Security

Credential storage

Lights Off stores your Mastodon access token on disk in your platform config directory:

Platform Location
Windows %APPDATA%\lights-off\<instance>\
macOS ~/Library/Application Support/lights-off/<instance>/
Linux ~/.config/lights-off/<instance>/

The access token allows the app to read and post on your behalf. It is stored as a plain text file with standard user-only file permissions. Do not share this directory.

OAuth client credentials (client_id and client_secret) are stored in client_secrets.secret in the same directory. These are public-ish (they identify the app registration, not your account) but there is no reason to share them either.

No password storage

Your Mastodon password is never seen or stored by Lights Off. Authentication is handled entirely through the Mastodon OAuth 2.0 browser flow; Lights Off only ever receives the resulting access token.

Network access

Lights Off makes HTTPS calls only to:

  • Your configured Mastodon instance (API calls and streaming)
  • pypi.org on startup (version check — can be skipped)
  • URLs you explicitly open via Ctrl+O (in your default browser)

It does not phone home, send analytics, or contact any Anthropic or third-party service.

Reporting vulnerabilities

Open an issue at https://github.com/matthewdeanmartin/lights-off/issues with the label security. For sensitive issues, email matthewdeanmartin@gmail.com directly.