Usage counts

deck can share anonymous usage counts, so we know what to make next: how many people use it, on which versions, and which parts they reach for.

Nothing is counted or sent until you say yes. You're asked once, either in deck setup or in a strip above a deck window's footer, and either answer is final until you change it. Setup only asks at a terminal: run without one, by the installer or by an agent, it records no answer, and the window asks.

What is sent

One event, at most once an hour, while a deck window is open (a window looks every five minutes whether one is due):

Field	Example	What it is
`distinct_id`	`3f9c…e21a`	A random id made on your machine the first time counts are sent. It is not derived from your machine, name, email or anything else.
`version`	`0.1.5`	The deck you run.
`os`, `arch`	`macos`, `aarch64`	Your operating system and processor type.
`decks_created`	`4`	`deck new`, since the last send.
`decks_opened`	`3`	Deck windows opened.
`groups_written`	`17`	`deck group`.
`groups_viewed`	`21`	Groups brought on screen.
`comments`	`5`	Comments left on decks.
`reviews`	`2`	Reviews submitted.
`ask_now`	`1`	Questions sent with Ask now.
`questions_offered`	`30`	Suggested questions written into groups.
`questions_asked`, `questions_edited`	`3`, `1`	Suggested questions clicked, or ⌘-clicked (Ctrl-clicked on Windows and Linux) into the comment box.
`walks`	`1`	Walks started.
`upgrades`	`1`	Upgrades to a newer deck.
`agents`	`{"claude-code": 4}`	Which agent created the decks: `claude-code`, `codex`, `cursor`, `amp`, `gemini` or `other`. Worked out from the names of environment variables, never their values.

A count that is zero is left out, and so is agents when no deck was created. Some counts overlap on purpose: a suggested question that is clicked counts as questions_asked, and also as an ask_now and a comment, because that is what it becomes.

Alongside these, every event carries the fields PostHog needs to file it, and nothing that identifies you:

Field	Value	Why
`event`	`deck usage`	The event's name.
`api_key`	`phc_…`	deck's PostHog project key. It can add events, never read them.
`$process_person_profile`	`false`	No person is created for the id.
`$geoip_disable`	`true`	No location is looked up.
`$ip`	`null`	No address is attached.
`$lib`	`deck`	Which program sent it.

The request also carries a User-Agent: deck/<version> header.

Never sent: code, file paths, repository or project names, deck titles, narration, comments, questions, or anything you type.

The counts go to PostHog, hosted in the EU. Each event is sent without a person profile and with location lookup turned off, and the project discards IP addresses.

Seeing it for yourself

deck telemetry show      # exactly what the next send carries, and when
deck telemetry status    # whether counts are shared, and if not, why

The counts waiting to be sent are in ~/.deck/usage.json.

Turning it off

Any one of these is enough, and all of them win over a yes:

deck telemetry off. Anything counted and not yet sent is forgotten, and so is the id.
DO_NOT_TRACK=1 in your environment.
DECK_TELEMETRY=0 in your environment.
A CI environment.
[updates] automatic = false in ~/.deck/config.toml, which already means deck makes no request of its own. A config.toml that will not read counts as this too, since it may be the one saying so.

deck telemetry on turns it back on.