What pglens sends, and what it doesn't

Updated 23 October 2026, for pglens 3.6.

The app

pglens runs on your machine. The server binds to 127.0.0.1, every route needs a per-install token, and connection passwords and API keys are stored in your operating system's keychain. pglens has no accounts and sends no telemetry, usage statistics or crash reports.

Once a day, when you run pglens start, the command checks for a newer version. It asks GitHub Releases and falls back to the npm registry only if GitHub can't be reached (pglens 3.6.0 and earlier ask npm). Like any web request it reveals your IP address to the service it asks; it carries nothing about your databases. Set PGLENS_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 to turn it off. pglens update and the install script download releases from GitHub.

AI mode

AI mode is the only feature that sends data off your machine, and only when you ask a question with Anthropic or OpenAI selected as the provider. The request goes from your machine directly to that provider with your own API key; there is no pglens-run service in between. What the provider does with it is covered by your agreement with them.

Each question sends:

• Your question, and the table and column names, types, keys and enum labels of the schema
• Unless you turn off Share sample rows and recent queries: up to 3 sample rows from up to 3 tables relevant to the question, common values of low-cardinality text columns, and your last 5 successful queries on that connection

Values from columns whose names look like credentials (password, hash, token, API key, secret and similar) are never sent. The Never send data from list in AI settings withholds any table or column you name, and past queries that mention them. Each answer has a details row showing what was sent and what was withheld.

With a local Ollama model, requests go to the Ollama host you configure (your own machine by default), and nothing is sent to a third party.

This website

pglens.org sets no cookies and runs no analytics or tracking scripts. Pages load fonts from Google Fonts, so your browser contacts Google when you visit. The site is hosted on Vercel, which handles requests like any web host.

Questions

Open an issue on GitHub. The source for everything above is in the pglens repository.