> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.heretic.quest/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Heretic Data Retention: Edge Logs and Dashboard Store

> Heretic retains session measurements in two stores with different windows. Learn what is kept, where, for how long, and how to delete records.

Heretic stores session data across two tiers: a short-lived edge store that holds full measurements close to where they were collected, and a longer-lived dashboard store that holds a compact projection of each verdict for querying. The two tiers have different retention windows, different contents, and different deletion mechanisms. Understanding the model helps you reason about what Heretic holds and what you can remove.

## What a Session Records

A session is one visit that ran the collector. Heretic records three categories of information for each session.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Off the connection">
    Heretic reads your visitor's **TCP options**, **TLS ClientHello**, and **HTTP/2 framing** directly off the wire — none of these values are forgeable by page-level code. The edge also sees the **connecting IP address** and derives the network it belongs to: autonomous system (ASN), country, and a coarse **network classification** (datacenter, residential, and so on).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Measured on the machine">
    Outputs of work the hardware actually performed: **compute · GPU · parallel · frames · microarch · canvas · audio**. These are the measurements a verdict leans on most heavily, because a client cannot simply assert them — they are the result of real execution.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Declared by the browser">
    What the browser reports about itself: **navigator · screen · intl · userAgentData · webgl · declared surface**. Heretic reads these only as claims to check against the measured values, never as facts on their own.

    High-entropy surface values — font lists, plugin enumerations, and similar — are stored as their **shape** (counts, families, coarse buckets) by default. A site can opt into raw values, but shape-only is the default.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Where It Lives

<Steps>
  <Step title="Edge memory — 15 minutes">
    The full session record (every measurement, the connecting IP, the deep evidence) lives in the edge node's memory for **15 minutes** after collection. During this window, the explain endpoint reads directly from this in-memory store for the lowest possible latency.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Append-only edge log — operator-set window">
    After 15 minutes, the record moves to an **append-only log on that edge node**. This log is the source of truth for the raw measurement data. An operator-set retention window governs how long records persist here; past the window, records are dropped automatically. You cannot query this log from the dashboard.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Dashboard store — 90 days">
    A **compact projection** of each verdict is copied to Heretic's control-plane database and associated with your account. This projection contains: the verdict outcome, the signals behind it, the network classification, and timestamps. It does **not** contain the raw connecting IP address. Projected verdicts are swept after **90 days**. This is what the dashboard verdict history and the verdict read API serve.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What Is Not Stored

Heretic does not set advertising identifiers. The collector reads no cookies and writes none. The only thing written to the visitor's browser storage is a short-lived routing note — approximately 15 minutes — that records which edge node answered the session, so a follow-up call routes correctly. That note expires automatically; nothing else persists in the browser.

<Note>
  If you disable device fingerprinting with `render: false` in the collector, the render-clustering signal family is excluded entirely. All other measurement families — network geometry, transport stack, locale, hardware compute — continue to run. See the [collector docs](/integration/collector) for configuration options.
</Note>

## Deleting Records

You can delete a site's verdicts from the dashboard store at any time.

1. Go to [heretic.quest/dashboard/keys](https://heretic.quest/dashboard/keys).
2. Locate the site whose records you want to remove.
3. Select the delete option for that site's verdicts.

The deletion runs against the dashboard store (the queryable compact projection). It does not reach into the edge log, which clears on its own retention schedule.

<Warning>
  **Deletions are permanent and logged.** Each deletion request produces an audit record containing the site identifier, the number of rows removed, the timestamp, and the identity of the requester. The verdict records themselves are gone, but the deletion event leaves a permanent entry in the audit log.
</Warning>

### What the Deletion Log Contains

| Field     | Value                                           |
| --------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
| Site      | The site identifier whose verdicts were deleted |
| Row count | Number of verdict records removed               |
| Timestamp | When the deletion ran                           |
| Requester | The account that initiated the request          |

The deletion log is separate from the verdict data — removing verdicts does not remove the audit entry for that removal.

## Data Requests

For questions about what Heretic holds relating to a specific individual, or to submit an erasure request, contact [hello@heretic.quest](mailto:hello@heretic.quest).


## Related topics

- [Heretic Privacy: Data Collection, Retention, and Deletion](/reference/privacy.md)
- [Heretic Dashboard: Manage Sites, Keys, and Verdicts](/dashboard/overview.md)
- [Heretic API Keys: Collector Setup and Explain Endpoint](/dashboard/api-keys.md)
- [Heretic FAQ: Integration, Verdicts, Privacy, and Access](/reference/faq.md)
- [Enforce Traffic Policy Using Heretic Verdicts and Signals](/integration/policy-enforcement.md)