What stays in your browser — and how to manage it.

This page summarises, in three categories, what Makerstead stores in a visitor’s browser, why, and for how long. It sits alongside the privacy policy (the data-handling backbone), the terms of service (subscription mechanics), and the other two legal pages. Where this page and the standalone cookies page overlap, this page owns the contractual category-level statement — the per-row vendor and lifetime table lives on /cookies.

One signed-in maker at a time, and the browser needs a way to prove the same maker is back. That’s the role of the authentication cookie.

• What it is. A single HTTP-only cookie set by the better-auth session library that backs Makerstead sign-in. It carries a signed token, not your password, and is invisible to anything running in the page’s JavaScript.
• Vendor. Makerstead, via better-auth. The cookie is first-party; no third party sees its value.
• Purpose.Holds an authenticated maker’s signed-in session across page loads so signing in once keeps the bench open for the rest of the visit — and, by default, for thirty days afterward.
• Lifetime. Thirty days, refreshed each time the maker signs in. Signing out clears it immediately; clearing site data in the browser clears it on next load.
• Opt-out.None. We do not operate a signed-in Makerstead without this cookie — without it, the desk can’t tell who’s on the bench, and the bench simply does not work. Visitors who don’t sign in never receive one.

A small set of browser-only preferences so the site does not get jarring — the wrong color scheme flashing on every load, the wrong language offered, that kind of rough edge. These never leave the browser and none of them are needed for the desk to work.

• What they are.A browser-localStorage entry that stores the visitor’s light / dark theme preference, set by next-themes. Any locale preference key would be stored the same way.
• Vendor. next-themes (browser only). These keys are not transmitted to a server; they exist solely in your browser’s storage.
• Purpose.Remember the visitor’s display choices between page loads.
• Lifetime.Until cleared by the visitor. Clearing “site data” in your browser — or using a private window — removes them.
• Opt-out. Use the theme toggle in the top bar to flip light / dark at any time, or clear site data to drop the key entirely. The site continues to work; the preference just resets on the next visit.

A single first-party visitor-counting beacon so Makerstead can tell which public pages a real visitor reaches — the home page, the pricing page, the public care pages an owner scans. The objective is to know whether the public site is being seen at all, not to profile individuals.

• What it is. A browser-localStorage visitor identifier (polsia_vid) paired with a single outbound page-visit event fired on public routes. The beacon is fire-and-forget; it is not used to follow a visitor across other sites.
• Vendor.Polsia, the platform layer Makerstead runs on. The data is collected against Makerstead’s own account; no third-party analytics vendor (no Google Analytics, no cross-site-tracking vendor) receives it.
• Purpose.Count visits to the public surfaces of Makerstead. Identify repeat visits so a count of “unique visitors this month” can be reported.
• Lifetime. The localStorage key persists until cleared by the visitor; the beacon event is fired once per page load.
• Scope. No IP addresses are stored, no per-user profile is built, no data is shipped to a third party. The signed-in app surfaces do not fire the beacon.

Three categories and three different retention mechanics. The legal basis for retention lives on the privacy policy; this page is the contractual statement of how long each category keeps a footprint in the visitor’s browser.

• Authentication and session. Persist for the active session and, by default, for thirty days afterward — refreshed at each sign-in. Cleared on sign-out, on browser “clear site data”, and on natural expiry.
• Locale and preferences. Persist in browser localStorage until the visitor clears them. Never transmitted to a server; never shared with a third party.
• Analytics.The localStorage identifier persists until cleared by the visitor; the per-page beacon event is emitted once per page load and is not retained client-side. The visitor clears them — that is the only off-switch.

Two layers of control: the browser side — where every modern browser lets you reject, delete, or scope cookies — and the in-app side, where a consent surface on first visit and a preferences pane let a visitor change the same choices without losing their session.

• Browser-level controls.Use your browser’s site-data / cookie settings to clear Makerstead’s data, to block all cookies from this site, or to block third-party tracking. The theme preference and the visitor beacon both use localStorage rather than cookies, so clearing them requires clearing “site data” in the same panel, not just cookies.
• In-app preferences.The granular per-row control surface — the consent banner on first visit and the preferences pane that flips individual categories — lives on the cookies page. Authentication cookies cannot be flipped off from there; they exist only for the signed-in session and clear on sign-out.
• Clearing the analytics identifier. Use your browser’s site-data panel, or open a private window, and the next visit will be counted as a new visitor.

Material changes to this policy get a sign-up-screen notice and at least fourteen (14) days’ notice before they take effect. Non-material changes — typo fixes, wording clarifications, contact-email updates, link updates, retention-window nudges that go uprather than down — are applied silently and reflected in the “Last updated” date at the bottom of the page.

Continued use of Makerstead after a material change takes effect is your acceptance of the updated policy. If a change is one you can’t accept, clear Makerstead’s site data in your browser and stop using the public pages.