FrameLatheWhat leaves the machine
Video is processed locally. The app’s network use is updates, licence activation, optional GPU pack, requested weights, and the Model Hub index.
The product claim is specific: processing is local. The installer is still allowed to use the network for a short list of jobs. That list is in EULA §7, not a slogan.
Desktop app
The software runs on your computer and processes your video locally. It connects to the internet only to:
- check for and download updates
- download the app’s video tools (ffmpeg, the upscale and frame-rate tools and the selection models) from framelathe.com, once on first launch and again only when an update changes one. This runs before a licence is activated and sends nothing but the request for each file
- activate or release a licence key when you ask it to
- download NVIDIA and PyTorch wheels for the GPU add-on pack when you request it
- download model weights you request, and the photo check’s model (69 MB, from framelathe.com) the first time photos are added or opened
- download the optional face fix (1.89 GB, from framelathe.com) when you ask for it in an open photo and accept its licence; the request sends the stored licence document and the version of the licence agreement you accepted, never the photo. FrameLathe keeps your licence key, that version and the time as the record that you accepted the face fix’s terms
- load the public model index when you open Model Hub
Activation happens when you paste a key in Settings, not at launch and not when a job starts. What is sent is the key and a fingerprint derived at activation. It is not stored as hardware inventory. It is not sent at launch or at Start. Checking for updates sends the stored licence document to framelathe.com, and updates download from framelathe.com. After activation that document includes the fingerprint hash. The check does not run if the update check is off, or if no licence is activated. The app does not phone home to run.
It sends no usage analytics, no crash reports, and no information about your files to FrameLathe.
There is no cloud processing path. Joining the waitlist does not upload footage and does not create an app account.
AI apps you connect
Settings → AI apps is off until you turn it on. When it is on, an AI app you connect (such as Claude Code) talks to FrameLathe’s MCP server on your PC over a local pipe, and FrameLathe still sends nothing anywhere. The AI app is a different matter: what the tools return to it (file names, clip details, progress, and any preview frame you ask for) goes to that app’s provider under that provider’s terms. Preview frames are off unless you ask for one. See AI apps.
This website
The site is separate from the renderer:
- Waitlist email lives in Cloudflare D1 so we can send a confirm mail and a mail when a major new version ships.
- The optional docs assistant runs on Cloudflare Workers AI over published docs, not over your media.
- The site keeps a plain tally of assistant use (when, how many messages, whether it answered or handed off to a human). It stores no message text, email address, or IP address.
- If you ask to talk to a human, the Worker emails the team. It does not open a third-party helpdesk.