How it works

How a visitor reaches a site on your computer, and who can see what along the way.

The short version

Your computer dials out. When you publish, Baumeister starts Cloudflare's tunnel program (cloudflared), which opens an outgoing, encrypted connection from your computer to Cloudflare. Nothing listens for the internet on your computer, so there's no router setup and no open port to attack.
A visitor types your address. Their browser connects to Cloudflare over HTTPS. Cloudflare holds the certificate for your address.
The request comes down the tunnel. Baumeister on your computer receives it and answers with the project you published at that address, and only that project. Your other files, and the Baumeister control panel, aren't reachable this way.
If your computer is off, visitors see a "back soon" page. If you turned on Safety Net, they see a copy of your site instead.

Who can see what

Who	What they can see
You	Everything: your files, your apps, and anything visitors send your sites (form messages, sign-ups, orders). It's all stored on your computer, not ours.
Cloudflare	Your visitors' requests and your site's answers, because it handles the HTTPS connection. This is true of any site that uses Cloudflare, which is a large share of the web. Cloudflare's handling is covered by its privacy policy.
Baumeister (us)	Your .baumeister.host addresses and domains, and which computer each one points to. Your recovery email, so we can send you a password reset code. Your account email and plan, if you have one, so addresses stay yours. A copy of your site's files, only if you turn on Safety Net for it. Requests to .baumeister.host addresses, and to domains you connect through Baumeister, pass through a small program we run on Cloudflare. It adds the Report link and serves the Safety Net copy when your computer is off. It doesn't keep your visitors' requests or what your site sends back.
Your AI provider	Only if you use the AI assistant, and only the project files and instructions you send it. It uses your own key and goes straight from your computer to the provider you picked.

Every outside connection the app makes is listed on What Baumeister connects to.

What Baumeister never sees

Your files, unless you turn on Safety Net for a project.
What your visitors send your sites: messages, orders, sign-ups, uploads.
Your AI keys, your Baumeister password, your passwords for anything else.
Which pages you open in the control panel, or how you use the app. It has no analytics or tracking.

If Baumeister goes away

Your projects are ordinary folders on your computer. Settings > Your data > Download everything gives you all of them in one file, with a short guide to moving each one:

Websites are plain HTML, CSS and images. They work on any web host as they are.
Python and Node apps are normal programs. Run them anywhere with python app.py or npm start.
Your own domain is yours. Point its DNS somewhere else and it moves with you.
A .baumeister.host address only works with Baumeister. If you might move, use your own domain.

You can also use your own Cloudflare account for the tunnel (Settings > Publish to the internet). Then traffic goes from Cloudflare straight to your computer and doesn't pass through anything of ours.