Privacy and data flow
Updated 19 October 2026.
What Vansa Bot reads, what it sends to Vansa, what it stores and for how long.
Who operates Vansa Bot
Vansa Bot is operated by Vansa.org in Lithuania, under the VANSA Labs brand.
Where data is hosted
Vansa Bot is self-hosted: it runs on servers that Vansa.org owns and operates in Lithuania, and its database and backups are stored there, not with a cloud provider. Slack's deliveries to Vansa Bot (messages and button actions) and the API-key form reach it through Cloudflare's network (Cloudflare Tunnel), and its checks reach the Vansa API through Cloudflare; Cloudflare provides these HTTPS connections in transit and is not used to store Vansa Bot's data.
What Vansa Bot checks
- New messages people post in public channels where Vansa Bot was invited and monitoring is active. Edited messages are checked again while monitoring is active.
- Not checked: private channels, direct messages, group messages, Slack Connect channels, messages from bots and apps, join and leave notices, and files. Files are never downloaded.
- No message history is imported. Messages posted before monitoring started or while it was paused are not checked later.
- The private review channel only receives alerts. Its messages are not checked.
Who sees alerts
Alerts go only to the private review channel an administrator chose. Anyone in that channel can read them. Only people appointed as Vansa Bot reviewers or administrators can claim, dismiss or resolve them; installing the app does not grant these rights. An alert links to the original message and names the criteria that triggered it. It contains a short excerpt of the message only if an administrator turned excerpts on.
What is sent to Vansa
For each check, Vansa Bot sends the message text and your workspace's criteria to the Vansa API with your workspace's own Vansa API key. Before sending, the text is reduced:
- mentions of people become placeholders such as @user1 and @user2;
- channel mentions become #channel;
- links become their visible label or host name, and email addresses become [email].
Vansa Bot does not add profile details, workspace or channel names, or message permalinks to the request. Normalization reduces identifying information in Slack markup; names or other identifying information written in the message itself may remain. Text entered with Test text is sent the same way, uses the connected key's tokens and does not create a review case. Test text is stored encrypted until the test finishes and then deleted; text from a test that does not finish is removed after 15 minutes by cleanup that runs every 5 minutes. Vansa (the same operator as Vansa Bot) processes these API requests under its own terms and privacy policy (vansa.org); replacing or removing your key does not delete records Vansa keeps. Vansa's published privacy policy allows submitted text fragments in diagnostics and does not specify a fixed automatic deletion schedule for usage records. Vansa's infrastructure logs and backups have separate retention. The bot's deletion schedule below does not establish deletion of those provider-held copies. Requests about records Vansa keeps go to privacy@vansa.org.
What is stored and for how long
The periods below describe the active application database. Encrypted database backups are scheduled to expire 7 days after their snapshot starts, with hourly cleanup that runs independently of new backup creation. A cleanup or storage failure can delay removal. Copying a backup does not extend its lifetime. At this stage, encrypted backups and the deletion ledger are kept only on the bot's own server. Before a restored backup is used, the newest local deletion ledger is applied again and restored pending work is retired, so a local restore does not revive deleted workspaces or resume old queued checks. There is no independent copy; loss of that server cannot be recovered from these local files.
The app also stores workspace, channel and user identifiers, the names of channels it is added to, installation information, configured checks and roles, channel eligibility and access checks. These records operate the integration and enforce permissions; they are removed with the workspace's data. Profile flags used to verify owners, administrators, guests and deactivated users are cached. Raw Slack event payloads and unused profile information are not retained.
- Message text waiting for a check: encrypted, deleted after the check and otherwise expires after 24 hours and is removed by the next cleanup, which runs every 5 minutes. Messages that could not be checked in time are shown as unprocessed.
- Incoming Slack events: event identifiers, types and times are stored to deduplicate retries. Raw event payloads are not stored.
- Check results and review cases: criteria, scores, reviewer decisions and a link to the message, kept for up to 30 days. The excerpt, note and message link are then removed, and the remaining case record is deleted within 2 more days plus the hourly cleanup interval. Optional excerpts and review notes are encrypted and deleted with their case.
- Event identifiers and deletion markers: 7 days, without message text.
- Deletion ledger: one content-free entry per deleted workspace (an internal ID, the app ID, a keyed hash of the workspace's Slack identifiers, the reason and times), kept without expiry so the deletion can be applied again after a backup restore.
- Daily usage counts: 400 days, without message text.
- Security and configuration audit records: 90 days.
- Operational logs: 14 days. Logs never contain message text, keys or tokens.
- Slack tokens: encrypted, deleted when the app is uninstalled or its access is revoked.
- Your Vansa API key: encrypted, deleted when it is replaced or when the workspace's data is deleted.
Uninstalling
When Vansa Bot is uninstalled, it stops checking messages, deletes its Slack tokens and any message text still waiting, and schedules the workspace's remaining data for deletion 7 days later. Actual deletion requires the local deletion ledger to be durably written first; a write failure can delay removal. Reinstalling before deletion keeps the existing settings. If Slack revokes the app's access without an uninstall, Vansa Bot stops checking messages and deletes its Slack tokens and any message text still waiting, but schedules no deletion: the workspace's settings, roles, channel records and encrypted Vansa API key are kept until the app is uninstalled or a deletion request is handled. Other records follow the periods above. Restored backups are reconciled against the deletion ledger before processing resumes, so a completed workspace deletion is applied again after a restore.
After an on-time workspace deletion, a backup that still contains its records can remain for up to 7 more days, plus the hourly cleanup interval. Failures in deletion or backup cleanup can extend this period and need operator attention. These limits cover the bot's copies; they do not delete records held by Vansa or Slack.
Data requests
Anyone whose personal data is processed by Vansa Bot can contact VANSA Labs to request access, transfer or deletion of their own stored records, or report a privacy concern. Workspace administrators can also request access, export, transfer or deletion of the workspace's stored records. Include the workspace ID if known and the request type. Do not send API keys, Slack tokens or confidential message text. We verify identity and, for workspace-wide requests, workspace authority before handling the request. A personal request does not grant access to other people's records. You can also ask for correction or restriction of your records, or object to their processing. Security and configuration audit records are kept for their stated period or until the workspace's data is deleted. Uninstalling starts the automatic deletion process described above. You can complain to Lithuania's State Data Protection Inspectorate or the authority where you live or work; Vansa's privacy policy (vansa.org) explains these rights. The workspace organisation that installs Vansa Bot is responsible for its monitoring; requests about that monitoring may also need to go to it. Roles and legal bases are explained on the Vansa Bot privacy page.
Bot support and data requests: bot@vansa.org
Copies kept by Slack
Vansa Bot cannot delete messages in Slack. Original messages and alert cards stay in Slack under your workspace's own retention settings. When a source message is deleted or a case expires, Vansa Bot removes the excerpt from its own alert card where it still has access.