Cookie Policy

How and why we use cookies

Last updated: September 21, 2026

This Cookie Policy explains what cookies are, how EliteWorks uses them, and how you can manage your preferences. We believe in total transparency, especially when it comes to your data.

1. What are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites work more efficiently, provide secure logins, and provide analytical information to the website owners.

2. How We Use Cookies

EliteWorks uses cookies strictly for functional, security, and analytical purposes. We do not use invasive third-party marketing cookies to track you across the internet. Our cookies fall into the following categories:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are essential for the EliteWorks platform to function. You cannot opt out of these as the dashboard will break.

  • Authentication (Clerk): We use secure cookies to keep you logged into your dashboard and prevent unauthorized access to your documents.
  • Payments: Our payment processor uses cookies to securely process your payments and prevent fraudulent transactions.
  • Security: Cookies that help us detect malicious activity or fraud or abuse of our credit system.

Analytics and Performance Cookies

We use product analytics tools (such as PostHog) to understand how users interact with our platform. These are set only if you allow analytics cookies, and you can change that choice at any time.

  • These cookies track usage metrics like button clicks, page views, and error rates, linked to your account when you are signed in.
  • They also enable session recording: a playback of how a page was used, which we watch to find where the product is confusing or broken. Recording is configured to mask text and anything typed into a field, so it captures movement and clicks rather than content.
  • This data helps us fix bugs and improve the UI.
  • This data is never linked to the actual content of the documents you upload.

The cookies themselves

What a browser actually holds after signing in to EliteWorks. Names can carry a short suffix.

CookieSet byWhat forKept for
ew_referral, ew_discord_linkEliteWorksCompleting an invitation or account link you opened, including across sign-in. These are not analytics identifiers.Referral: up to 30 days; Discord link: 10 minutes; removed after completion
__session, __client, __client_uat, __refresh, clerk_active_contextClerk, our sign-in providerKeeping you signed in. Strictly necessary.From the browser session up to 13 months, depending on the cookie
__cf_bm, _cfuvidCloudflare, on behalf of ClerkTelling people from bots on the sign-in service. Strictly necessary.30 minutes, or until you close the browser
ew_consent_v1EliteWorksRemembering your answer about analytics cookies. Strictly necessary.1 year
ph_…_posthogPostHog, our analytics providerProduct analytics. Set only if you allow analytics cookies.1 year

Our payment provider sets its own cookies on its own checkout page, not on EliteWorks. No advertising network has access to any cookie listed here.

3. Third-Party Services

The cookies in the table above are set by us and by these partners:

  • Clerk: handling sign-ups and authentication securely, with Cloudflare protecting that service from bots.
  • PostHog: product analytics, only if you allow analytics cookies.
  • Our payment provider: processing purchases. Its cookies are set on its own checkout page, not on EliteWorks.

These partners are bound by strict data privacy agreements and applicable data-protection regulations. If we ever add another analytics tool, or a tag manager that loads one, it is covered by the same consent as PostHog: nothing non-essential is loaded before you allow it, and this policy is updated to name it.

4. How to Manage Your Cookies

When you first visit EliteWorks, a consent banner lets you Accept or Reject non-essential analytics cookies; if your first visit is a first sign-in, the same question is asked once in the welcome dialog instead, as an optional box that starts empty. Analytics are only enabled if you accept; if you reject, no analytics cookies are set and no analytics tracking occurs. Strictly necessary cookies are always active because the platform cannot function without them.

Changing your mind. Use the Cookie Settings control at the top of this page, or the same control in your account settings — it takes effect immediately, and withdrawing is as easy as giving. Your choice is stored in a first-party cookie on the device you made it on for one year, so you may be asked again after that, on another device, or if you clear your browser data.

You can also set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. If you reject cookies entirely, you may still browse public pages, but access to the secure Dashboard (uploading files, checking reports) will be restricted, as session cookies are required for authorization.

To learn how to manage cookies on popular browsers, please visit the help pages of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, or Microsoft Edge.

5. Updates to This Policy

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our tech stack or legal requirements. We encourage you to review this page periodically for the latest information.