The app, screen by screen

Settings

How Locke looks and starts, how it behaves when something goes wrong, what it keeps on this device, and your Sonomos account. What Locke screens and masks is set in Controls.

Available toAll plans

Settings

Manage Locke on this device and your Sonomos account.

General

Choose how Locke looks and starts.

App behavior & display

ThemeLanguageOpen Locke at login

Start minimized to tray

Every time Locke starts, it goes straight to the system tray without opening a window. Open it from the tray icon. If the tray can't be created on this desktop, the window opens anyway.

Show activity bar

A thin light on the right edge of your screen. Green when Locke masks something, red when it blocks a request, amber when something went out unmasked or protection needs attention. Hidden from screen shares on Windows.

Startup sound

Setup wizard

Reopens the first-run setup. Your Controls and history stay as they are until you change them there.

Settings is split into six categories down the left. Pick one and its cards open on the right.

Categories — General, Protection, Notifications, Data & privacy, Account, About & removal.
Help & feedback — jumps to the Support page.

Changes take effect as you make them; there is no save button for the page. The one exception is Automatic deletion, which has its own Save retention policy button. Your theme, your language and every notification switch except Routine detection alerts follow your Sonomos account to your other devices. Routine detection alerts, the startup sound and the rest stay on this computer.

General

How Locke looks and starts.

General settings
Setting	Options	Notes
Theme	System, Light, Dark	System follows your operating system.
Language	System, English	System follows your operating system's language.
Open Locke at login	Yes, No	Opens the Locke app when you sign in to your computer. Greyed out, with Not available on this system, where your system doesn't support it.
Start minimized to tray	On, Off	Locke starts in the system tray without opening a window. If the tray can't be created on your desktop, the window opens anyway.
Show activity bar	On, Off	On by default. A thin light on the right edge of your screen that glows when Locke acts. See The activity bar.
Startup sound	On, Off	Off by default.
Setup wizard	Run setup again	Reopens the first-run setup after a second confirmation. Your Controls and history stay as they are until you change them there.

The activity bar

A thin light, centred on the right edge of your main screen, that glows each time Locke acts on a request, so you can see it working while you're in another app. It glows for about two seconds and fades. It stays above your other windows, clicks pass straight through it, and it never takes focus.

What the activity bar's colours mean
Colour	Meaning
Green	Locke masked something before it was sent, or held back an attachment.
Red	Locke blocked a request. Nothing was sent.
Amber, briefly	Something went out unmasked: Locke couldn't mask it, or it went out unscreened while fail-open was on.
Amber, steady	Protection needs attention: the detection engine has stopped, traffic capture is off or can't be reached, Locke is letting traffic through unscreened, the browser extension disconnected after being connected, or the app lost its live event feed. Open Locke to see which.

A detection you chose to send as it was, inbound traffic and the sample events in a demo never light it. When several requests arrive together, the bar stays lit rather than flashing again, and shows the most serious colour. It only ever receives a colour: never what was found, where it was going or how many. Quiet mode doesn't turn it off. On Windows it's kept out of screen shares and recordings; on Linux it isn't.

Turn it off with Settings › General › Show activity bar, or with the same checkbox in the menu on Locke's tray icon. The bar goes away when you sign out.

Protection

Setting up and controlling how Locke protects this device. Five cards, from top to bottom.

Settings

Manage Locke on this device and your Sonomos account.

Protection

Set up and control how Locke protects this device.

Detection models

Detection models 1.4.0 are in use and kept up to date automatically.

Last checked: 10/19/2026, 2:05:12 PM. Updates install automatically.

Browser Protection

The Locke browser extension checks requests on every website and screens the ones that look like AI. Your browser installs its updates automatically.

StatusConnected

Last seen just now · Version 2.0.2

Chrome (default)ConnectedReinstall or update

Microsoft EdgeInstall

FirefoxInstall

Loaded the extension unpacked?

What counts as a detection

Choose what's included in your Dashboard tally and reports. Locke masks everything either way — only counts are shown, never the values.

You typed

Info you actually wrote into your message

Injected context

Things your AI tool quietly attaches to every message — saved notes, memory, project files

System prompt

The AI tool's own built-in hidden instructions

Tool output

Results from files or commands the AI read, fed back in

The AI's replies

Text the AI generated

Other

Everything else

How to count

Replayed history is never counted. When a chat app re-sends the whole conversation, only your newest message counts toward the recorded tally, so the same value isn't counted again and again. A value you send again on purpose does count. The Dashboard's separate live "Items masked" figure follows the same rule: it adds up the values masked in this session's new messages, not the history around them.

When Locke can't check a request

Screening does fail sometimes — the detection engine can be down, a request can be unreadable, screening can time out under load. Locke's default is to refuse those requests, so nothing unchecked leaves this device. This one setting applies everywhere Locke screens — AI apps, and every website in your browser — including when part of Locke itself isn't answering.

Fail-closed

Requests Locke can't check are blocked, not sent.

Enforced

Send unchecked requests anyway, for

Screening watches this file, so turning fail-open on or off reaches a running guard within about a second — no restart, in either direction. The end time is also re-checked on every request, so the window closes on its own. If an edit leaves the file unparseable, nothing changes: the guard keeps the last policy it read.

Requests over the screening size limit are refused outright at the interception layer, before screening is ever consulted. Fail-open does not lift that limit — an over-size request is never sent, open window or not.

Pausing capture

Pausing turns the system proxy off and stops screening until you resume. Programs that were routing through Locke go back to connecting directly, unexamined. The browser extension is a separate surface with its own controls and keeps working.

Protection holds the parts of Locke that aren't about which data to mask.

Detection models

Says which detection models Locke is using and that it keeps them up to date on its own. If the current models aren't downloaded yet, press Download detection models; otherwise Check for updates now checks immediately. On a device your team has locked, Locke keeps to the models installed with it and the card says so.

Browser Protection

Websites such as chatgpt.com and claude.ai are screened by the Locke browser extension, not by the desktop app. This card shows whether the extension is Connected or Not detected, and offers Install Browser Protection for your default browser (Reinstall or update once it's connected) and an Install button for each other browser it finds. Each browser needs its own copy, and your browser keeps the extension updated. A browser without it isn't screened — see Known limitations. Teams admins can force-install the extension with a browser policy.

What counts as a detection

The setting most worth understanding. It changes your numbers — never your protection. It decides what goes into your Dashboard tally and your reports; Locke masks everything either way.

What counts as a detection

Choose what's included in your Dashboard tally and reports. Locke masks everything either way — only counts are shown, never the values.

You typed

Info you actually wrote into your message

Injected context

Things your AI tool quietly attaches to every message — saved notes, memory, project files

System prompt

The AI tool's own built-in hidden instructions

Tool output

Results from files or commands the AI read, fed back in

The AI's replies

Text the AI generated

Other

Everything else

How to count

Only 'You typed' is counted by default. Locke still masks every source.

Sources. Where in a request the sensitive value sat. Switch one on to include it in your tally and reports.
How to count. Whether repeats of the same value count every time or once.

The six sources
Source	What it is	Counted by default
You typed	Info you actually wrote into your message.	Yes
Injected context	Things your AI tool quietly attaches to every message — saved notes, memory, project files.	No
System prompt	The AI tool's own built-in hidden instructions.	No
Tool output	Results from files or commands the AI read, fed back in.	No
The AI's replies	Text the AI generated.	No
Other	Everything else.	No

How to count
Option	20 copies of the same email counts as	Use when
Occurrences	20	You want to know how much masking work happened. The default.
Distinct	1	You want to know how many unique values were at risk.

Replayed history is never counted: when a chat app re-sends the whole conversation, only your newest message counts, so the same value isn't counted again and again. A value you send again on purpose does count. Whatever you choose applies to the Dashboard's recorded tally and to your reports, so a report matches what you saw on screen.

When Locke can't check a request

Screening does fail sometimes — the detection engine can be down, a request can be unreadable, screening can time out under load. Locke's default is fail-closed: requests it can't check are blocked, not sent. This one setting applies everywhere Locke screens, in AI apps and in your browser.

If you must keep working through an outage, Turn fail-open on… lets unchecked requests through for a window you choose under Send unchecked requests anyway, for: 15 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, 8 hours or 24 hours, the longest Locke allows. It asks you to confirm first, and the window closes on its own. While it's open, nothing on those requests is redacted. While Locke's screening service is running, files Locke can't read and files set to Block are still never sent, and requests over the size limit never are.

Pausing capture

The open-ended version of Pause protection in the title bar (see The window). Pause capture, then Yes — pause capture, stops desktop and command-line traffic from being screened until you press Resume capture — there is no timer. You can add an optional reason, kept with the record. The browser extension is separate and keeps working. On Linux, locke pause and locke resume do the same from a terminal. On a device your team has locked, pausing isn't available.

Notifications

Which protection updates Locke tells you about. Turning alerts off does not pause protection. Routine detection alerts is set for this device only; the other switches follow your Sonomos account to your other devices.

Notification switches
Switch	Tells you when	Default
Routine detection alerts	Locke masks something.	Off
Screening engine down	Locke's screening stops answering, so AI traffic is being blocked rather than sent unscreened.	On
AI sites blocked — screening unreachable	Locke's screening can't be reached, so connections to AI sites and apps are refused.	On
Fail-open window opened	A fail-open window starts.	On
Fail-open window ended	A fail-open window closes.	On
Traffic capture switched off	Desktop capture stops.	On
Browser Protection disconnected	The browser extension stops reporting in.	On
Screening progress — when a request will take a while	A request is taking longer than usual to screen.	On

Data & privacy

What Locke keeps on this device, and how it goes away.

Settings

Manage Locke on this device and your Sonomos account.

Data & privacy

Control what Locke keeps on this device.

Automatic deletion

Off by default. Detection history is evidence of what Locke caught — this store isn't cleared on a timer unless you turn that on.

Currently active

Off — detection history is kept until you delete it. Checked every 24 hours.

Automatically delete old detection history

Delete detection history

Permanently removes recorded detections from this device. On a team account this needs a Teams Admin's approval first — nothing here deletes anything on its own. Every automatic and manual deletion is written to a local audit record this control cannot reach or clear.

Date range to clear (required)

Whole days in this device's local time, both ends included. Your Teams Admin sees these dates and nothing about what was detected.

From dayTo dayReason (optional)

On a team account you cannot clear detection history on your own. Ask your Teams Admin for the date range; if they approve, Locke clears exactly that range on this device and lists it in your reports. The request carries the dates and the reason you pick — never what was detected. If detection history is removed any other way, Locke notes it in your reports and tells your Teams Admin which days were affected, never what was detected.

Audit log

What you did in Locke: pauses and resumes, strictness changes, history clears and their approvals, tamper attempts, sign-in and sign-out, plan changes. This is not the engine's technical access trail, and it never shows anything Locke detected.

When	Who	Action	Kind
Oct 19, 2026, 8:47:02 AM	Team policy	Changed text strictness from Standard to Strict team policy revision 12	Strictness
Oct 19, 2026, 8:47:02 AM	Team policy	Changed file-type settings (set to Block: GIF image, JPEG image, PNG image, WebP image) team policy revision 12	File types
Oct 19, 2026, 8:44:31 AM	You	Signed in	Sign-in and plan
Oct 14, 2026, 9:02:18 AM	You, approved by a team admin	Cleared detection history (all types, 2026-10-13 to 2026-10-13) approved by the team admin	History clears
Sep 29, 2026, 11:03:15 AM	Account	Plan changed to Teams member	Sign-in and plan

Entries are kept on this device. Like the other local records they are a floor: a listed action happened, and an empty list means none is recorded here, not that none happened.

Detection history is kept until you choose otherwise, and every deletion is recorded.

Data & privacy cards
Card	What it does
Automatic deletion	Off by default — detection history is evidence of what Locke caught, so it isn't cleared on a timer unless you ask. Switch on Automatically delete old detection history, set Delete detections older than (days), and press Save retention policy. The card shows the last automatic sweep and what it removed.
Delete detection history	Permanently removes recorded detections from this device — everything, a date range, or one data type. Every deletion, automatic or manual, is written to a local record this control cannot reach or clear, and appears under Detection history deletions in Reports.
Audit log	What you — and, for an admin, the team — did: pause and resume, strictness, file types, history clears, tamper attempts, sign-in and plan, team policy. Filter by kind. It never shows what was detected.

Account

Your Sonomos account. The cards depend on your role.

Settings

Manage Locke on this device and your Sonomos account.

Account

Manage your Sonomos account.

Profile

NameZach Brenner

Emailz.brenner@gmail.com

PlanTeams — admin

RoleAdmin

Shown from your signed-in session. Locke does not store your name or email on this computer. They, your sign-in method and your account are managed on your Sonomos account page (my.sonomos.ai), which opens in your browser; Locke never changes them here.

Plan & billing

SubscriptionTeams

StatusSubscription active.

Seats5 of 6 in use, including pending invitations

RenewsNovember 1, 2026

Organization

TeamAcme Health

Organization IDorg_3kQx8ZtM1vR7aH2c

Your roleAdmin

You manage this team's members, policies, reports and clear requests in My Team.

An admin's Account category: Profile, Plan & billing, and Organization.

Profile shows your Name, Email, Plan and, on a team, your Role. They come from your signed-in session; Locke doesn't store your name or email on this computer and never changes them here. Manage account opens your Sonomos account page (my.sonomos.ai) in your browser, where your name, email and sign-in method are managed. Sign out ends the session on this device.

Plan & billing and Organization, by plan
Plan	Plan & billing	Organization
Free	A note that Free includes one Privacy summary report each month, your Monthly report allowance, and Upgrade to Teams and See Teams plans.	Not shown.
Teams Member	Your team's plan and billing are managed by your team admin. Nothing to change here.	Your team's name and your role, read-only.
Teams Admin	Subscription, Status, Seats (in use, including pending invitations), trial or renewal dates, and Manage billing.	Team name, Organization ID, your role, and Open My Team.

Free stays free: all 78 detection types, the Never flag list, file-type rules and the Sandbox, plus one Privacy summary report a month. Teams adds unlimited full reports and team management, not extra protection. See Free vs Teams.

About & removal

Your version, updates, and how to turn Locke off or remove it.

About & removal cards
Card	What it holds
About & updates	Version, Platform and Build — the lines to quote when reporting a problem — and Support & feedback. Where in-app updates are available, Install updates automatically (on by default: Locke downloads in the background and installs when you quit) and Check for updates. Where they aren't, the card says how to update instead — through your package manager, or by downloading the newest Locke.
License and credits	The open-source software Locke is built with, with a filter.
Known limitations	What this release does not cover, so you can plan around it. The same list is on Known limitations.
Turning Locke off, and removing it	Why closing the app doesn't stop Locke, and View shutdown and removal instructions with the exact command or route for each option on your platform. Covered in Uninstall Locke.