DocsAIZornov 0.1.2

What stays on your computer

What Zornov keeps on your computer, which features use an outside service and only when you set them up, and what the AI editor sends.

Zornov runs on your computer and works offline. A few features use an outside service, and the AI editor sends what it needs to the AI service you pick.

Zornov itself

It runs locally. Editing, colour, titles, sound, 3D and export all happen on your computer.
No account. You don't sign up or sign in to use Zornov.
Your projects are files on your disk. A project is a folder on your computer that holds the project file and the things made for it.

AI tools that run on your computer

Captions, background removal, voice cleanup and Zornov's other built-in AI tools run on your computer. Their models are listed in Settings > Models. Each is downloaded once, when you click Download or the first time a feature needs it, and kept in your Zornov folder (Movies > Studio > Models on a Mac).

Translating captions is the exception: it sends the caption text to OpenAI (see the table below).

The AI editor

The AI editor is answered by the service you choose in Settings > AI: Claude (Anthropic) or ChatGPT / Codex (OpenAI).

It's off until you turn it on.
When you use it, your requests, descriptions of the project and footage, and the frames it looks at go to the service you picked.
Zornov doesn't upload your media files to it, except a picture you ask to have a new picture generated from: that picture goes to Codex.
To turn it off, switch off AI editor on in Settings > AI > What is sent.

API keys you save in Settings > AI, for the AI editor or for voices, are kept in your login Keychain on a Mac. Zornov never shows a saved key again, and Remove deletes it.

What the service does with what it receives is covered by its own terms.

AI assistants

When you connect an assistant such as Claude Code, Claude Desktop or Codex (see Use Zornov from Claude, Codex and other AI assistants), Zornov runs on your computer and answers the assistant's tool calls there. What the assistant reads from those answers, such as timeline summaries and frames, goes to the assistant's own service. That service's own terms apply.

Updates

Zornov checks its releases on GitHub for a new version about once a day. To stop the automatic check, switch off Check automatically in Settings > About > Updates. You can still click Check for updates there.

Features that use an outside service

These connect only when you use them:

Feature	When it connects	Where it connects
Content library	When you click Download the library	Zornov's releases on GitHub
AI models	When you download a model, or a feature first needs one	Hugging Face, GitHub or Google, depending on the model
Caption translation	When Zornov translates captions for you	OpenAI, with your OpenAI key
Narration and dubbing voices	When you choose Fish Audio, ElevenLabs or OpenAI under Settings > AI > Voice & sound and make speech	The chosen service, with your key. Mac voices run on your Mac
Described sounds	When you ask for a sound described in words	ElevenLabs, with your key. Risers, whooshes, booms and hits are made by Zornov itself
Generated pictures	When you ask for a picture made from words	Codex's image generation, on your own ChatGPT plan
Downloads, web pages and media search	When you or the AI download from a link, read a web page, or search for media	The site you named, Bing's image and video search, and Openverse, Wikimedia Commons and Poly Haven
Live streams, render nodes and plugin indexes	When you stream live, send a render to another computer, or add a plugin index	The address you give

Crash reports

If Zornov quits unexpectedly, it saves a crash report on your computer. A report holds the version, your system, the time and a technical trace, and no projects, file contents or keys. Open Settings > About > Crash reports to see whether a report can be sent: if it says No report server is set up, so reports stay on this computer, none is ever sent. Show reports folder opens the saved reports.

What the AI remembers

Lessons the AI editor saves after jobs and corrections are kept in your Zornov folder, never in a project. Read, edit or delete them in Settings > AI > What the AI has learned.
Your preferences for a project are kept in that project's AI folder. Preferences you ask it to keep for every project are kept in your Zornov folder.

Something wrong or missing on this page? Tell us on GitHub.