Privacy Policy

Effective October 5, 2026

Bing Webmaster CLI (the bwt command-line tool) is an open-source program that runs entirely on your own computer. It does not collect, transmit, or store your personal data on any server operated by the maintainer.

1. No data collection

The CLI runs locally on your machine. The maintainer operates no backend servers and receives no data from your use of the tool. There is no analytics, no telemetry, no tracking, and no advertising.

2. Credentials & local storage

Your Bing Webmaster API key is stored only on your device, in your operating system's keychain (macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager, or the Secret Service on Linux). If you choose --insecure-storage, it is kept in a local file with owner-only 0600 permissions instead. Profile names, default sites, and IndexNow keys (which are public by design) live in ~/.config/bing-webmaster-cli/config.yaml. Nothing is sent to the maintainer or any third party.

3. Network connections

The CLI makes outbound network requests only while you run a command, and only to:

  • The Bing Webmaster API, to perform the actions you request: ssl.bing.com with your API key, or www.bing.com when you supply a bearer token.
  • An IndexNow endpoint when you submit URLs with IndexNow: api.indexnow.org by default, www.bing.com, or an HTTPS endpoint you name with --endpoint.
  • Your own site, to read a sitemap you name or check that your IndexNow key file is published.
  • GitHub (github.com release pages, not the GitHub API), when you run bwt update, to find and download the latest release, and for the update notice described below. These requests contain no personal data.

The only background request is the update check: at most once a day, and only when the CLI runs in an interactive terminal, it reads the latest release number from the github.com release page so it can tell you a new version is out. It never runs in scripts, in CI (when CI is set), or with --quiet, and you can turn it off by setting BWT_NO_UPDATE_NOTIFIER=1 or NO_UPDATE_NOTIFIER=1. The maintainer is not a party to, and cannot observe, any of these connections.

4. Data you access through the tool

The CLI reads and changes data in your Bing Webmaster Tools account using the access your API key grants, solely to execute the commands you run. That data is shown in your terminal (or written to files you specify) and is not retained, copied, or transmitted anywhere by the maintainer.

5. Third parties

The maintainer does not sell, rent, or share any data. The tool integrates no third-party analytics or tracking SDKs. Your use of Bing Webmaster Tools is governed by Microsoft's privacy statement, and IndexNow submissions by the policies of the participating search engines.

6. Children

This tool is a developer utility and is not directed at children under 13.

7. Changes to this policy

Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date.

8. Contact

Questions about this policy? Contact Piyush Gambhir at developer.piyushgambhir@gmail.com, or see the contact page.