What not to paste into a chat window

Anything you paste goes to a service run by someone else. What that service does with it depends on the provider, the plan and your settings, and those change. Decide what goes in before you paste, not after.

Keep these out

Passwords, API keys, tokens and private keys. Personal data about other people, such as health, financial or legal details and ID numbers. Customer or client material you may not share. Confidential unreleased work. Anything covered by an agreement with your employer.

Replace, do not paste

Swap real names, emails and numbers for placeholders such as [CLIENT_A] before pasting, and swap them back in the answer. For code, remove keys and use environment variable names. The model loses nothing it needs.

Check the settings once

Open your account data settings. See whether conversations are kept, whether they can be used to improve models, and whether a temporary or private mode exists. Read what the provider says now, since products and plans differ and change over time. Work accounts often have separate terms.

Use a local model for the sensitive part

If the material cannot leave your machine, run a model locally (see running-a-model-on-your-own-machine). Nothing gets sent anywhere.

If you already pasted something

Revoke and replace a leaked key straight away, since deleting the chat does not undo it. If it was personal data about other people, tell whoever handles data protection where you work.