How BibGenie handles account, payment, Zotero plugin, and AI service data
2026/05/24
Last updated: May 24, 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how BibGenie collects, uses, stores, and shares information when you use the BibGenie website, account system, payment features, Zotero plugin, managed AI model features, and related services.
BibGenie is built around a local-first product model for Zotero. We do not store your Zotero library, PDFs, notes, chat conversations, or bring-your-own-key API keys on BibGenie servers.
When you create or use a BibGenie account, we collect information needed to operate the account system, such as:
If you buy a subscription, lifetime plan, or credits, we store payment-related records needed to manage access and billing, such as:
Payments are processed by Stripe. BibGenie does not store full card numbers or payment card security codes.
The BibGenie Zotero plugin stores core research data locally in your Zotero environment, including:
BibGenie servers do not store your Zotero library, PDFs, notes, local chat history, or BYOK API keys.
BibGenie supports both locally configured third-party models and BibGenie-managed model access.
If you use your own API key or a custom model configuration, the plugin sends requests directly from your device to the provider you selected. BibGenie does not receive, upload, log, or store your BYOK API key.
If you use a BibGenie-managed model, the prompt and necessary context are sent through BibGenie's service to the managed model provider only to process your request. BibGenie does not intentionally store your prompts, responses, Zotero library content, PDFs, or conversation history from these requests.
For managed models and some web-tool features, BibGenie records limited metering and billing metadata, such as user ID, session ID, model ID, model name, provider name, token counts, cache token counts, estimated pricing fields, credit amount, timestamp, and processing status. This data is used for credits, billing integrity, usage display, abuse prevention, and operational debugging.
If you contact us or submit a support request, we may collect the information you provide, such as your name, email address, message, and related support metadata.
We use cookies and similar technologies for login sessions, preferences, security checks, and payment flows. See our Cookie Policy for details.
BibGenie does not store the following on BibGenie servers:
We also do not sell your personal information.
We use information to:
We do not use your Zotero library, local files, local chat history, or BYOK API keys to train AI models.
We share information only as needed to operate BibGenie, comply with law, or protect the service. This may include:
When you use BYOK or a custom provider, that provider's terms and privacy practices apply to requests sent from your device.
We keep account, payment, subscription, credit, and limited usage-metering records for as long as needed to provide the service, handle billing, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and maintain security.
Local Zotero plugin data remains on your device unless you delete it through the plugin, Zotero profile, browser storage, or operating system tools. Deleting your BibGenie account does not automatically delete data stored locally inside your Zotero profile.
You may delete local chat history from the plugin's chat history controls. You may remove custom model settings and BYOK keys from the plugin's model settings.
We use reasonable technical and organizational safeguards, including secure authentication, encrypted transport, access controls, provider-managed infrastructure security, and local secure storage where available.
No system is perfectly secure. You are responsible for protecting your account credentials, your local Zotero profile, and any API keys you choose to add to the plugin.
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, export, or restrict processing of your personal information.
You can:
We may need to keep limited records where required for billing, fraud prevention, security, legal compliance, or dispute resolution.
BibGenie is not intended for children under 13, or under the minimum age required by local law to use online services. If you believe a child has provided personal information to us, contact us.
BibGenie and its service providers may process information in countries other than your country of residence. We use service providers that apply their own security and data protection measures.
We may update this Privacy Policy as the product, code, vendors, or legal requirements change. We will post the updated version on this page and update the date above.
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or want to make a privacy request, contact us at:
Email: bibgenie@outlook.com or support@bibgenie.com