Privacy Policy
Effective Date: July 3, 2026
1. Introduction and Scope
This Privacy Policy explains how StyleRef collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects information when you use our web-based platform for creating and managing style reference materials, available at styleref.io.
StyleRef is currently operated by its creator as a private individual based in Sweden, who acts as the data controller for personal data processed through the service ("StyleRef," "we," "us," or "our"). StyleRef is not yet operated by a registered company; if operation is transferred to a company in the future (for example, a Swedish limited company), that entity will become the data controller and we will notify you and update this Privacy Policy. You can reach the controller at ....
We process personal data in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Swedish data protection law. This Privacy Policy should be read together with our Terms of Service.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes that affect your rights or how we handle your information, we will notify you by email to your registered account address and through notice within the platform at least thirty days before the changes take effect.
2. Information We Collect
Account and Registration Information
When you create a StyleRef account, we collect your email address, which serves as your primary identifier and authentication method. We use magic link authentication and do not collect or store passwords. We also collect information about your chosen subscription plan, payment status as reported by our payment processor, and account preferences and settings you configure.
User Content
We collect and store all content you submit, upload, or create through StyleRef. This includes text descriptions you provide, images and visual materials you upload for style extraction or reference, URLs you submit for analysis, style parameters and configurations you define in Style Boards, and any other materials you provide while using the platform.
User Content is stored to enable the core functionality of StyleRef and may be processed by third-party AI service providers when you use extraction features. We treat private User Content as confidential.
If you choose to publish a style to our public gallery, the content you publish — including the style, any sample output, inspiration, or cover images you attach, AI-generated category, tags, and summary, and elements of your public profile such as your handle, display name, and avatar — is no longer treated as confidential and becomes publicly accessible. Publishing is optional and is never the default; styles remain private unless you affirmatively publish them. Publicly published content may be viewed, copied, remixed, indexed, and cached by other users, search engines, AI systems, and third parties, and such copies or cached versions may persist outside our control even after you unpublish or delete the content. You should not include private, sensitive, confidential, or personally identifying information in content you publish. Public gallery publishing is described further in our Terms of Service.
Usage and Analytics Information
We collect information about how you interact with StyleRef to understand usage patterns, improve the service, and provide support. This includes features you use, Style Boards you create or modify, AI extraction requests you initiate, StyleRefs you generate, pages you visit, session times, and errors you encounter. We analyze this information in aggregated form; individual usage patterns are not shared with other users or third parties except as described in this Privacy Policy.
Technical and Device Information
When you access StyleRef, we automatically collect certain technical information necessary for service operation and security, including your IP address and approximate location derived from it, browser type and language settings, device type and operating system, referring URLs, access times, and cookie identifiers and session tokens. We use this information for security monitoring, fraud prevention, service operation, and to comply with legal obligations.
Cookies and Similar Technologies
StyleRef uses cookies, local storage, and similar technologies to provide functionality. We use essential cookies required for platform functionality, including session management cookies to maintain your authenticated session, preference cookies to remember your settings, and security cookies to protect your account. We also use analytics cookies to understand how users interact with StyleRef. You can control cookies through your browser preferences, though disabling certain cookies may limit platform functionality.
Payment Information
Subscription payments are processed by our payment processor, Stripe. We do not collect or store your card details; we receive transaction status, subscription status, and billing metadata from Stripe. Stripe processes your payment data under its own privacy policy.
MCP Server and API Usage
StyleRef offers a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server and programmatic API that let you connect AI agents and third-party applications (such as Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and VS Code) to your StyleRef account. When you use these interfaces we log operational telemetry about each request — the tool or endpoint invoked, the style referenced (if any), the output format requested, response latency and error status, the identifier and version of the connecting client as reported by it, and a one-way hashed representation of the request IP address (we do not retain the raw IP for this telemetry). For requests made through a connected account, we associate the log with your user ID; anonymous read requests are not linked to an identity. We use this telemetry to operate and secure the service, prevent abuse, debug issues, and understand aggregate demand for styles and features. When you authorize a third-party application through our OAuth flow, we store the application's registration details and issue access tokens scoped to the permissions you approve; you can review the requested permissions on the consent screen before granting access.
3. How We Use Information
We use the information we collect for the following purposes.
Service delivery. We process your information to provide the core features of StyleRef: authenticating your account, storing and organizing your User Content, processing AI extraction requests through third-party providers, generating StyleRefs and Style Cards, and enabling data export. This processing is necessary to perform our contract with you.
Account and subscription management. We use your information to manage your account and subscription, process payments through our payment processor, apply plan-based usage limits, send transactional communications, respond to support requests, and enforce our Terms of Service. This processing is necessary to perform our contract with you and to comply with legal obligations.
Service improvement. We analyze usage information in aggregated form to understand how StyleRef is used, discover technical issues, and improve features. This serves our legitimate interest in improving the service. We do not use your User Content to train AI models operated or controlled by StyleRef.
Security and fraud prevention. We process technical and usage information to detect and prevent fraud and abuse, respond to security incidents, and maintain the security of our systems. This serves our legitimate interest in protecting StyleRef and its users.
Legal compliance. We process information when necessary to comply with legal obligations, respond to lawful requests from authorities, enforce our Terms, and protect the rights, property, and safety of StyleRef, our users, and third parties.
Communications. We use your email address to send communications necessary for the service: magic links, account and subscription confirmations, security alerts, and notices of changes to our Terms or this Privacy Policy. We send optional product updates only if you have opted in, and you may opt out at any time through your account settings or the unsubscribe link in emails. We do not sell or share your email address with third-party marketers.
4. Information Sharing and Disclosure
We share your information only in the circumstances described in this section. We do not sell your personal information. Except for content you affirmatively choose to publish to the public gallery, we do not share your User Content with other StyleRef users.
Publicly Shared Content (Gallery)
If you choose to publish a style to our public gallery, you direct us to make the content you publish — including the style and its parameters, any sample output, inspiration, or cover images you attach, AI-generated category, tags, and summary, and your public profile elements such as handle, display name, and avatar — available to the public. Depending on the visibility level you select, this content may be listed in the gallery, made available to anyone with a direct link, and indexed by search engines and other automated systems. Other users may view, copy, and remix your published styles. We generate public preview and social-share images from published styles. Because published content is public, it may be copied, cached, indexed, or re-shared by other users, search engines, AI systems, and third parties outside our control, and such copies may persist even after you unpublish or delete the content. Publishing is optional and reversible from your side at any time by setting a style back to private, but we cannot remove copies others have made or that third parties have cached. This sharing occurs only for styles you choose to publish; private styles are never shared with other users.
Third-Party AI Service Providers
When you use AI extraction features, we transmit your submitted User Content to third-party AI service providers for processing. Each provider processes your content under its own terms and data processing terms. We select established providers and, where the provider offers such controls, configure our use so that submitted content is not used to train the provider's models. AI providers may be located outside the EU/EEA; where that is the case, transfers are safeguarded as described in Section 8.
Infrastructure and Service Providers
We use third-party service providers to operate StyleRef. These providers have access to information only as necessary to perform their functions and process it under data processing terms. Categories include: database, authentication, and storage infrastructure (Supabase); web hosting and content delivery; payment processing (Stripe); transactional email delivery; and analytics.
Business Transfers
If StyleRef's operation is transferred to a company (such as a future Swedish limited company formed by its creator), or in the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred to the successor entity, which will be required to continue honoring the commitments in this Privacy Policy. We will provide notice before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy, and you will have the opportunity to delete your account before such a transfer if you do not wish to continue.
Legal Requirements
We may disclose information when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to comply with applicable law or legal process, respond to valid requests from public authorities, enforce our Terms of Service, or protect the rights, property, or safety of StyleRef, our users, or the public.
Aggregated Information
We may share aggregated or anonymized information that cannot reasonably be used to identify you, such as statistics about overall StyleRef usage.
With Your Consent
We may share information for other purposes when we have obtained your explicit consent. You may withdraw consent for future sharing at any time.
5. Data Retention and Deletion
User Content. We retain your User Content for as long as your account remains active and for thirty days following account closure or content deletion to allow recovery from accidental deletion. After this period, User Content is deleted from production systems. Content may persist in backups for up to ninety days after deletion, after which it is permanently destroyed. Content subject to legal holds or regulatory requirements may be retained as long as legally required.
Published gallery content. Content you published to the public gallery is removed from public access through StyleRef when you set the style to private or delete it, subject to the same deletion windows above. However, because published content was publicly accessible, copies, remixes, cached versions, and search-engine or AI-system indexes created by others are outside our control and may persist after removal.
Account information. We retain your account information for as long as your account is active. If you close your account, we delete or anonymize account information within ninety days, except for information we must retain for legal, tax, or accounting purposes. Records related to payments are retained for seven years to comply with Swedish accounting and tax rules.
Usage and technical data. Detailed logs are retained for up to ninety days; security logs for up to one year; aggregated statistics may be retained longer in a form that no longer identifies you.
Deletion requests. You may request deletion of your information at any time by closing your account through platform settings or by contacting .... Upon account closure we disable access promptly, delete User Content from production systems within thirty days, and delete or anonymize remaining account information within ninety days, subject to legal retention requirements.
6. Data Security
We take reasonable and appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your information, proportionate to the nature of the service. These include encryption of data in transit (TLS), encryption at rest provided by our infrastructure providers, magic-link authentication with secure session management, access to production systems restricted to the operator, and regular application of security updates.
StyleRef relies on established infrastructure providers (such as Supabase and Stripe) that maintain their own industry-standard security programs and certifications. No method of electronic storage or transmission is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
Incident notification. In the event of a personal data breach, we will comply with our obligations under the GDPR, including notifying the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (IMY) within seventy-two hours where required, and informing affected users without undue delay when the breach is likely to result in a high risk to their rights and freedoms.
Your responsibilities. You are responsible for maintaining the security of the email account you use for magic-link authentication, logging out on shared devices, and promptly notifying us of any suspected unauthorized access.
7. Your Privacy Rights
Under the GDPR, you have the following rights regarding your personal data.
Access and portability. You may access most of your information directly through your account. You may request a copy of your personal data, and you may receive your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. StyleRef also provides built-in data export for your User Content.
Rectification. You may correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data, either through platform settings or by contacting us.
Erasure. You may request deletion of your personal data. You can delete your account at any time through platform settings. We may retain certain information where required by law (for example, accounting records).
Restriction and objection. You may request restriction of processing in certain circumstances, and you may object to processing based on our legitimate interests. You have an absolute right to object to processing for direct marketing, and we will stop such processing immediately upon objection.
Withdrawal of consent. Where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.
Automated decision-making. StyleRef does not use automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal effects or similarly significantly affects you. Automated moderation of gallery submissions is subject to human review on request.
Exercising your rights. Contact ... or use the tools within StyleRef. We will respond within one month, extendable by up to two further months for complex requests, in which case we will inform you. We may need to verify your identity before processing a request. We do not charge fees for privacy requests unless they are manifestly unfounded or excessive.
Complaints. If you believe we have not adequately addressed your concerns, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority — in Sweden, the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten, IMY, imy.se) — or with the data protection authority in your country of residence. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve the issue directly.
8. International Data Transfers
Our infrastructure and service providers may process data in countries outside the EU/EEA, including the United States. Where personal data is transferred outside the EU/EEA, we rely on appropriate safeguards as required by the GDPR, including European Commission adequacy decisions (such as the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, where the provider is certified) and standard contractual clauses incorporated in our providers' data processing terms.
9. Children's Privacy
StyleRef is not intended for use by individuals under the age of eighteen. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under eighteen. If you believe a child has provided information to StyleRef, please contact us at ... so we can delete it.
10. Other Jurisdictions
This Privacy Policy is written to comply with the GDPR, which provides a high baseline of protection. If the privacy laws of your jurisdiction grant you additional rights, we will honor valid requests to exercise those rights. We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined under laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act.
11. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or service features. The effective date at the top indicates when it was last updated. For material changes, we will provide at least thirty days advance notice by email and through the platform. Your continued use of StyleRef after changes become effective constitutes acceptance of the updated policy; if you do not agree, you should close your account before the effective date.
12. Contact
For privacy inquiries, rights requests, or security concerns, contact .... For general support, contact ....
Last Updated: July 3, 2026