Cookie Policy
Last updated August 3, 2026
This Cookie Policy explains how airays.ai and the Howdi product (together, "airays", "we") use cookies and similar technologies. It is part of and incorporated into our Privacy Policy.
1. Summary
airays uses only first-party, strictly necessary and functional cookies. We do not use third-party analytics cookies, marketing pixels, advertising trackers, or cross-site tracking of any kind.
Because we do not set any non-essential cookies, we do not display a cookie consent banner. Where we use analytics (Cloudflare Web Analytics), it is cookieless and does not use fingerprinting.
2. What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small text file stored on your device by your browser when you visit a website. Cookies serve many purposes, from keeping you signed in, to remembering your preferences, to (on other sites) tracking your behavior across websites for advertising.
Similar technologies include local storage (a browser-native key-value store larger than a cookie), session storage (cleared when the tab closes), and IndexedDB (a browser-native database). We use local storage for a small number of UI preferences (see Section 4).
3. Cookies we set
Strictly necessary (authentication)
These cookies are required for the service to function. You cannot disable them without breaking sign-in. They do not track you across websites.
| Name | Purpose | Duration | Provider |
|---|---|---|---|
__session | Keeps you signed in to your airays account | Session (until you sign out) or up to 30 days if "Remember me" | Clerk (first-party, set on airays.ai) |
__client_uat | Tracks last user-authentication time to determine when to refresh the session | 1 year | Clerk (first-party) |
__clerk_db_jwt | Short-lived signed token for cross-tab session sync | Session | Clerk (first-party) |
cf-* (various) | Cloudflare bot mitigation and edge routing (WAF, __cf_bm, cf_clearance). Not used for tracking. | 30 minutes to 30 days depending on cookie | Cloudflare (first-party) |
Functional (browser storage, not cookies)
These are stored in your browser's local storage (not sent to our servers) and control UI preferences. They exist only in your browser.
| Key | Purpose | Storage |
|---|---|---|
theme | Remembers light / dark theme preference | localStorage |
sidebar-collapsed | Remembers whether the left sidebar is collapsed | localStorage |
picker-coach-seen | Suppresses the first-run specialist-picker tip once dismissed | localStorage |
terms-version-accepted | Records which version of the Terms of Service you last accepted (to show a re-accept prompt on material updates) | localStorage |
4. Cookies we do NOT set
airays deliberately does not use any of the following categories:
- Google Analytics or any other third-party web analytics with cookies
- Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, Twitter Pixel, Reddit Pixel, or any other social-media tracking
- Google Ads, Meta Ads, or any advertising retargeting
- Cross-site tracking or "fingerprinting" for identity purposes
- Third-party affiliate tracking
- Session-replay tools (Hotjar, FullStory, LogRocket, etc.)
5. Analytics (cookieless)
Where enabled, we use Cloudflare Web Analytics, which is cookieless and does not fingerprint visitors. It collects only aggregate page-view counts, referrer, country, and browser type. Cloudflare's Web Analytics is designed for GDPR compliance and is exempt from cookie-consent requirements in the EU because it does not access or store information on your device.
Detailed error monitoring uses Sentry. Sentry receives error stack traces and browser context (browser version, OS, error URL). It does not receive personal user content and does not set persistent tracking cookies.
6. How to control cookies
Most browsers let you view, delete, and control cookies through Settings → Privacy. Blocking the strictly-necessary cookies listed in Section 3 will prevent you from signing in to airays.
To clear local storage, use your browser's "Clear site data" option. Doing so will reset your UI preferences.
7. Third-party services you may reach
When you follow a link from airays to a third-party service (Anthropic, OpenAI, Paddle, an external Slack/Gmail account, etc.), that third party's cookie policies apply. We recommend reviewing them separately.
Affiliate merchant cookies. When you click an affiliate-tagged link in a Howdi recommendation, you leave airays and land on a third-party merchant's site. That merchant (and the affiliate network in the middle) may set cookies on their own domain to attribute the click to airays for commission purposes. Those cookies are governed by the merchant's and affiliate network's cookie policies, not by airays. airays does not set advertising or tracking cookies on our own domains as part of affiliate commerce; the commission attribution happens entirely on the merchant's side. See the Affiliate Disclosure for full details.
8. Changes
We may update this Cookie Policy if we change how we use cookies. Material changes will be notified in the same way as Privacy Policy updates (in-product notice + 30 days for material changes).
9. Contact
Questions about this Cookie Policy: privacy@airays.ai.