Privacy

China Like a Local is published by Chiho.ai.

China Like a Local provides discovery from published research and optional account-backed recommendation requests.

Discovery

Search criteria and optional coordinates are used to find matching places. We do not store precise location or complete conversation transcripts. For MCP usage analytics, we retain discovery search terms (with limited redaction of common contact details and credentials), city/category filters, tool names, outcomes, result counts and timing for up to 90 days. We count distinct users using a keyed hash of a linked account ID or an optional client-provided pseudonymous ID; calls with no ID are counted separately. We do not retain IP addresses, location hints, credentials, complete tool payloads or conversation transcripts in analytics. Free-text searches may still contain personal information; please avoid including it. Analytics access is restricted to administrators. Temporary rate-limit counters use hashed network identifiers. Hosting providers may keep operational access logs.

Accounts and research requests

Firebase handles account credentials. Our service does not store passwords. We store an account identifier, the destination and criteria you submit, request status and result links. Do not include private information in research requests: the resulting recommendations may become public guides. Your identity and request history are not published.

Connections

OAuth grants allow the connected client to submit and read your requests. Access tokens last one hour and refresh tokens last up to 30 days. Browser sessions last seven days.

Anonymous agent registrations last 24 hours and initially allow only public discovery. Connecting one to your account requires a verified email address, a one-time code and your explicit approval. We store that verified email with the connection and browser session. Agent access tokens and identity assertions last at most one hour; this profile has no refresh tokens. You can disconnect an agent on your account page. Expired registration and claim-attempt records are deleted after seven days; associated browser sessions expire after seven days.

Retention and deletion

Request history is retained until you ask us to remove it. You can request account or request-history deletion through support. Removing personal history does not remove independently published research or other visitors’ requests.

Service providers

We use Firebase for identity and our hosting infrastructure for service operation. When you connect through ChatGPT or Codex, OpenAI processes your interactions; when you connect through Claude, Anthropic processes them. Their privacy policies also apply to those services.