Permissions and privacy

#What Synonode can do

Synonode reads and writes your project's files and runs commands on your computer as you, the user the runner runs as, the way Claude Code does. The permission mode decides which of them wait for your OK.

#What commands can reach

Commands run as you would in a terminal, the same on Linux and Windows: they can read and change what you can, install packages and use the network. There is no sandbox. What still holds in every mode:

• No secrets: keys and tokens in Synonode's own environment are left out of every command and of the preview's server. Your saved GitHub token reaches git push through a helper that reads it from its file, so it never shows in the environment.
• Blocked commands: wiping the disk (rm -rf /, mkfs, format C:), stopping Synonode itself, and opening windows on your computer's screen are refused.
• Admin rights (sudo) always ask you first, for that one command, and say why.
• Your rules (/permissions) deny or allow commands in every mode.

To approve commands one by one, choose Ask before changes or Accept edits below.

#Permission modes

Mode	What happens
Ask before changes	File edits and commands wait for your OK.
Accept edits	File edits go ahead; other commands ask.
Auto	Nothing asks: Synonode works on its own. Admin rights and your deny rules still apply. This is the default.
Plan mode	Synonode answers or plans, and changes nothing until you press Build it.

Change the mode in the + menu of the message box, by pressing Shift Tab in the box, or with Permission in Settings → Capabilities. Reading files and looking things up never asks. The model is told which mode is on, and when you switch: in Ask it makes each change in as few steps as it can, so you approve fewer; in Auto it doesn't stop to ask for ordinary steps.

#When it asks

A permission card appears in the chat, marked Needs your input, with what Synonode wants to do and why. The message box stays under it. You can answer:

• Yes, for this once.
• Yes, and don't ask again, which adds a rule for that command in this project.
• No, and tell Synonode what to do differently.
• No.

Once you allow it, the step says Allowed (and what more you allowed, such as a rule), also after a reload and on your other devices. The same goes for admin rights and the plan: each waits in the chat until you answer.

#Rules

Type /permissions to see the project's rules: what runs without asking (Allow) and what never runs (Deny). A rule is the start of a command, by whole words: npm covers every npm command, git push only pushing.

#Admin rights

A command that needs admin rights (sudo) always asks you first and says why, whatever the mode, and gets them for that one command only.

#Privacy

• Web access: turn it off in Settings → Privacy and Synonode works only from what's on your computer.
• Incognito: a conversation that isn't saved or remembered. See Incognito.
• Your data: export everything from Settings → Privacy.
• Memory: see, edit, pause or reset what's remembered in Memory.

See What leaves your computer for the full picture.