Privacy Notice
Last updated: 25 September 2026
This Privacy Notice explains how FormA1 ("we", "us") handles personal information in connection with the FormA1 website at forma1.app and its related tools (the "Service"). It is designed with reference to the Hong Kong Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, the PRC Personal Information Protection Law ("PIPL") and the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR").
A Chinese translation is provided for reference only. If there is any inconsistency, the English version prevails.
1. Who we are
The Service is operated by FormA1, which is the data user / personal information handler / controller for the processing described below. Contact: [email protected].
2. What we do not store
2.1 Queries and conversations. We do not store the text of your search queries, AI Research questions, prompts, the searches run on your behalf, or the answers returned (together, "Input"). Input is held in memory only for as long as needed to process your request, and is then discarded. An AI Research question and its answer are kept in the server's memory for up to 10 minutes after the run ends, so that the answer can still be delivered if your connection drops, and are then discarded; they are never written to disk or to any log.
2.2 No request logs. Our web application does not keep access logs, and none of our logs record the content of your Input.
2.3 Search cache. To avoid repeating identical model calls, we keep a cache of search results for queries that have already been run. Each entry is looked up by a one-way cryptographic hash of the query and holds the query's embedding (a list of numbers produced by the embedding model) and re-ranking scores. The cache does not contain the query text and is not linked to any account. We may clear it at any time.
2.4 Saved research. We do not keep saved results, findings or research history for your account. Your recent AI Research conversations are saved only in your own browser's local storage, on your device, where you can delete them; clearing your browser data also removes them.
3. What we do process
| Category | What it includes | Purpose | Retention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account data | Email address; password (stored only as a salted scrypt hash); dates of sign-up, verification and last sign-in; IP address at sign-up; plan and account status; the version of these Terms and this Notice you accepted and when, and when you gave the consents described in Section 5.2 | Creating, securing and administering your account | Until you delete your account (from your account page, or by asking us, in which case within 30 days) |
| Sign-in sessions and email links | Session and email-verification/reset tokens (stored only as hashes); IP address of each session | Keeping you signed in; verifying your email; resetting your password | Sessions expire after 30 days; verification links after 48 hours; reset links after 1 hour |
| Security records | Failed sign-in attempts, sign-ups and emails sent, recorded against an IP address or email address | Preventing brute-force attacks and abuse | Automatically deleted after 2 days |
| Usage records | Per account: the number of requests of each type per day; for each model call, the time, provider, model, token counts and cost; for each AI Research run, the model, number of steps, tokens, cost and duration. No query, search or answer content. | Enforcing usage limits; managing capacity and cost | Kept while your account is active; when you delete your account, the counters are deleted and the model-call and research-run records are anonymised so they no longer identify you |
| Feedback you submit | Your message; your email address; the address of the page you were on (which may include your search terms); the document, page or research run the feedback refers to; your browser's user-agent string | Investigating and fixing problems you report | Until the issue is resolved and no longer needed; if you delete your account, your email address is removed from it |
| Emails you send us | Emails to hello@ or [email protected], including the sender, subject and body | Responding to you | 180 days, or until you delete your account |
| Bot-protection data | Browser and device signals processed by Cloudflare Turnstile at sign-up, sign-in and password reset | Preventing automated abuse | Processed by Cloudflare under its own policy; not stored by us |
| Network data | IP address and request metadata, processed by Cloudflare to deliver the Service | Delivering and securing the Service | Not retained by us; see Cloudflare's policy |
| Input in transit | Search queries, prompts and retrieved excerpts, sent to the model providers in Section 4 | Returning search results and AI Output | Not stored by us; see Section 4 |
Please do not include confidential client information in feedback or emails to us.
We do not sell personal information, and we do not use your Input to train any model.
4. Third-party providers
To operate the Service, we use the providers below, which receive your Input and technical data for the purposes stated. Where noted, these providers may retain or use the data they receive under their own terms and privacy policies, which we do not control. We encourage you to review those policies.
| Provider | Role | Data received | Location of processing | Retention and use of your data | Policy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tencent Cloud (Lighthouse) | Server hosting | All data processed by the Service | Japan (Tokyo) | Hosts our server; see its policy | tencentcloud.com |
| Cloudflare, Inc. | Domain name service, network tunnel and proxy, Turnstile bot protection | All traffic to and from the Service; sign-in device signals | Global network, including the United States | Under its own policy | cloudflare.com |
| Voyage AI | Embedding and re-ranking of search queries | Query text; retrieved excerpts | United States | We have opted out of data retention and model training: Voyage does not store the content we send | voyageai.com |
| Beijing Zhipu Huazhang Technology Co., Ltd. (智谱) | Large language model processing (AI Research; classifying emails sent to us) | Prompts, queries and retrieved excerpts; the content of emails sent to us | Mainland China | May retain data under its own policy, and may use de-identified data to train models | bigmodel.cn |
| Tongyi Yunqi (Hangzhou) Information Technology Co., Ltd. (千问AI平台, Alibaba Qwen) | Large language model processing and re-ranking | Prompts, queries and retrieved excerpts | Mainland China | May sample de-identified inputs for product analysis, model evaluation and optimisation under its own policy | qianwenai.com |
| Resend | Sending account emails; receiving emails sent to us | Your email address; the content of emails between us | United States | Under its own policy | resend.com |
5. Cross-border transfers
5.1 The providers listed above are located in several jurisdictions, including Japan, the United States and mainland China. Using the Service therefore involves transferring your Input and certain personal information outside the place where you are located.
5.2 Users in mainland China. Where PIPL applies, we will ask for your separate consent to the provision of your personal information outside mainland China at sign-up, and before you first use AI features. You may withdraw that consent at any time by contacting us, although we may then be unable to provide some or all of the Service. You may exercise your rights under PIPL against the providers listed in Section 4 through the contact details in their respective policies.
5.3 Users in the EEA or UK. Where GDPR applies, transfers to countries without an adequacy decision rely on the safeguards offered by the relevant provider, such as standard contractual clauses, where available.
6. Legal bases (GDPR)
We process account, session and usage data to perform our contract with you, and security, network and bot-protection data on the basis of our legitimate interest in securing the Service. We process feedback and emails on the basis of our legitimate interest in responding to you. Where required by law, including for cross-border transfers under PIPL, we rely on your consent.
7. Security
We use encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS), hashed passwords and tokens, access controls and bot protection. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
8. Your rights
Depending on where you are located, you may have rights to access, correct, delete or obtain a copy of your personal information; to object to or restrict processing; and to withdraw consent. Because we do not store your Input, a request relating to Input can only be directed to the providers in Section 4. You can delete your account at any time from your account page. To exercise your other rights, contact [email protected]. You may also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.
9. Children
The Service is for professional use and is not directed at anyone under 18.
10. Changes
We will post any update to this Notice with a new "Last updated" date and, for material changes, notify registered users.
11. Contact
FormA1 · [email protected]