Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Clockwork Web Dev, LLC ("Company", "we", "us", or "our") respects and handles data in connection with:

• Clockwork Control: The self-hosted command center web application;
• Clockwork Renegade: The open-source WordPress plugin architected for the WordPress.org Plugin Directory (currently in pre-submission testing; available via GitHub release);
• Clockwork Companion: The private must-use (mu-plugin) variant for managed hosting environments; and
• The public marketing website at clockworkcontrol.com.

Because Clockwork Control is self-hosted software, you maintain complete administrative custody and ownership over your instance. This Privacy Policy details what data is processed, how it is secured, and our strict commitment to zero centralized data harvesting.

Traditional WordPress management services operate as multi-tenant cloud SaaS platforms where agency client credentials, SSH keys, database credentials, and website contents are stored on a vendor’s central servers.

Clockwork Control was built to reject this model entirely.

• No Central Database: Clockwork Web Dev, LLC operates no central database containing your client websites, server addresses, or administrative logins.
• Direct Point-to-Point HTTPS: All communication between your WordPress sites and your Clockwork Control instance takes place directly between your infrastructure over encrypted HTTPS.
• No Intermediary Proxies: We do not route, inspect, cache, or log your operational commands, update executions, or database backups.

When paired with Clockwork Control, the Clockwork Renegade (and Clockwork Companion) plugin transmits specific operational telemetry strictly to your own self-hosted dashboard. The exact categories of data transmitted include:

In accordance with WordPress.org Plugin Directory guidelines regarding affirmative consent:

• No Action on Activation: Activating the plugin does not establish any external connection, initiate background calls, or register webhooks.
• Explicit Key Copying: A site administrator must intentionally navigate to Clockwork → Connection (admin.php?page=clockwork-connection), generate a unique 256-bit cryptographic Connection Key, and paste that key into Clockwork Control.
• HMAC-SHA256 Signatures: Every incoming request from Clockwork Control is verified using an HMAC-SHA256 signature containing the HTTP method, route namespace, UTC timestamp, and payload body. Requests outside a 5-minute window are rejected to prevent replay attacks.
• Revocation & Reset: Site administrators may revoke remote access at any time by clicking "Reset Connection Key" in WordPress, rotating credentials in Clockwork Control, or deactivating the plugin.

When you browse our public marketing website at clockworkcontrol.com:

• No Account Required: There are no user accounts, registration portals, or client logins on our public website.
• Anonymous Analytics: We utilize Google Analytics 4 (configured with IP anonymization) solely to understand aggregated page visits, referring domains, and browser technologies to optimize site performance.
• No Advertising Pixels: We do not deploy cross-site tracking pixels, third-party retargeting scripts, or behavioral advertising trackers.
• Server Access Logs: Standard web server edge logs (including visitor IP address, user-agent, and requested URI) are temporarily retained by our CDN provider (Vercel) solely for DDoS mitigation, bot detection, and edge routing reliability.

Depending on the modules and features you enable in Clockwork Control or trigger in Clockwork Renegade, communications may occur with specific third-party APIs:

Clockwork Control features an optional SMS dispatch notification system powered by Twilio Inc. to transmit critical server and website operational alerts to technical administrators. We maintain strict safeguards over mobile phone numbers and text messaging data:

• Information Collected: Mobile phone numbers voluntarily entered by operators in Clockwork Control notification settings (/settings/notifications), along with associated SMS dispatch timestamps and delivery statuses.
• Strictly Transactional Purpose: Mobile phone numbers are used exclusively to deliver transactional, operational notifications that you configure—specifically website downtime alerts, uptime recovery notices, security incident notifications, and administrative alerts. Phone numbers are never used for marketing, sales calls, or promotional campaigns.
• Telecommunications Transmission (Twilio): When an automated SMS alert is triggered, the recipient phone number and alert text are transmitted to Twilio Inc. solely as our telecommunications delivery gateway. Twilio processes this data strictly to route and deliver the message through wireless carrier networks in compliance with their communications privacy standards.
• Data Retention & Revocation: Phone numbers are stored securely within your own self-hosted Clockwork Control database. You can edit, delete, or disable SMS notifications for any contact at any time directly in the dashboard, or by replying STOP to any SMS message. Deleting a contact permanently removes their phone number from the notification roster.

Because all data resides on your own servers:

• Retention Schedule: You control the retention period for server health history, HTTP latency sparklines, update logs, and diagnostic snapshots inside Clockwork Control.
• Clean Uninstallation: In compliance with WordPress.org Guideline 9, deleting Clockwork Renegade via the WordPress admin automatically runs uninstall.php, permanently deleting all stored settings, transients, and custom database tables (wp_clockwork_renegade_*).

We engineer Clockwork Control and our WordPress plugins with strict defense-in-depth security standards:

• Constant-Time Cryptographic Verification: Signature authentication uses hash_equals() to prevent timing attacks;
• Fail-Closed Maintenance Mode: Automated updates engage fail-closed maintenance mode to protect user transactions during patching;
• No Dynamic Eval: Clockwork Renegade strictly excludes remote code execution and dynamic eval();
• Encrypted Secret Storage: Connection secrets and provider API keys are encrypted at rest inside your self-hosted database using Laravel's AES-256-CBC cipher.

Under global privacy regulations including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and CPRA, individuals possess rights regarding their personal data (including rights to access, rectify, export, and erase data).

Because Clockwork Control is operated entirely on your infrastructure, you act as the sole Data Controller for any personal data processed from your client WordPress sites (such as administrator email addresses). You have direct, uninhibited ability to export, modify, or permanently purge any records from your self-hosted database at any time.

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect new plugin releases, module integrations, or regulatory updates. Any changes will be posted at clockworkcontrol.com/privacy with an updated effective date.