HN Showcase
Back to browse
HushBrief – A stateless, zero-retention AI document summarizer

HushBrief – A stateless, zero-retention AI document summarizer

by FidelitasLLC·Mar 2, 2026·3 points·0 comments
Visit ProjectView on HN

AI Analysis

●●●BangerSolve My ProblemBig Brain

Uncensored briefs on sensitive docs without account/storage; Venice zero-retention solves real hallucination risk.

Strengths
  • •Zero-retention architecture backed by Venice AI meaningfully solves document privacy gap—not just marketing
  • •No-account model (signed cookies only) eliminates identity-document linkage; genuine privacy win
  • •Uncensored mode directly addresses LLM refusal on legitimate sensitive material
Weaknesses
  • •Competitive threat from Claude 3.5 Sonnet's increased reasoning on complex docs
  • •Privacy claims depend entirely on Venice AI's honesty; no independent audit public
Category
SaaS
Target Audience

Lawyers, journalists, researchers handling sensitive documents

Similar To

Claude (Anthropic) · ChatGPT (OpenAI) · Remove.bg (privacy-first SaaS model)

Post Description

Hi HN,

I’m the founder of Fidelitas LLC. I built HushBrief because I was tired of two things:

The "I can’t help with that" refusal messages from sanitized LLMs when trying to brief sensitive legal or investigative material.

The systemic risk of pasting core IP, depositions, or leaked documents into surveillance-backed models that train on user inputs.

HushBrief is an AI briefing tool designed around a zero-retention architecture.

The Tech Stack:

Inference: We use Venice AI for zero-retention inference (llama-3.3-70b). No training on inputs, no logging, no retention at the provider level.

Stateless Auth: We don’t use traditional accounts or databases for user profiles. Subscriptions are handled via signed httpOnly cookies (HMAC-SHA256).

Zero-Knowledge Architecture: Documents are processed in memory and immediately discarded. There is no database entry that links your identity to the documents you've briefed.

Frontend/Backend: React 18 / Express 5 / PostgreSQL (Drizzle ORM) for subscription status only.

Why this exists:

Standard AI tools have become editorialized and "safe" to the point of being useless for professionals handling raw, controversial, or sensitive legal material. HushBrief includes an "Uncensored Mode" that doesn't soften or refuse to process the document you provide. You get the actual brief, not a sanitized version.

The Friction Problem:

I hate "Magic Links" and forced signups. To make this as accessible as possible for a technical audience, we implemented a $0.99 "Day Pass" via Stripe that sets a 24-hour signed session cookie. No email/password required to use the pro features.

We also have a strictly limited 11-unit Lifetime tier ($99) for early believers who want to support the development of resilient socio-technical infrastructure.

I'd love your feedback on the UX—specifically the 3-theme design system and the Privacy Dashboard (the avatar icon in the navbar) which maps out our data usage framework.

Live at: https://hushbrief.app

I'll be in the comments to answer questions about the architecture or our privacy posture.

Similar Projects