Privacy Policy

Who we are

Build Your Way Out ("we," "us," "our") is operated by Shakyra Johnson. This policy explains what information we collect when you use Build Your Way Out, how we use it, who helps us run it, and the choices you have.

What we collect

We collect the following information:

• Account information: your email address, a securely hashed password, and an optional display name, when you create an account.
• Onboarding answers: your responses to our short getting-started questionnaire (what brought you here, what you're hoping to build, your coding comfort level, and your goals), and the "Build Profile" we generate from them.
• Reflection journal entries: the text you write in the reflection form (what you built, what you learned, and any optional note about how you feel).
• Mood ratings: a 1–5 rating of how you felt immediately before and after each build, so we can show you your emotional trend and, on Plus, your Insights.
• Mood and build selections: which mood you chose and which guided build you were given, used to avoid repeating the same build and to personalize your experience.
• Saved builds and Sandbox creations: the title and the HTML, CSS and JavaScript code of builds you finish or create, so you can reopen them later.
• In-progress build code: if you leave a guided build partway through, we save a snapshot of your current step and code so you can resume where you left off.
• Preferences: settings such as your chosen theme and accent color.
• Subscription information: whether you have a Plus subscription and the customer reference our payment provider assigns to you. Your card details go directly to our payment provider, Stripe. We never see or store your full card number.
• Messages to us: if you email us for support, we keep your message and our reply.
• Basic technical data: standard information collected automatically by our hosting, database and security providers (such as timestamps, IP address, browser or device type, and error logs) to keep the service running and protected.

An account is required to use Build Your Way Out. There is currently no guest or offline mode.

How we use your information

We use your information only to:

• Provide the core functionality of the app (saving and displaying your journal and builds, personalizing builds, resuming in-progress work).
• Maintain your account (sign-in, confirmation and password-reset emails).
• Process Plus subscriptions and keep your plan status correct.
• Show you your emotional trend and Insights and, where relevant, a gentle automated support prompt (see below).
• Protect against spam, bots and abuse, and find and fix errors.
• Answer your questions when you contact us.

We do not sell your data. We do not show advertising, and we do not use advertising or analytics trackers on the content of your reflections or code.

Automated support prompts

If your recent mood check-ins are consistently low, we'll show you a gentle, automated message with crisis and support resources. This is a simple pattern check on the numbers you enter. It is not a diagnosis, not a review by a person, and nothing is sent to us or anyone else when it appears. You can dismiss it at any time, and it won't reappear for 24 hours after you do.

How your data is stored

Your account and journal data are stored in a managed Postgres database (via Supabase), with access restricted at the database level so that only you can read or write your own reflections and builds. Data is encrypted at rest and in transit by our infrastructure providers.

Who helps us run the app

We share information only with service providers who help us operate Build Your Way Out, and only what each one needs to do its job:

• Supabase: database and sign-in.
• Netlify: hosting for the website.
• Stripe: payments and subscriptions for Plus. Stripe receives your email and payment details under its own privacy policy.
• Resend: sends account emails such as confirmations and password resets.
• hCaptcha: bot protection when you sign up or sign in. It looks at technical signals such as your IP address and browser details, under its own privacy policy.
• Error monitoring (Sentry): tells us when something breaks. It is set up not to record what you write, to use no session recordings, and not to identify you.
• Google Fonts and Cloudflare's code library network: deliver fonts and the code-editor and chart libraries the app uses, so your browser contacts them as it would any website.

We do not share your reflection content or your code with anyone else. We may disclose information if required to do so by law, or to protect the rights, safety, or property of Build Your Way Out, our users, or others.

Your choices and rights

• Access and export: you can view your reflections and builds at any time, export your journal, and download a copy of everything in your account from the Account page ("Download All My Data"). This is free for everyone.
• Correction: you can change your display name, email address and password from the Account page.
• Deletion: you can delete individual reflections, or delete your account and all associated data, at any time from the Account page.
• California residents: depending on applicable law, you may have additional rights to know, delete, or opt out of the sale of personal information. We do not sell personal information.

Children's privacy

Build Your Way Out is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. If you are under 18, we encourage you to use this app with the awareness and support of a parent, guardian, or trusted adult.

Data retention

We retain your account, reflection and build data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we delete your associated data from our database. Payment records are kept by Stripe, and we may keep limited records where the law requires it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we'll update the date at the top of this page.

Contact us

Questions about this policy or your data? Contact us at shakyrajohnson800@gmail.com, or visit our support page.