, audio is sent to OpenAI's Whisper API. If you use text-to-speech, text is sent to OpenAI's TTS API.
• Memory is optional. If you configure PostgreSQL/Neo4j, conversation data is stored locally in your databases. If you don't configure memory, nothing is persisted.

For maximum privacy, consider running a local AI model instead of cloud services. Symbio Basic works with any OpenAI-compatible API, including local servers like:

• Ollama with OpenAI compatibility
• LM Studio
• vLLM
• [Hermes] (https://github.com/nousresearch/hermes-agent) with local models

If you find a security issue, please open a GitHub Issue or contact us through Beyond Horizons Institute.