Your questions

What is bylineAL?

An editor’s brain for everything you write. It reads your copy the way a desk editor would, says what is weak, and writes it again. It never invents a fact.

It comes in suites, one for each kind of writing. Editorial, for news and features, is live. Social, for X and Instagram, and Corporate, for the writing companies do, are in beta. Creative, for scripts, long-form and captions, is coming. The same standard holds in every one.

Do I need to install anything?

No. It runs in your browser. On a phone you can add it to your home screen, and it then opens like any other app, with no browser bar.

How do I sign in?

With your Google account, on the first screen. Your address has to be on the invitation list before it will let you through.

Why do I need an invitation?

Every story you run costs money to run. The list is what keeps that spending to people who have been asked.

How do I get updates?

You do not have to do anything. The app holds no copy of itself, so the next time you open it you have the newest version.

Does it work without a signal?

No. Every desk runs on a server, so a story needs a connection. Your typing is kept on the phone until it can be sent.

Can it make up facts?

It will not add a fact until you ask it to, and it will never invent one. It cannot put words in quotation marks that nobody said.

How does it learn from my edits?

Your edits are the lesson. You paste the version you published into the Teaching Room. The room finds the draft the desk gave you and studies what you changed. It shows you each lesson it has drawn, with the evidence. A lesson shapes your writing only after you approve it.

What does bylineAL keep on its server?

Four things. The first is each story you run on a writing desk, with the draft the desk wrote. These are kept for 30 days and then deleted. The second is each story in your story list, with its drafts and earlier versions, so that it opens on your other devices. A story leaves the server 30 days after you last touched it. The third is each edit you give the Teaching Room, together with the story and the draft it came from. The fourth is each lesson the room draws from your edits. The third and fourth stay until you delete them. FrameWork and the Scroll Desk keep nothing.

Why does it keep my stories for 30 days?

So that “TEACH” can work. When you paste your published version, the Teaching Room has to find the draft the desk gave you. It looks among the drafts kept over the last 30 days. Without them it has nothing to compare your version with.

Can I stop it keeping my stories?

Yes. Open the menu, then “STORAGE”, and choose “NOTHING”. The drafts already kept are deleted at once, and no new ones are stored. Your story list is deleted from the server too, and each device keeps only the stories it holds. A story run in the first minute after you choose may be kept until your next run. The choice belongs to your account, so it holds on every device you sign in on. You can switch it back at any time.

Can I open a story on another device?

Yes, when your account keeps stories for 30 days. Sign in with the same account and press “STORIES”. Each story you touched in the last 30 days is there, with its drafts. If two devices change the same story at once, the desk asks which version to keep, and the other version is deleted. Stories from Client Letters stay on the device where you made them. If you share a browser with another person, use a separate browser profile each. Otherwise your stories can reach the first account that used it.

Does “TEACH” still work if I keep nothing?

Only when you paste both versions yourself: the draft the desk gave you, and the version you published. The room cannot find the draft for you, because none is kept. The lessons you already have go on shaping your writing.

How do I delete what I have taught?

Open the menu, then “STORAGE”, and press “DELETE EVERYTHING I TAUGHT”. Your edits, your lessons and the style the tools learned from your edits are removed from the server. Your own stylesheet is not deleted. This cannot be undone.

Can I keep my own house style?

Yes. Your own rules are called your stylesheet. Press “STYLE PASS” and the desk applies them on top of “AP” or “International”. A rule is one of two kinds. A “CHANGE” rule swaps one wording for another. A “FLAG” rule only marks a wording so you can check it. To add a rule, select the words in your story and press “ADD TO YOUR STYLESHEET”. You can also add, edit and delete rules on the “STORAGE” page. The rules are kept in your account and follow you to every device.

What is kept on my own phone or computer?

Your stories, their history and your settings are kept in the browser on that device. When your account keeps stories for 30 days, a copy of each story also goes to the server, so it opens on your other devices. You can clear your stories from the “STORAGE” page. That also deletes them from your account, on every device.

Who can read my stories?

No other account can reach your work. It is stored against your own account. The text you run goes to Anthropic, whose model does the writing, and the next answer says what Anthropic does with it. bylineAL can reach the server’s store to fix a fault, or to delete your material when you ask. Your stories are encrypted on the server’s disks, but they are not encrypted end to end, so bylineAL can reach them in the same way.

Who else receives my text?

Anthropic. Its model does the writing, so the text you run goes to Anthropic. Anthropic’s published terms say it deletes that text within 30 days, unless the text is flagged for breaking its usage rules. A voice note goes to Sarvam AI, and a post goes to X when you press the button to post. No one else receives your text.

Does my work train an AI?

Anthropic’s published terms say it does not train its models on text sent this way. Inside bylineAL, your edits teach your own desks.

What happens to a photo I give FrameWork or the Scroll Desk?

It goes to our server and on to Anthropic, which reads it to write the caption. We do not store it. If you post to X from the Scroll Desk, the photo goes to X with the post.

What happens to a voice note?

The recording goes to our server and on to Sarvam AI, a speech service, which turns it into text. We do not store the recording. Your browser holds it for up to 24 hours, so that a dropped connection does not lose your words.

What does bylineAL record when I sign in?

Your name and email address, which come from Google. For each device: when you signed in, when you were last seen, the browser it used and its internet address. A sign-in lasts 60 days. A log of sign-ins is kept for 90 days.

Does it track what I do?

No. There is no advertising and there are no tracking scripts. For each run, the server notes which desk ran, when, how long it took and the word counts. That note holds none of your text and is deleted after 30 days.

What does the Chrome extension read?

Only the text you select and send with the right-click line. It reads no other part of the page and no other page. It never writes into a page.

Where are my licence key and my own Anthropic key kept?

In Chrome, on your computer. The licence key goes with each request, so that the server knows it is you. Your own Anthropic key, if you add one, goes with each request and is used for that request only. We never store it.

How do I sign out of a phone I have lost?

Open the menu, then “SIGNED-IN DEVICES”. Every device on your account is listed and any one of them can be ended from here.

How do I get everything about me deleted?

Choose “NOTHING”, press “DELETE EVERYTHING I TAUGHT”, and clear the “STORAGE” page on each device. To have your account itself removed, write to writestuff@bylineal.com.

Something looks wrong. Who do I tell?

Write to writestuff@bylineal.com. There is no support desk yet, and a message about something that looks wrong is worth more now than it will be later.