Telemetry

What anonymous usage telemetry an Arc Enterprise node reports, what is deliberately excluded, and how to disable it in arc.toml or by environment variable across a cluster.

Arc sends anonymous usage telemetry to help improve the project. This page explains what data is collected, how it's used, and how to opt out.

Overview

Arc collects minimal, anonymous usage statistics to help the development team understand:

How Arc is being deployed (operating systems, hardware configurations)
Which Arc versions are in active use
Basic system characteristics for optimization and testing

What is collected

Arc sends the following anonymous data every 24 hours (the subnet field is the one exception: it is derived by the receiving server, not sent by Arc):

Instance information

instance_id: A random UUID generated on first run
- Stored in ./data/.instance_id
- Unique per Arc installation
- Not linked to any personal information
timestamp: When the telemetry report was generated (UTC)
arc_version: The running version number (e.g., 0.1.0)
subnet: The network prefix of the address the report arrived from, with the host portion removed — IPv4 is truncated to a /24 (203.0.113.47 is recorded as 203.0.113.0) and IPv6 to a /48. This is derived by the telemetry server from the connection itself; Arc does not send it and does not know its own public address. The full address is never stored and never written to a log — only the truncated prefix is retained. It is used to understand which regions Arc is deployed in; a /24 covers up to 254 hosts and does not identify an individual machine. Recorded as unknown when the address is unavailable.

System information

os: Operating system details
- Name (e.g., "Linux", "macOS", "Windows")
- Version (e.g., "Ubuntu 22.04", "macOS 14.0")
- Architecture (e.g., "x86_64", "arm64")
- Platform (e.g., "linux", "darwin")
cpu: CPU characteristics
- Physical cores
- Logical cores (threads)
- Frequency in MHz
memory: System memory
- Total RAM in gigabytes

CLI installations (Arc releases after 26.09.1)

clients.arcli: the arcli installations that talked to this node since its previous report (what the CLI sends and how to opt out: arcli privacy)
- arcli sends a random per-installation UUID (Arcli-Installation-Id header) and its version (User-Agent); the node keeps at most 256 distinct ids per report and marks the list truncated beyond that
- Only requests the node authenticated are counted (public routes such as /health never are; with authentication disabled every served request is trusted); the id is never logged and nothing about the request (database, query, token) is recorded
- The same id reaches every Arc server that installation uses, so Basekick can count how many CLI installations talk to how many instances
- Users disable it on the CLI side with DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or send_installation_id = false in ~/.arcli/config.toml; disabling Arc telemetry on the node also stops it
- Omitted entirely when no CLI installation was seen

Example payload

{
  "instance_id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "timestamp": "2024-01-20T10:30:00Z",
  "arc_version": "0.1.0",
  "os": {
    "name": "Linux",
    "version": "Ubuntu 22.04",
    "architecture": "x86_64",
    "platform": "linux"
  },
  "cpu": {
    "physical_cores": 8,
    "logical_cores": 16,
    "frequency_mhz": 3400
  },
  "memory": {
    "total_gb": 32
  },
  "clients": {
    "arcli": {
      "installations": 1,
      "truncated": false,
      "list": [
        { "id": "0f0f0f0f-0f0f-4f0f-8f0f-0f0f0f0f0f0f", "version": "26.09.1", "last_seen": "2024-01-20T09:58:12Z" }
      ]
    }
  }
}

What is NOT collected

Arc explicitly avoids collecting:

User Data: No usernames, emails, or personal information
Database Contents: No table names, schemas, or data
Query Information: No SQL queries or query patterns
Network Information: No full IP addresses or hostnames — only the truncated subnet described under What is collected
Credentials: No API keys, passwords, or tokens
File Paths: No directory structures or file names
Performance Metrics: No query times, throughput, or resource usage
Custom Configuration: No application-specific settings

How it works

Telemetry schedule

First Transmission: right after Arc starts
Subsequent Transmissions: Every 24 hours (telemetry.interval_seconds)
Shutdown: one final report if CLI installations were seen since the last one (best effort, 5 s timeout), so nodes restarted more often than the interval still report them
Primary Worker Only: Only the primary worker process sends telemetry (multi-worker deployments send one report)

Endpoint

Telemetry is sent to: telemetry.basekick.net

Network behavior

If the telemetry endpoint is unreachable, Arc logs a warning but continues operating normally
Failed transmissions are retried during the next scheduled transmission
No telemetry data is queued or persisted locally

Startup logging

Arc logs telemetry status on startup:

When Enabled:

INFO: Telemetry enabled. Sending anonymous usage data to telemetry.basekick.net every 24 hours.

When Disabled:

INFO: Telemetry disabled via configuration.

Disabling telemetry

You can opt out of telemetry in two ways:

Option 1: configuration file

Edit your arc.toml file and add:

[telemetry]
enabled = false

Full Example:

[server]
host = "0.0.0.0"
port = 8000

[telemetry]
enabled = false

Option 2: environment variable

Set the environment variable before starting Arc:

export ARC_TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false

With Docker:

docker run -e ARC_TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false arc:latest

With Docker Compose:

services:
  arc:
    image: arc:latest
    environment:
      - ARC_TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false

Verification

After configuring, start Arc and check the logs:

INFO: Telemetry disabled via configuration.

If you see this message, telemetry is successfully disabled.

Why telemetry?

Benefits to the project

Anonymous telemetry helps the Arc team:

Prioritize Platform Support: Understand which operating systems and architectures to focus on
Test on Real Hardware: Know what CPU and memory configurations are common
Track Version Adoption: See how quickly users upgrade to new releases
Plan Deprecations: Identify when old versions are no longer in use
Understand Reach: See which regions Arc is deployed in, at subnet granularity

Privacy considerations

Arc's telemetry is designed with privacy as a priority:

Anonymous: Not linked to any individual. Addresses are truncated to a subnet before storage, so no report is tied to a specific machine
Minimal: Only essential system characteristics
Transparent: Full disclosure of what is collected
Optional: Easy opt-out with no functionality loss
No Tracking: No cookies, fingerprinting, or cross-site tracking

Frequently asked questions

Does telemetry affect performance?

No. Telemetry runs asynchronously and has negligible performance impact:

Transmission occurs once per 24 hours
Payload is ~500 bytes
Network timeout is short (5 seconds)
Failed transmissions don't block Arc operations

Can I verify what's being sent?

Yes. You can inspect the telemetry payload by:

Network Inspection: Use tools like Wireshark or tcpdump to capture the request
Source Code: Review the telemetry implementation in the Arc repository
Logging: Enable debug logging to see telemetry payloads (future feature)

What happens to the data?

Telemetry data is:

Stored securely on Basekick infrastructure
Aggregated for statistical analysis
Not shared with third parties
Not used for commercial purposes
Retained for a limited time (90 days)

Will Arc work if telemetry is blocked?

Yes. Arc functions identically whether telemetry is enabled or disabled. If the telemetry endpoint is unreachable (firewall, network issues), Arc logs a warning and continues normally.

Why not make it opt-in?

We believe in transparency and easy opt-out rather than opt-in because:

Telemetry helps improve the product for everyone
Data collected is truly anonymous and minimal
Opt-out is simple and clearly documented
Many users don't discover opt-in options

However, we respect your choice and make opting out straightforward.