How Git Legacy Works

Complete transparency about where your data lives, what we store, and how the system actually works.

🎯 The Big Picture (Simple Version)

What Git Legacy Actually Is:

✅A beautiful interface for Git (the world's most trusted version control system)
✅A bridge between you and GitHub (owned by Microsoft)
✅Tools that make Git as easy as Dropbox

What Git Legacy Is NOT:

❌A cloud storage company
❌A place where we store your data
❌A middleman who can lose your files

📍 Where Your Data Lives:

•YOUR GitHub account (you own it)
•YOUR computer (if you clone the repo)
•Anywhere you clone it (distributed copies)

What We Store:

✅Your GitHub username (to know which repo is yours)
✅An encrypted connection token (so we can help you commit)
✅Your settings (email whitelist, preferences)

❌ NONE of your photos, documents, or memories

🏗️ The Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                 YOU (The User)                      │
│                                                     │
│  Upload photos, forward emails, capture memories    │
└──────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
                       ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│          GIT LEGACY (The Interface)                 │
│                                                     │
│  • Beautiful UI (we built this)                     │
│  • Email-to-Git bridge (we run this)                │
│  • Offline PWA (works without internet)             │
│  • Icon detection (adds emojis automatically)       │
│                                                     │
│  What we store:                                     │
│  - Your GitHub username                             │
│  - Encrypted GitHub token                           │
│  - Your email whitelist                             │
│  - Your subscription status                         │
│                                                     │
│  What we DON'T store:                               │
│  - Your photos ❌                                   │
│  - Your documents ❌                                │
│  - Your emails ❌                                   │
│  - Your memories ❌                                 │
└──────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
                       ↓
                  GitHub API
                       ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│       YOUR GITHUB REPOSITORY                        │
│       (github.com/yourname/family-archive)          │
│                                                     │
│  This is WHERE YOUR DATA LIVES:                     │
│  • All your photos                                  │
│  • All your documents                               │
│  • All your emails                                  │
│  • Complete commit history                          │
│  • Forever (as long as GitHub exists)               │
│                                                     │
│  YOU own this repository                            │
│  YOU can make it private or public                  │
│  YOU can delete Git Legacy and keep everything      │
│  YOU can clone it anywhere                          │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

🔐 How Data Flows (Step by Step)

Example 1: Uploading a Photo

Step 1: In Your Browser

Photo stays in YOUR browser (temporary, in memory)
Git Legacy adds emoji, commit message, metadata
Encrypts the data (HTTPS)

Step 2: To GitHub (Direct)

Your Browser → GitHub API (DIRECT)

Photo goes DIRECTLY to GitHub
Never touches our servers
We just facilitated the API call

Step 3: GitHub Stores It

GitHub receives the file
Stores it in YOUR repository
Replicates it across multiple datacenters
Creates a permanent commit (SHA hash)

What We Stored:

✅SHA hash (proof it was committed): abc123
✅Timestamp: 2026-01-19 21:53:00
❌The photo itself ← NEVER

Example 2: Email-to-Git

Grandma emails: grandma@gmail.com → john@save.git-legacy.com
Subject: "Birthday photos"
Attachments: 5 photos

Step 1-2: Email Processing

Our system polls your mailbox (every 5 minutes, secure connection)
Reads email metadata

Step 3: Security Validation

Is john@save.git-legacy.com a real user? ✅
Is grandma@gmail.com allowed? ✅
Under rate limit? ✅
Safe files? ✅

Step 4-5: Extract & Commit

Commit to GitHub:
  Message: "🎂 Birthday photos"
  Files: 6 (1 email.md + 5 photos)
  Destination: github.com/john/family-archive/

Step 6: Cleanup

Mark email as "processed"
Delete from our inbox (no longer needed)

What We Stored:

✅Metadata: from address, timestamp, commit SHA
❌Email content ← DELETED after processing
❌Photos ← Never touched our storage

🌍 Why Distributed Storage Matters

Traditional Cloud (Dropbox, Google Photos)

❌Company stores your data
❌Subject to their terms
❌Can't leave without losing data
❌Single point of failure
❌Privacy at their discretion

Git Legacy (Distributed)

✅YOU own the data (on GitHub)
✅We just provide tools
✅Can leave anytime, keep everything
✅Multiple copies everywhere
✅Private by default
✅Export to any Git host

✅ Trust But Verify

Don't trust us? Good! Here's how to verify what we're telling you:

1. Check Your GitHub Repo

Visit github.com/yourname/family-archive and you'll see every file we committed, every commit message, complete history, and a download button to get everything.

2. Clone and Inspect

git clone https://github.com/yourname/family-archive

ls -la # See all your files locally

git log # See complete commit history

3. Request Your Data

We can provide an SQL export of YOUR records showing we store NO file content—just metadata and settings. Full transparency.

📜 Exit Strategy (How to Leave)

You are NEVER locked in. If you want to stop using Git Legacy:

# Step 1: You already have everything

# Your data is at: github.com/yourname/family-archive

git clone https://github.com/yourname/family-archive

cd family-archive

# Now you have EVERYTHING on your computer

# Step 2: Use any Git tool:

# - GitHub Desktop (free)

# - VS Code (free)

# - Command line (free)

# - GitKraken (paid)

# Step 3: Or move to another host:

# - GitLab, Bitbucket, Self-hosted, etc.

# Step 4: Delete your Git Legacy account

# Your GitHub repository remains untouched

# You lose ONLY the pretty interface

🌟 The Bottom Line

Git Legacy is:

A bridge to GitHub (not a vault)
A tool that makes Git easy (not a storage company)
An interface for the world's most trusted VCS (not a data silo)

Your data:

Lives on GitHub (Microsoft's infrastructure)
Is distributed across multiple datacenters
Is yours forever (even if we shut down)
Can be exported anytime (never locked in)

Questions? We're here to help.

This is the honest truth about how Git Legacy works.

Email Support Back to Home

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