If KennelKeeper ever closes.

The promise, exactly

The rest of this page says how the promise is kept today. Anything on it marked "Coming, not built yet" is decided but not in the app yet, and it stays marked until a release builds it.

Your records live on your own device first

Every record is written to a database on the device in front of you: your browser's database for the Web Edition, or inside the Windows app. KennelKeeper reads them from there too. That is why the barn, the show ring and the vet's parking lot work with no signal, and why a plan ending cannot take them away.

On the Breeder and Signature plans a copy is also kept in the cloud, so your other devices see the same records. Sync runs on Google's Firebase and is encrypted in transit and at rest on Google's servers. It is not end-to-end encrypted, so we do not describe it that way. It is a second copy, not the master one.

You can take everything with you

In the app, go to Settings, Data Vault & Recovery, Download all my records. One button makes one ZIP file, on every plan including the free one. Inside it:

• A README that says what each file is and how to open it.
• A spreadsheet for each kind of record (animals, owners, litters and so on) and each animal's status history. They open in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets.
• Every record and your settings in one file, records.json, which KennelKeeper can restore from. It opens in any text editor.
• Photos: each animal's portrait, named after the animal, and your kennel logo.
• Documents: a folder for each animal, with its lab results, vaccination records, attached documents and the originals of imported pedigrees.
• Scans: pages you scanned that were still waiting to be confirmed.

Five things to know about it

1. It opens without KennelKeeper. Nothing in it needs the app, an account or KennelKeeper's server. The files are CSV, JSON, JPEG, PNG and PDF.
2. It is not encrypted. It holds the names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of owners, buyers and co-owners, your notes and the money you recorded. Keep it where you would keep a printed copy of the same records. The app says so above the button.
3. A few things are left out on purpose: the key that encrypts your automatic backups, the storefront webhook address, your sign-in details and your subscription details. None of them is a record about your animals or the people you deal with, and some of them could be misused by anyone who found the file. The README lists them.
4. Keep the whole ZIP. Vaccination proofs you uploaded and the originals of pedigrees you imported are kept in KennelKeeper's online storage. When you are online, the download fetches each one into the folder of every animal it belongs to; records.json holds only links to them. Any document the download cannot fetch is listed in the ZIP, and in the README, with its link. Those links only work while KennelKeeper's online storage is running, so if you have documents stored online, download your records and check that list while it is.
5. You can put it all back. In Settings, Data Vault & Recovery, Restore Vault, choose the ZIP or the records.json inside it. It puts back every record, the photos, the scanned pages waiting to be confirmed, kept-aside versions and your settings, including your breeding prefix. A record in the file replaces the same record on the device, and records that are only on the device stay. If a record in the file is missing something the restore needs, that one is left out and named, and everything else goes back. The download warns you about such a record first, so you can fill it in and download again.

On Windows, there are two plain copies as well

The Windows app also writes your records to two ordinary files on your computer, without being asked: kennelkeeper_backup.json a couple of seconds after every change, and database.json every five minutes while the app is open. Each holds every record and your settings, without your backup key, and opens in any text editor. Like the ZIP, they are not encrypted.

For the installed app they are in %APPDATA%\KennelKeeper\KennelKeeper, and for the portable one in the KennelKeeper_Data folder beside the program. Signing out empties both, so the next person on a shared computer does not get your records back from them.

They are not the complete copy: scans, kept-aside versions and documents stored online are not in them. The ZIP is the complete copy. The Windows app also carries its own copy of KennelKeeper, so it opens your records without an internet connection.

Why the promise does not rest on the encrypted backups

KennelKeeper's automatic backups, the .enc files it saves to Google Drive, a folder on your computer or a network drive, are encrypted with a key that belongs to your account. KennelKeeper's server makes that key and hands it to your device while you are signed in. You never see it, and signing out removes it from the device.

So a backup file can only be opened by KennelKeeper, signed in to your account, while KennelKeeper's server runs. That is the right design for a backup sitting in a cloud folder, and the wrong thing to build this promise on. The promise rests on the ZIP and on the Windows app's plain copies, which need nothing from KennelKeeper.

Nothing you recorded is deleted on a timer

No part of KennelKeeper deletes an animal, litter, health, placement, owner or money record by itself, on your device or in the cloud. Records stay until you delete them. The only scheduled clean-up on KennelKeeper's server deletes the counters that stop this website's contact form being flooded.

This is everything that does delete something:

1. You delete a record. It goes from this device and, if you sync, from your other devices and the cloud copy too. Deleting an animal also deletes what belongs to it: its status history, its heats, the finance entries and buyer inquiries linked to it, and, for a dam, her litters with no puppies, kittens or foals recorded in them, with the buyers and inquiries waiting on those litters. A sire's litters stay, and so do litters with young recorded. The delete box lists all of it before you confirm, and offers to change the animal's status instead.
2. You sign out. Signing out removes this device's copy of everything, so the next person on a shared computer cannot see your kennel. The cloud copy is not touched. Before anything is removed, KennelKeeper warns you if changes have not reached the cloud yet, if it cannot find a cloud copy, if scanned pages are not confirmed, or if kept-aside versions are on this device. Cancel, and nothing is removed.
3. You press Factory Reset Ledger in Data Vault & Recovery. It asks you to confirm and to type DELETE, then clears the animals, owners and shows on this device. If you sync, those deletions reach your other devices and the cloud copy too.
4. Tools only KennelKeeper's administrators see. Nobody else is shown them. One clears files from the administrator's own online storage that no animal on their device points to, and two replace the records on their own device with a demo kennel.
5. Year-old deletion notes. When you delete a record, the device keeps a short note of which record went and when, so your other devices learn of it. Notes older than a year are cleared from the device. A note holds no record. This is the one thing on a timer.

What happens if a paid plan ends

Today, the paid features switch off. The records on your device are not touched: they stay readable, and Download all my records works on every plan. The cloud copy is not touched either.

What happens if KennelKeeper closes

What stays true, because it does not depend on KennelKeeper

• The records on your device stay there. A company closing does not reach into your computer or your phone.
• The ZIP and the Windows app's plain copies open without KennelKeeper, for as long as you keep them.
• The Windows app you already have keeps opening your records without an internet connection.

What stops

Sign-in, cloud sync, the AI features that run through KennelKeeper's server, KennelKeeper's online storage, and the browser version, which loads from app.kennelkeeper.app. Your records stay in your browser's storage, but once that site is gone, the ZIP is how you read them anywhere else. Documents stored online go with the online storage: the download can no longer fetch them, and the links in the ZIP's list stop opening.

What I will do before it closes

• Tell you at least 90 days (three months) before it closes, by email, by a message in the app and on this website.
• Keep the way out working until the last day. Download all my records stays on every plan, documents stored online included.
• A last version, planned as open source. The plan today, which may change before then: KennelKeeper's final version, with every feature switched on and the private parts (keys and account services) taken out, on GitHub with instructions for building and running it yourself. The code is private today. The 90-day notice will tell you where to get it, its address on GitHub, and the date it will be there.
• Be plain about the cloud copy. It is held by Google Firebase on a pay-as-you-go plan. Once KennelKeeper stops paying for it, Google removes it on its own schedule, so I cannot promise how long it stays readable after closing. Download all your records before the closing date.

In plain words

You keep your records. You can take all of them out, on any day and on any plan, in files that open without KennelKeeper. Nothing is deleted unless you ask. If KennelKeeper ever closes, the records on your device and the files you downloaded are still yours, and they still open.

Questions about any of this: support@kennelkeeper.app. A real person replies, usually within one business day.