Privacy

ArcSmith is made by McGill & Co. Designs LLC in Smithfield, North Carolina. This page covers arcsmith.build and the ArcSmith beta: what we collect, why, who else handles it, how long we keep it, and how to have it removed.

On arcsmith.build

• When you join the waitlist or apply for the beta: your email address and, if you give them, your firm's name and your role. We also note the page that sent you to us, the details your browser sends about itself (such as its name, version and operating system), the time, and whether you applied for the beta.
• If you answer the two optional questions afterwards: how many people draw at your firm and what you draw in today.
• Each time you sign in on arcsmith.build: the time, the country your connection comes from, and the kind of browser and device, such as Chrome on Windows. We keep these notes for a year to see how the beta is used and to spot sign-ins that aren't you. arcsmith.build never stores your IP address.
• When your seat in the beta is ready: the invitation we email you, with the steps to sign in, and a note of when we sent it, whether it went out and Cloudflare's reference for it.

Signing in

When you sign in with Google, on arcsmith.build or in the beta, we keep your name, your email address, the number Google gives your account and when you last signed in. The number means only the same Google account can sign in with your address. The beta also keeps the link to your Google profile picture, to show it beside your name; arcsmith.build doesn't keep it.

The beta is the ArcSmith app, open only to the testers we approve. Before Google, it asks for a one-time code that Cloudflare emails to you from noreply@notify.cloudflare.com. Each code works once, for 10 minutes, and Cloudflare sends codes only to addresses on our tester list. Cloudflare records every code sign-in attempt, allowed or not: the email address, the IP address, the country and the time. It keeps that record for 24 hours, and keeps your address on its list of people who have signed in until we remove you.

In the ArcSmith beta

• Your projects, drawings, imported photos and scans, textures and markup are saved on the device you work on, in the app's own storage, and stay there until you clear it. Deleting a project in the app archives it on that device rather than erasing it. Your work reaches us only in the ways described below, and exported files and PDF sheets leave the app only when you download them yourself.
• Your settings stay on your device too, apart from a few drawing preferences, such as step sizes, that we keep with your account so they follow you. Diagnostics, if you turn them on, never leave your device. The usage notes below are separate, and they do reach us.
• While you use the beta, the app notes which days you use it, how many times you open it, how long you actively work in it, and when you were last active. Time counts only while the app is on screen and you have used the mouse, keyboard or touch in the last minute. It also counts what costs us money or space: the AI images you make, with the model used and what they cost; files saved for you and their size; how much you store with us; and how often your review links are opened. Nothing else, unless you turn on Share my numbers (below): no project content, pointer positions, page or feature names, IP address or device. These notes are how we run the beta and plan its prices. We see them per tester, on our admin page or in a spreadsheet downloaded from it, and keep them for a year, downloaded copies included.
• To slow down abuse, the app counts requests per minute under a scrambled form of your IP address, never the address itself.

Share my numbers

If you turn on Share my numbers with the ArcSmith community in Settings (it starts off), the app sends us six totals at most once a day: how many projects you have on this device, how many walls, doors and windows, rooms and sheets they hold, and your hours in the editor. It never sends a project name, a file, an address or location, or anything you drew. We keep only your latest totals with your account, so each person counts once, and add them into community totals that testers see in the app with no names, shown only when at least three people share. The Community card also shows how many testers used the beta today, this week and this month, counted from the usage notes above. Turn it off and your totals are deleted.

AI images

When AI images are switched on and you ask for one, the app sends fal.ai a picture of your current view, the outlines found in it, a fixed description and any note you add, up to 200 characters. Whatever shows in that view goes with it, and nothing else: not your name, your email address or your project. The app asks fal.ai not to keep the request, though fal.ai may still hold the pictures for a short time under its own terms. The image comes back to you, and we don't keep it. We do keep a record of each request with your account for a year, to keep spending in check: when, which kind of image, which model, the size, the cost, whether it finished, and fal.ai's reference for the job. After that, only the total cost for each month stays with your account, because the monthly spending limit is measured against it.

Sharing for review

When you share a project for review, anyone with the link can open that version of the project and everything in it, including the client's name, the site address and the contact details on your sheets. A link ends after 30 days, and you can end it sooner. Reviewers who comment or sign off type a name, which we keep with their comments and sign-offs until you delete them or ask us to. When you share with someone, you give them a name and a role (homeowner, builder, consultant or other). We keep these with your account, so you can see in one list everyone you have shared with, what each of them can open and when each of their links was last opened. Opening a link sets a cookie for 7 days. We keep the shared copy after the link ends, until you ask us to delete it.

Looking up a site address

When you look up a site address, the app sends that address, and only that, to the US Census Bureau's address service, which answers with matching locations. We don't keep the lookup. The location you choose is saved in your project.

Library materials and skies

The textures in the app's material library, and its skies, come from Poly Haven and ambientCG, two free libraries. When you use one, your device downloads its files straight from them. Like any website, they see your IP address, the details your browser sends about itself, which file you asked for and that the request came from ArcSmith, and they may keep a record of it under their own terms. We send them nothing about you, your account or your projects. What you download is kept in the app's storage on your device.

Sending feedback

When sending feedback is switched on, it opens your own email program with the page you're on, the time, your window size and your browser's details filled in, so you see everything before you send it.

Reporting a bug

When you report a bug in the beta, the app takes a screenshot of the screen you were on, and you can mark the part that shows the problem. Before you send, the report shows you everything it carries: what you wrote, how bad it is, the screenshots, and its details (the ArcSmith version, the screen you were on, the project name, your window size, and the kind of browser and system, such as Chrome on Windows). You can choose Blur my plan, which blurs your drawing in the screenshots on your device before anything is sent. Nothing leaves your device until you press Send.

Your report goes on the Punch list in Community. Other testers see what you wrote, your display name, the ArcSmith version and how the fix is going, and they can press Me too. Only the ArcSmith team and you see the screenshots, the details, and the team's follow-up questions with your answers. We delete all of these 90 days after the report is closed.

If ArcSmith stops working, it keeps a note of the error on your device. The next time you open it, it offers to send that note as a report. Nothing is sent unless you choose Send, and the report first shows you what it carries: the error message and the place in ArcSmith's code where it happened, with the same details as any report. The error message becomes the report's text, which other testers see just like what you write in any report. The place in ArcSmith's code is kept with the details. If you dismiss it, the note is deleted.

Your display name and the crew board

In Community you choose a display name. Other testers see only that name, on your reports and on the crew board, never your real name or your email address. The crew board shows each tester's display name, points and level for this week, this month and all time, and only testers signed in to the beta can see it. Your points come from your reports: when the team accepts one, when other testers press Me too on it, and when a fix lands. We keep them with your account.

Community posts and messages

In Community you can start discussions, suggest ideas, reply, and vote for ideas. Every tester signed in to the beta sees what you post, with your display name; your votes are counted, not shown by name. You can delete your own posts and replies at any time, and the ArcSmith team can hide one that breaks the beta's rules.

You can also write to another tester. Only the two of you can read a conversation, with one exception: if one of you reports a message, the ArcSmith team reads that one message, and nothing else from the conversation, to decide on it. You can delete a message you sent, and block a tester so that neither of you can send the other new messages. If you report a post, reply or message, we keep a copy of its words with your report so the team can look at it, even if it is later deleted.

Saving to your account

Saving projects to your ArcSmith account opens later in the beta. When it does, projects you start while signed in save to your account by themselves, marked with the kind of device, such as Chrome on Windows, and projects already on your device stay there until you choose to save them to your account. Imported textures go with a project; imported photos and scans stay on your device.

A project you remove from your account can be restored for 30 days, then it is deleted. Every saved version is kept for 30 days; after that we keep the last version of each day, plus any version something still points to, such as a review link. Saved files are locked for 30 days, so a deletion completes only after 30 days, and nightly copies of the database are kept for 90 days. Removing a project from your account never removes it from your device, and removing it from your device never removes it from your account.

Cookies and visitor counts

• Visiting arcsmith.build sets no cookies. Signing in on arcsmith.build sets one cookie that keeps you signed in for up to 30 days, plus a short one that lasts ten minutes while you sign in. We keep only a scrambled copy of it, and signing out removes both.
• The beta sets four cookies, all for signing in: one keeps you signed in for 15 minutes at a time, another renews that for up to 7 days, and two short ones, of 10 and 5 minutes, protect the sign-in itself. We keep only scrambled copies of the two that keep you signed in.
• Cloudflare's code step sets its own cookies: two remember that you passed it, for up to 7 days, and carry your email address and country; a few protect the step, for up to a day; and one marks your device for 30 days to stop abuse of the codes.
• If Cloudflare's security checks ever need to confirm that a visitor is a person, they may set a short-lived cookie of their own.
• Your browser keeps one note for the home page: when you last watched its opening drawing, so a return visit within 30 days opens sooner. The note stays on your device and is never sent to us.
• We count visits to arcsmith.build with Cloudflare Web Analytics, which uses no cookies and doesn't follow you to other sites. The beta has no outside analytics, trackers or ads; its only usage notes are the ones above.

How we use it

To write to you about ArcSmith and the beta, to choose beta testers, to let testers sign in, to keep the beta working, to fix the bugs testers report, and to plan its costs and prices. Your answers to the optional questions help us shape the beta. We don't sell your details or use them for advertising.

Who else handles it

• Cloudflare runs arcsmith.build and the beta, stores the waitlist and the beta's data, and sends our email and the beta's sign-in codes.
• Google handles sign-in when you choose Continue with Google.
• Microsoft hosts our mailbox, which receives our alerts about sign-ups and applications and anything you send to hello@arcsmith.build.
• fal.ai makes AI images, when you ask for one.
• The US Census Bureau answers site address lookups, when you make one.
• Poly Haven and ambientCG send library textures and skies straight to your device, when you use one.

ArcSmith's use of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

How long we keep it

• Your waitlist details, beta application and account: until you ask us to delete them. The monthly totals of what your AI images cost stay with your account.
• Notes of the invitations we email you: until you ask us to delete them.
• Records of your AI image requests: a year.
• Sign-in notes on arcsmith.build and usage notes from the beta: a year, downloaded copies included.
• Your shared totals: until you turn Share my numbers off. Daily community totals, with no names: a year.
• Cloudflare's record of code sign-ins: 24 hours. Its record of our changes to the tester list, which can include your address: 18 months.
• Cloudflare's record of the invitations it sends: 31 days.
• Review links: 30 days at most. The shared copy: until you ask us to delete it. Reviewers' names, comments and sign-offs: until you delete them or ask us to.
• The names and roles you give the people you share with, and when your links were last opened: until you remove that person or ask us to delete them.
• Bug report screenshots and details, including where in ArcSmith's code a crash happened, and the team's follow-up questions with your answers: 90 days after the report is closed, then we delete them. The rest of what you wrote, including a crash report's error message, your display name and your crew board points: until you ask us to delete them.
• Community posts, replies, votes, messages and blocks: until you delete them or ask us to. Reports of posts, replies and messages, with their copy of the reported words: until we have decided on them and you ask us to delete them.
• Saved projects, once saving to your account opens: as described above.

Seeing, changing or deleting your details

Write to hello@arcsmith.build to see, correct or delete what we hold about you. During the beta we do this by hand and write back when it's done. Deleted details can stay in our database backups for up to 30 days, and once saving to your account opens, deleted files stay locked for 30 days and nightly database copies are kept for up to 90 days. Anything saved on your device stays in your hands: clearing the app's stored data removes it.

Updated October 6, 2026.