Cookies and browser storage

In short

Artica uses only essential cookies: to keep you signed in, and for a few minutes while you connect Zendesk.
No analytics, advertising or tracking cookies, and no third-party scripts that set them.
A few items sit in your browser’s session storage while you use a tool. The browser deletes them when you close the tab, and most are removed sooner. Our sign-in provider keeps one settings item, with no personal data, in local storage.
We count page views without cookies or browser storage.

Cookies

Name	Set by	Purpose	Lasts	Essential
`__session`, `__session_*`	Clerk, on artica.tools (signed in only)	A short-lived signed token that proves you are signed in	About a minute, renewed while the page is open	Yes
`__client_uat`, `__client_uat_*`	Clerk, on artica.tools	When your sign-in last changed, so the site knows whether to check your session	Up to about a year	Yes
`__client`	Clerk, on clerk.artica.tools	Your signed-in session on Clerk’s side (not readable by page scripts)	Until you sign out or the session expires	Yes
Other Clerk cookies	Clerk	Short-lived cookies Clerk uses while it checks or refreshes a session	Seconds to the length of your session	Yes
`artica_zd_oauth`	Artica	Ties the return from Zendesk to the browser that started the connection, so nobody else can complete it. Sent only to the Zendesk callback address; not readable by page scripts	15 minutes	Yes

Clerk may change the exact names of its cookies; they stay limited to sign-in.

Session storage

Session storage belongs to one browser tab and is cleared when the tab closes. Artica never sends it anywhere except as described.

Key	Holds	Why	Removed
`artica.landing`	The first page of your visit, the referring address, and campaign tags	If you create an account in this visit, your account records where it came from (the referring site’s domain only)	When the tab closes
`artica.custom-request.draft`	The name, email and help center address you typed in a custom theme request	Brings your draft back after you sign up	When you return, or when the tab closes
`artica:format-fixer:pending`	The article you checked	Brings it back after you sign up to fix it	As soon as you’re back, or when the tab closes
`artica:ticket-exporter:resume`	Your export choices (range, brand, format, personal-data option)	Brings them back after you sign up or sign in	As soon as you’re back, or when the tab closes

Local storage

Key	Set by	Holds	Removed
`__clerk_environment`	Clerk	A cached copy of our sign-in settings (no personal data), so the sign-in form loads faster	Refreshed by Clerk; clear it in your browser settings

Artica’s own code doesn’t use local storage. Clerk’s sign-in script loads from clerk.artica.tools, Clerk’s service on our domain.

The Chrome extension

The extension uses Chrome’s storage.session, which lives in memory and is cleared when Chrome closes. During a recording it holds the recording’s state and its already-redacted screenshots, so a recording survives Chrome pausing the extension; they are removed when the recording ends. It also remembers whether you’re signed in. The extension sets no cookies.

How we count visits without cookies

Each page view sends a small message to our own server with the page, referrer and screen width. Our server works out a daily visitor code from the date, your IP address and your browser’s user agent, then discards the IP address and user agent. Nothing is stored on your device. The details, including why the code is pseudonymous rather than anonymous, are in our Privacy Policy.

Content from other sites

When you preview an article in Format fixer, its images and embedded videos may load from the article’s own site or video host, which receives your IP address (we send no referrer) and may set its own cookies under its own policy.

Why there is no consent banner

Cookie consent rules (such as the EU ePrivacy Directive and the UK PECR) exempt storage that is strictly necessary for a service you ask for. Everything above is either strictly necessary (signing in, connecting Zendesk) or helps a task you started, in your own tab. Our page counting doesn’t store or read anything on your device beyond the page and screen width a page view sends. So we don’t ask for consent, and we don’t show a banner.

Your choices

You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. If you block Clerk’s cookies, you can’t sign in; the public pages and the Format fixer Check still work.
To stop page counting, block requests to artica.tools/api/collect; most content blockers can.
Questions: hello@artica.tools.