Legal
Privacy Policy
Effective May 24, 2026. Questions? [email protected]
Overview
webref (https://webref.ai) provides web research for AI coding agents. It is operated by Plain Labs LLC. This policy explains what we collect, how we use it, and the choices you have.
Information we collect
Account information. When you create an account, we collect your email address, display name, and authentication details. If you sign in with Google or GitHub, we receive basic profile information from that provider.
Billing information. Subscriptions and purchases are processed by Creem, our payment provider. Creem collects payment details directly. webref stores billing identifiers such as your Creem customer ID, subscription status, and purchase history needed to grant credits and manage access.
Usage and research data. When you run research, we process your queries, URLs, and related request metadata to deliver the service. If search history is enabled on your account, we also store detailed research history and saved results in your dashboard. If Privacy Mode is enabled, we stop saving new detailed history; aggregate usage counts still update.
Technical data. We collect standard server logs, session data, and operational telemetry needed to secure and operate the service.
How we use information
We use your information to:
- Provide, maintain, and improve webref
- Authenticate you and manage your account
- Process subscriptions, credits, and billing state
- Show usage history and dashboard analytics
- Detect abuse, fraud, and security issues
- Respond to support requests
Privacy Mode
You can enable Privacy Mode from the usage dashboard. When it is on, webref stops saving new detailed search history and saved research results. Aggregate usage totals continue to update so billing and limits still work.
Service providers
We use trusted third parties to operate webref, including payment processing (Creem), LLM inference providers, web search and retrieval infrastructure, email delivery, and observability tools. These providers process data only as needed to perform services on our behalf.
When you run research, your queries and referenced URLs may be processed by third-party search, retrieval, and AI providers solely to generate your results. Do not submit sensitive personal information you do not want processed by those providers.
Your responsibilities
You are responsible for ensuring your use of webref complies with applicable law and the terms of sites you ask webref to read. webref is intended for legitimate developer research workflows.
Retention
We retain account and billing records for as long as your account is active and as needed to meet legal, tax, and operational obligations. You may delete your account from the dashboard settings page. Deletion removes your account data subject to limited retention required for billing records, fraud prevention, or legal compliance.
Security
API keys are encrypted at rest. We use industry-standard safeguards to protect the service, but no online system is perfectly secure.
Your choices
You can update your display name, toggle Privacy Mode, manage billing through the Creem customer portal, and delete your account from settings. For other requests, contact us at [email protected].
Changes
We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date.
Contact
Plain Labs LLC — privacy questions: [email protected]