Mahanu — FAQ

Mahanu guide · For builders & learners · Safety for parents · Vision · Hosted-service policies

Short answers. Follow the arrow when you want the full page.

The basics

What is Mahanu? A private workspace for a small group getting better at a shared pursuit — not a feed or an audience. → Vision

Who is it for? Study groups, bands, makers, families, clubs, coaches, and solo learners — a project of one counts. → For builders & learners

How is it different from a shared drive, Notion, or Discord? It puts a focused project, readable files you own, safe collaboration with history, and a tiny public surface in one place — no feeds or engagement loops. → Why Mahanu

Why the name "Mahanu"? Say it muh-HAH-noo — Sanskrit maha (the vast) + anu (the atom).

Owning your work

Do I own my work? Yes — a project is open-format files (Markdown text, standard image files) on your own disk that you can open in any app and keep even if you quit Mahanu; the whole stack is MIT and self-hostable. → If Mahanu disappears

Do I need to install anything? No — you can do everything in the browser. Or start in the desktop app, and your project files are written straight to your own disk from the first save.

Is my work uploaded to Mahanu's servers? Only if you want it. Start in the app and the files live on your disk first — backing up and syncing across your devices and teammates is opt-in, not a requirement. (A browser-only project is server-backed because a browser has nowhere else to keep it; you can download it as a folder anytime.)

Does it work offline? Yes on desktop; browser edits become durable backup once the app confirms they synced, and it always shows you which state you're in.

What if my teammate and I edit the same thing at once? It merges — both changes land, no conflict copies, no lost work.

Can I use my own tools on the files? Yes — they're open-format files (plain Markdown, standard images); edit one in any app and Mahanu picks up the change.

Privacy & safety

What's public and what's private? Only your screened project card and files you deliberately publish; everything else is members-only, and nothing leaks by accident. → Safety for parents

Can strangers join my project? Only if you enable join requests and approve them — and for a child's project they're off by default, guardian-only. → Safety for parents

Does Mahanu watch inside private projects? No — moderation acts on public surfaces and reports; the one automated presence is a visible conduct bot that flags to owners/guardians, not to us. → Bot & Automation Policy

Can my child use Mahanu with me? Yes — a guardian creates a supervised sub-account the child uses from their own device, with the guardian holding the controls. → Guardian Addendum

What do "managed cloud" and "encrypted" mean? Managed-cloud lets Mahanu process content for sync, search, and the assistant; encrypted keeps team-private content as ciphertext to the server, changing recovery and search. → Safety for parents

Assistant & sponsors

How does the AI assistant work? Only when you ask — it proposes edits and waits for your OK, can't act on its own, and every change is attributed and undoable. → Safety for parents

How do sponsorships and useful resources work? No ads and no data sales; you deliberately search a Support & Resources directory, and sponsors never get your work, identity, or influence. → Support without surveillance

What does it cost? Free, open source, and self-hostable; hosted Mahanu is a small per-project fee, with a family's sub-accounts included.

Rules & your rights

How do I delete my project or account? Request it anytime — copies you already exported stay yours, and only records the law requires are held, for a stated minimum. → Retention & Deletion

How do I report something, or appeal a decision? Every public card and page has a report button, and enforcement decisions are reviewable. → Reporting & Appeals

Who else processes my data? Only vetted providers needed to run the service, each listed publicly; anything you send to your own AI provider or a third-party bot is your separate choice. → Subprocessor Register

Who owns what I publish, and what if someone copies it? You keep your rights, each project sets its own content license, and there's a copyright-notice process. → Copyright & IP

Where are the full terms? The binding contract and the privacy detail. → Terms · Privacy

The bigger picture

Where is Mahanu today? Pre-launch, built in the open, looking for first pilots.

What does Mahanu believe? The judgment behind what belongs here — truth, beauty, hard calls — and the binding rules. → Philosophy · Legal & trust