Telemetry

vicinae collects basic telemetry in order to help improving the software. This page details what is collected and why. Users can opt-out at anytime by changing a single config item.

Telemetry breakdown

System info

vicinae collects basic system information when starting up the daemon. Here is a typical payload sent to the vicinae servers:

 {
   "userId": "user-344a37bd-2d65-49ad-9a2f-27769334f64e", // tied to vicinae installation, not derived from machine-id
   "desktops": [
      "niri"
   ],
   "vicinaeVersion": "v0.20.5",
   "displayProtocol": "wayland",
   "architecture": "x86_64",
   "operatingSystem": "linux",
   "buildProvenance": "local",
   "locale": "en_US", // some vicinae features are affected by localization
   "screens": [
      {
         "resolution": {
            "width": 1920,
            "height": 1080
         },
         "scale": 1
      }
   ],
   "chassisType": "desktop",
   "kernelVersion": "6.16.7-gentoo",
   "productId": "gentoo",
   "productVersion": "2.18"
}

• We only send information that can help us make better decisions for development or testing.
• We don't send personally identifiable information other than the userId: it is unique to vicinae and does not use your machine ID. It cannot be used to track you outside of vicinae. We mostly use this to count unique daily active users and version upgrade rates overtime.

Disable telemetry

Telemetry is opt-out by default. It can be turned off in one of two ways:

• Turn it off from the "general" settings tab
• Edit the telemetry object in your configuration

GDPR

Legal grounding

For users based in EU member states: processing is based on legitimate interest under Article 6(1)(f) of GDPR. This is compatible with opt-out telemetry.

Retention period

1 year.

Data removal

Since the vicinae server stores an identifier tied to your vicinae installation (and nothing else), it can be used to identify your specific installation across several requests.

You can request the immediate and permanent removal of this data by using the following command:

vicinae "vicinae://extensions/vicinae/core/forget-telemetry"

This will contact the vicinae server one last time to instruct it to delete the data and will automatically turn off telemetry.