- OdinHorse is completely free. We don't sell your data, show ads, or use tracking or advertising cookies.
- We only collect what we need to run your account, host your code and let you collaborate.
- Your email is private by default. You choose what goes on your public profile.
- You can download everything we hold about you, correct it, or delete your account at any time from Settings.
1. Who we are
OdinHorse ("we", "us") is a free platform for programmers to host projects, write code together, track issues and find collaborators. It is operated by Swift Platforms in Uganda, which acts as the data controller for the personal data described here.
We process personal data in line with the Data Protection and Privacy Act, 2019 (Uganda) and the Data Protection and Privacy Regulations, 2021. Where you live in the European Union or United Kingdom, we also respect your rights under the GDPR / UK GDPR; if you live in Kenya, under the Data Protection Act, 2019.
2. What we collect
| Category | Data | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Account | First, middle and last name, username, email address, password (stored only as a one-way bcrypt hash — we can never see it) | You, at sign-up |
| Profile (optional) | Photo, bio, skills, programming languages, university, location, what you're looking for, website | You, in Settings |
| Your content | Projects, uploaded .zip files and screenshots, code files and their saved versions, issues, comments, stars, forks | You and your collaborators |
| Communication | Direct and project messages, live-editor chat, collaboration requests, blocks, notifications | You and the people you talk to |
| Live collaboration | Which file you have open, cursor position and edit operations while you are in the live editor; when you last saved | Your browser, automatically while editing |
| Screen room | That you are in a project's screen room, and whether your screen or microphone is on. Your screen and voice themselves travel directly and encrypted to your collaborators' browsers — they are never uploaded, stored or recorded by us | Your browser, only while you are in the room and only when you choose to share |
| Technical | One session cookie, the time you were last active (for the "online" badge — you can hide it), records of code runs (language, duration, exit code) | Automatically |
| Legal & safety | Which version of these terms you accepted and when, reports you file or that are filed about your content, messages you send through the contact form | You and other users |
| Historic payments | If you paid for certification before it became free: amount, currency, payment reference and status (we never stored card or mobile-money PINs) | Our former payment processor |
We do not collect national ID numbers, precise location, contacts from your phone, or any special/sensitive personal data. Please don't put sensitive personal data (yours or anyone else's) inside public projects.
3. Why we use it, and our legal basis
| Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Creating and securing your account, logging you in, resetting your password | Performance of our agreement with you (the Terms) |
| Hosting your projects, running the editor, issues, messages and collaboration | Performance of our agreement with you |
| Showing your public profile and public projects to other users | Your choice / consent — controlled in Settings and per project |
| Preventing abuse, spam and malware; moderating reports; keeping the service secure | Our legitimate interest in a safe platform, and legal obligations |
| Answering your questions and data-rights requests | Legal obligation and legitimate interest |
| Keeping proof of which terms you accepted | Legal obligation (accountability) |
We do not use your data for advertising, profiling, or automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you. We will not use your data for a new purpose without telling you first and, where required, asking for your consent.
4. Who can see your data
- Other users see your username, name, photo, bio, profile details and public projects. Your email is hidden unless you switch on "Show my email" in Settings. Private projects are visible only to you and the collaborators you add, plus anyone you give a share link to.
- Collaborators on a project see its files, history, issues, chat and who is editing.
- Moderators (a small number of authorised OdinHorse staff) may view content that has been reported, only to deal with that report.
- Service providers that help us run the site, under contract and only on our instructions: our web hosting provider (servers and database), and content-delivery networks that serve fonts and icons — Google Fonts, cdnjs (Cloudflare) and jsDelivr. When your browser loads these, the provider receives your IP address and browser details, as with any website.
- Screen room connections: to connect your browser directly to your collaborators', it contacts a public STUN server (Google's, unless we configure our own) and, on strict networks, a relay (TURN) server. These see your IP address, never your screen or voice, which are end-to-end encrypted. Collaborators in the room can see what you choose to share — close private windows first.
- Authorities, only when the law requires it (for example a valid court order), and we will tell you unless we are legally prohibited from doing so.
We never sell, rent or trade personal data.
5. International transfers
Our hosting provider and content-delivery networks may store or process data outside Uganda. We only use providers in countries or under contracts that give an adequate level of protection, as required by section 19 of the Data Protection and Privacy Act, 2019 (and Chapter V of the GDPR for EU/UK users).
6. How long we keep it
| Data | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Account, profile, projects, messages | Until you delete them or your account. Account deletion removes them immediately from the live database. |
| Live-editor presence (open file, cursor) | Removed automatically within about 10 minutes of you leaving |
| Screen-room presence and connection messages | Deleted within about 2 minutes of leaving; screen content is never stored |
| Password-reset links | Expire after 60 minutes; used links are invalidated |
| Contact-form messages and data-rights requests | Up to 24 months after the request is closed |
| Reports and moderation records | Up to 24 months after they are resolved |
| Consent records | For as long as your account exists |
| Server backups | Overwritten on a rolling basis within 30 days |
7. Your rights — and how to use them
You have the right to:
- Access your data and get a copy — Download my data gives you everything in a machine-readable JSON file instantly (this also covers data portability).
- Correct inaccurate data — edit your profile in Settings, or ask us to fix anything you can't edit.
- Delete your data — use "Delete my account" in Settings, or delete individual projects at any time.
- Object to or restrict processing, and withdraw consent (for example, hide your profile from the directory) at any time, without affecting what was done before.
- Not be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing — we don't make any.
- Complain to a regulator (see section 12).
For anything you can't do yourself, use the contact form and choose a data-protection category, or email privacy@odinhorse.com. We may ask you to confirm your identity, and we reply within 30 days. Exercising your rights is free.
8. Security and data breaches
We protect your data with: one-way hashed passwords, prepared database statements, CSRF protection on every form, session hardening, single-use time-limited password reset links, access checks on every private project, blocked script execution in upload folders, and HTTPS on the live site. Only authorised staff can reach the database.
No system is perfectly secure. If a breach puts your personal data at risk, we will notify the Personal Data Protection Office and affected users without undue delay, as required by section 23 of the Data Protection and Privacy Act, 2019 (and within 72 hours to the relevant authority under the GDPR where it applies), and tell you what we are doing about it.
9. Children
OdinHorse is meant for people aged 13 and over. Under Ugandan law a child is anyone under 18, so if you are under 18 you may only use OdinHorse with the consent of your parent or guardian. If we learn that we hold a child's data without that consent, we will delete it. Parents can contact us to review or delete their child's data.
10. Cookies
We use a single, strictly necessary session cookie to keep you logged in and protect forms from forgery. We also store a small flag in your browser so the cookie notice isn't shown again. There are no analytics, advertising or tracking cookies. See the Cookie Policy.
11. Changes to this policy
If we make a material change, we'll update the date and version at the top, show a notice when you next log in, and ask you to accept the new version before continuing. Older versions are available on request.
12. Contact and complaints
Data protection contact: privacy@odinhorse.com · or use the contact form.
If you're not happy with how we handled your data, you can complain to the Personal Data Protection Office (PDPO), Uganda — pdpo.go.ug. If you live in the EU/UK or Kenya you may also complain to your local supervisory authority (for Kenya, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner). We'd appreciate the chance to sort it out first.