Dragon’s Desk AI Diligence Statement

What this is: a transparent overview of how this app was built (largely with AI) and how it is run, to give people the opportunity to decide for themselves whether they can trust and are interested in Dragon’s Desk. Written with help from the Show Your Work self-assessment plugin by Spheniscidine on Github. Please read and come to your own conclusions. It is not a guarantee of security or safety. All feedback is welcome. A short, three-question survey is linked at the end.

Disclosure completeness: 8 of 8 sections answered.

Status: Pre-launch disclosure (development ongoing)
Audience: Dev update readers, alpha testers, people considering whether to keep following development
In the app: Help → AI Diligence Statement
Next planned review: Pre-0.7.0

Last updated: 2026-08-14

My AI commitments

• I will never use your data to train AI models.
• I will never send your data to a third-party AI service.
• Dragon’s Desk has no AI features built into the product, and it never will.
• No AI-generated art, creative writing, or document conversion.
  • The logo, for example, is by the fantastic Luke Broderick!
• Every creator I partner with must also commit to no AI-generated creative work or data farming.

1. AI involvement & builder capability

• How much AI assistance: Almost all code is written by AI coding agents. Typically, I think about what I would like to add or change, dialogue with an agent about what’s feasible, and nail down exactly what is my preferred approach. Then after the agent builds a plan and implements it, I verify everything works properly and looks and feels like I want it to. Smaller changes might skip the planning step, while larger ones require breaking the update down into many PRs, implemented and tested one by one over hours or days.
• Could I debug / maintain this solo? No, not without a lot of research as I go. I am not fluent enough in JavaScript or Rust to follow and debug this codebase on my own. I often step back and ask the coding agents to explain how things work, do research on standard approaches, and lay out options so I can pick one. I am well-versed enough that I typically don’t need research to grasp what’s going on, so conversations with agents are often pretty technical.
• My relevant background, honestly: Experienced beginner. Several Python data-analysis projects. I built a PDF parser for OSE rules used in a Discord bot. This is my first full desktop application at this scale. Overall I’ve used AI tools for coding assistance for over 3 1/2 years now, and have seen and experienced their growth in capability and efficiency.
• Did I review the AI’s code? I almost never read code directly. I ask agents to explain how things work, compare approaches, and flag risks. I am constantly having audits run for code quality: performance, safety, simplicity. I’m always staying up to date on great ideas in agentic coding circles, using skills and rules to ensure output is accurate, tidy, and seamless with the rest of the app.
• If it broke and users were affected: I would use AI to help diagnose, and address the issue when I have a confident, tested solution. I’ll respond as soon as I am available, and would push the update to users as soon as I could.

2. Who’s behind it

• Who: James Rivers
• Contact / report an issue: Dragon’s Desk Discord server or [email protected]. Security-sensitive reports: email, not public issues. The app can export a debug report (Help → Export Debug Report) for bug triage.
• Typical response time: 1-3 days probably.
• Entity: Just me, no company/publisher.

3. What Dragon’s Desk is

• Age & scale: ~6 months of work. A handful of alpha testers so far.
• Maturity: Alpha / beta, still in active development. Version 0.6.0 as of 8/15/26.
• Planned distribution: Paid release on Steam (Windows) is planned.[What kind of launch?] *Early access or full launch?
  *[What price?] For comparison: Mithos, $39, similar-ish tool but price feels too high for me. Talespire, $25, completely different, but also a powerful tool.
• Should you rely on it for anything important? For reading and organizing local RPG PDFs and GMX files, it does not overwrite your source library files. Config, annotations, bookmarks, and metadata live in separate files. Still, keep backups of anything you cannot afford to lose, which I hope you’re doing with every app.
• Uptime/SLA: None. Local desktop app. It runs when you launch it.
• Refunds (when sold on Steam): Steam’s standard refund policy will apply (Steam Refunds), typically 14 days and under 2 hours of playtime for most titles. I will match the store category (Early access vs. 1.0) to what buyers should expect.

4. Data: what’s collected and where it goes

• Collected: No accounts, no login, no cloud sync run by me. On your machine the app stores:
  • Library path and window layout.
  • Notes, highlights, bookmarks, and table-of-contents edits.
  • Working Copy overlays (your hide/rewrite/insert data, kept apart from the original GMX file).
  • Debug reports you export, and crash logs if you turn those on in Preferences.
  • The exact purchase validation approach is TBD, but it’s likely your Steam account ID will be stored along with activation codes and what purchases they correspond to. Hoping to keep validation painless and maximally offline while fully protecting the rights of creators.
• Stored where: On your machine. Default library: Documents/Dragon’s Desk/modules/. Settings live in the app’s data folder. Full detail: Help → Privacy Policy.
• Third parties that touch it: None. Nothing leaves your machine unless you export or send it. No analytics. Optional PDF header suggestions run a small bundled program on your PC.
• Third parties (planned – Steam): Valve / Steam for distribution, updates, and your Steam account, per Valve’s Privacy Policy. [What Steam features?] Cloud saves? Idk
• Anything sent somewhere unexpected? Nope. Documents are not sent to AI services or anywhere else.
• Retention: As long as you keep it on your hard drive. Any purchase validation data would be kept until you asked me to delete it.

5. Data: your control

• Export your data: Your documents are ordinary files on disk (PDF, GMX). Layout and notes are files you can copy. Debug reports go to a folder you choose.
• Delete: No Dragon’s Desk account, just Steam. Delete the app data folder and/or your library folder to remove local data.
• Privacy policy: Help → Privacy Policy in the app. [Public privacy URL?] Not needed until making a Steam page. The in-app Help doc is the policy for now.
• [Terms of service?] None yet. Steam purchases would use the Steam Subscriber Agreement.

6. Security approach (what has and hasn’t been done)

• Accounts: None planned. No Dragon’s Desk login, if that works well enough for purchase validation.
• Who can see your files: Whoever can use your Windows account and the folders you give the app.
• Network: Normal use is offline. Purchase validation will probably ask to sync with the server occasionally.
• Secrets: The app does not need API keys for normal use.
• Security review: No person has audited this for security. I rely on automated checks and a large suite of tests. Would love to hire a competent developer to do thorough code review if it’s financially reasonable.
• [Code signing?] Windows installer is not code-signed yet. That is required before Steam.
• Automated self-check: I ran an automated check on 2026-08-10 for common mistakes (secrets in the project, analytics or AI services in the shipped app, debug left on). It did not find those. Finding none does not mean the app is secure. It is not a full security review. Open items are listed below.

7. Source & cost

• Source: Closed. Steam release will be proprietary. Third-party bits keep their own licenses (installer notices).
• Cost (today): Not for sale.
• Cost (planned): [What price?] Paid on Steam. No in-app purchases or subscriptions planned. GMX files not in the default library will likely be purchased from creators on storefronts of their choice.
• [What Steam purchase includes?] Not spelled out yet (the app, updates via Steam, how to get support).

8. Known limitations & what’s next

• Windows installer is not code-signed yet.
• Privacy policy is still a pre-launch draft.
• Large PDFs are still being tuned.
• GMX Builder (optional companion) is a ways behind the main app in development.
• I maintain this with AI agents and tests more than by reading the code myself.
• Early Access vs. 1.0, price, and extra Steam features are not decided.
• Roadmap: Possibly a beta test, Steam page, early access or full launch, general ongoing maintenance and development, maybe expand to platforms besides Windows.

Open gaps

Things I have not decided yet. I will fill each in before the milestone in Fill before.

Survey