Privacy Policy

1. What we collect

Vernal^™ collects only the data you explicitly provide:

• Email address — when you sign up to the waitlist or subscribe to the devlog newsletter.
• Name, email address, and message — when you submit the contact form.

Anonymous page view analytics — Vernal records anonymous page views to understand which content is useful. Each record includes the URL path, the referring URL (if any), and an anonymized IP address. IPv4 addresses are anonymized by removing the last octet (e.g., 192.168.1.100 becomes 192.168.1.0). IPv6 addresses are truncated to the first three groups.

No cookies, browser fingerprinting, or cross-site tracking are used. This data is not shared with any third party. Page view records are automatically deleted after 90 days.

If you would like your anonymized data removed, contact robert@vernal.garden with the approximate date and URL you visited. Because IP addresses are anonymized, exact matching is not always possible, but we will make a reasonable effort to comply.

We do not use tracking pixels, analytics scripts, or third-party cookies. We do not fingerprint browsers or track behaviour across sessions.

One session cookie (vernal_session) is set when an admin logs into the CMS. It is HttpOnly and not accessible to JavaScript. It is not set for regular visitors.

2. How we use it

• Waitlist — to send a confirmation email and notify you when Vernal^™ launches.
• Newsletter — to send devlog posts you subscribed to receive.
• Contact form — to respond to your message.

Your data is not sold, shared with third parties for advertising, or used for any purpose beyond what you signed up for.

3. Legal basis (GDPR Article 6)

• Waitlist and newsletter — consent (double opt-in; you confirm by clicking a link in the confirmation email).
• Contact form — legitimate interest in responding to a direct inquiry you initiated.

4. Your rights

You have the right to access, correct, erase, and port your data, and to withdraw consent at any time.

• Newsletter — every email includes a one-click unsubscribe link.
• All other requests — email robert@vernal.garden. We will respond within 30 days.

5. Data retention

• Newsletter subscribers — retained until you unsubscribe or request erasure.
• Waitlist — retained until the launch notification is sent or you request erasure.
• Unconfirmed (pending) subscribers — deleted after 30 days if the confirmation link is not clicked.
• Contact submissions — retained for 12 months from the submission date, then deleted.

6. Third-party processors

• Waitlist confirmation emails are sent via a transactional email provider. These emails contain your email address as the recipient.
• Newsletter and contact alert emails are sent from a self-hosted mail server (Mail-in-a-Box). No third-party email processor handles newsletter subscriber data.

7. Contact

Questions about this policy or requests regarding your data:
robert@vernal.garden