Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

ShelfDB is an independent book-discovery service operated from the Republic of Ireland. For the purposes of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), ShelfDB is the data controller for the limited processing described below. You can reach us at [email protected] for any privacy question or request.

2. The short version

We do not run user accounts, we do not use advertising or third-party analytics, and we do not track you across the web. We hold no personal profile about you. The site is a search engine over a public book catalogue, and it is built to stay that way.

3. Information stored in your browser

To make the site usable, ShelfDB stores a small amount of data locally in your own browser, using localStorage and sessionStorage. This includes your light/dark theme choice, the list of books you mark as read, and a short-lived cache of recent search results so pages load faster. This data never leaves your device and is never transmitted to us or to anyone else. You can clear it at any time from your browser settings.

4. Third-party services

ShelfDB relies on a small number of third parties to function. When you use the site, your request is handled by these providers under their own privacy policies:

• Supabase hosts the book database that powers search. When your browser queries the catalogue, Supabase processes that request and may keep standard technical logs (such as your IP address) for security and reliability, as any web host does.
• Cloudflare serves and protects the site. It may process connection metadata to deliver pages and guard against abuse.
• Affiliate retailers — Amazon, Bookshop.org and ThriftBooks. If you click a book's purchase link, you are sent to that retailer, who may set their own cookies to attribute the referral. Their handling of your data is governed by their privacy policies, not ours. See our Terms and the disclosure in the site footer.

5. Cookies

ShelfDB itself sets no advertising or analytics cookies. The only browser storage we use is the first-party, on-device data described in section 3. Cookies you may encounter come from the affiliate retailers listed above, and only after you choose to follow one of their links.

6. Your rights under the GDPR

Because we hold no account and build no profile, there is little personal data for us to act on — but your rights still apply. You have the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict, or object to the processing of any personal data we hold, and the right to data portability. To exercise any of these, email [email protected]. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Irish Data Protection Commission (dataprotection.ie).

7. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the site evolves. Material changes will be reflected in the "last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of ShelfDB after an update means you accept the revised policy.