Cookies
Seven cookies. None of them watch you.
This page lists every cookie Saarthi sets, what each one is for, and how long it lasts. It is written from the code rather than from a template, so it describes what actually happens on this site.
1. The short version
Six of our seven cookies are strictly necessary — without them you cannot sign in or stay signed in. The seventh remembers whether you chose light or dark mode.
We run no analytics cookies and no advertising cookies. There is no Google Analytics, no Google Tag Manager, no Meta Pixel, no Hotjar, no Clarity, and no ad network on this site. We are not asking you to accept tracking because we are not doing any, which is why you will not see a cookie banner here.
2. What we set
All of these are first-party cookies on saarthi.smeminds.com. Everything except the theme cookie is HttpOnly (unreadable by JavaScript) and Secure (sent only over HTTPS).
| Cookie | What it does | Lasts | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
sd_session | Keeps you signed in. We store only a one-way hash of it, so a copy of our database cannot be used to log in as you. | 30 days | Strictly necessary |
g_oauth_state | Protects the “Sign in with Google” round trip against being forged by another site. | 10 minutes | Strictly necessary |
g_oauth_redirect | Remembers which page to return you to after Google sign-in. | 10 minutes | Strictly necessary |
g_oauth_stepup | Marks a Google sign-in as an admin re-authentication. Only ever set for SMEMinds staff. | 10 minutes | Strictly necessary |
smeminds_impersonation | Shows the banner telling you an SMEMinds operator is viewing your account. Only set when that is actually happening. | 8 hours | Strictly necessary |
smeminds_impersonation_return | Lets that operator return to their own account afterwards. | 8 hours | Strictly necessary |
theme | Remembers light or dark mode, and is read before the page paints so the screen does not flash white. This is the only one readable by JavaScript. | 1 year | Functional |
3. Stored on your device, not sent to us
Two items live in your browser's local storage rather than in a cookie. They are never transmitted to our servers — they exist so the Saarthi panel opens instantly instead of waiting for a request.
saarthi-chat:v1— the last 30 messages of your own Saarthi conversation.saarthi-thread:v1— which conversation you were in, so a page reload continues it instead of starting a new one.
Clearing your browser's site data removes both. Neither contains anything we do not already hold in your account.
4. Cookies set by other companies
One, and only if you buy something. When you open the payment window, Razorpay sets its own cookies on its own domains to run the checkout and detect fraud. We cannot read them. If you never open checkout, the Razorpay script is never loaded and no Razorpay cookie is set.
Signing in with Google sends you to Google's own page, where Google sets its own cookies under its own domain. There is no Google script on our pages.
Fonts are served from our own servers, not from Google Fonts, so no request leaves your browser for them.
5. Why there is no cookie banner
Consent banners exist for cookies that are not necessary for the service — analytics, profiling and advertising. We do not set any. Asking you to accept cookies that are required for you to log in would be a ritual rather than a choice, and a banner implying we track you would be inaccurate.
The consent that does matter here is about your data, not your browser, and it is real and granular: Settings → Privacy & Consent, where you can turn Saarthi's AI reasoning or voice transcription off independently and at any time. That is covered in the Privacy Policy.
If we ever add analytics or marketing cookies, we will ask first, and this page will say so before they are set.
6. Controlling cookies yourself
Every browser lets you view and delete cookies, and block them by site. Blocking our strictly-necessary cookies will stop you signing in — there is no way around that, since those cookies are the sign-in. Blocking or clearing the theme cookie simply returns you to the default appearance.
7. Contact
Questions about this page: privacy@smeminds.com. For a formal grievance, our Grievance Officer's details are in the Privacy Policy.