---
title: "Privacy and local access"
description: "The engine binds loopback by default. What changes when you expose it, and what never leaves your Mac."
source: "https://getloggerhead.com/docs/mcp-server/privacy-and-local-access/"
---

# Privacy and local access

> The engine binds loopback by default. What changes when you expose it, and what never leaves your Mac.

By default, every listener in Loggerhead binds `127.0.0.1`. The root receiver, the HTTP API, and the MCP server all stay on your Mac.

## Defaults

| Listener | Bind | Auth |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Root receiver (gRPC and HTTP) | `127.0.0.1` | None needed. Loopback peers are always exempt. |
| HTTP API | `127.0.0.1`, OS-assigned port | None. |
| MCP server | stdio, started by your tool | Talks to the API on `127.0.0.1` only. |

## When you expose the root

To accept a branch from another machine, set the bind host to `0.0.0.0` or to one interface, and turn on the token. Do it in **Settings → Ingest**, or through the settings API.

| Setting | Purpose |
| --- | --- |
| `ingest_require_auth` | Require `Authorization: Bearer <token>` on every non-loopback request. |
| `ingest_token` | The accepted token. Rotate it at any time. No restart. |
| `ingest_tls_cert_file`, `ingest_tls_key_file` | Serve the receiver over TLS. Both set means TLS on. |

The engine logs a warning at start when it binds a non-loopback interface with no token or no TLS. It never exposes an open receiver in silence.

:::note[A container on the same Mac is a loopback peer]
Docker Desktop and OrbStack present a container as a loopback peer. The token check does not apply to it. Any container on your Mac can send to the root.
:::

## What the AI features send

- **Telemetry linting** runs on rules with no network call.
- **AI analysis** with Apple Intelligence runs on the Mac. With a cloud provider, it sends a sample of the raw logs and spans of the window you choose, and the lint findings, to the provider you chose. Before it sends them, the app replaces values such as email addresses, tokens, and IP addresses with placeholders. Your API key stays in the macOS Keychain and is redacted by the API.
- The MCP server sends nothing anywhere. Your coding tool decides what to do with the data it reads.