> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.wipe.me/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Wipe.me overview
> Private, one-time handoffs for humans, AI agents, tools, and automated systems.
Wipe.me creates encrypted, one-time links for information that should cross a trust
boundary without becoming permanent plaintext in the systems carrying it.
It is built for both **humans and AI agents**. Instead of pasting a password, API key,
recovery code, private file, or deployment credential directly into a conversation,
prompt, ticket, email, agent transcript, or automation log, encrypt it with Wipe.me
and pass a private one-time link.
This is practical secret-sharing hygiene for a world where people, agents, and tools
work together. Sensitive plaintext does not need to become training data, model
context, observability data, a copied terminal transcript, or a durable record inside
someone else's platform simply because an authorized recipient needs it once.
Share passwords, recovery codes, private notes, and files without leaving the plaintext in the surrounding conversation.
Send credentials to remote agents—or receive passwords and private files back—without putting plaintext in the conversation.
## How it works
1. Your browser encrypts the message and attachments locally.
2. Wipe.me stores only the encrypted envelope.
3. You share the private link with the recipient. If you chose a custom passphrase,
share that passphrase through a separate trusted channel.
4. The first successful retrieval claims the message, so it cannot be retrieved again.
In **Auto** mode, the secret needed to decrypt the message is after the `#` in the
link. Browser URL fragments are not included in HTTP requests, so that secret is
never sent to the Wipe.me API. In **Custom** mode, the passphrase is not included in
the link at all and must be given to the recipient separately. It is never uploaded
to or recoverable by the service.
An Auto-mode link is a complete bearer capability: anyone who has it can open or
delete the message. A Custom-mode link also requires the separately shared
passphrase. Use appropriate channels for both and treat them like the sensitive
content itself.
## Passphrase and unread expiry
The website defaults new messages to **Auto** passphrase mode and an unread expiry
of **7 days**. You can instead enter a Custom passphrase directly on the compose
screen. Custom-passphrase links use a shorter public message ID and contain no URL
fragment secret; the recipient enters the passphrase before local decryption.
Unread expiry controls how long the encrypted server copy remains available if
nobody opens it. Choose 1 hour, 24 hours, 7 days, or a custom period up to the free
14-day limit. Opening always claims and deletes the server copy regardless of the
selected unread expiry.
The website remembers your last expiry choice for the next new message. Saved local
drafts keep their own expiry and passphrase settings on that device.
## Reduce the plaintext footprint
Wipe.me reduces sensitive plaintext left behind in chat history, email archives,
support systems, model prompts, agent traces, orchestration logs, CI output, and
third-party collaboration platforms. The surrounding system retains a private link,
not the original secret.
That is exposure reduction, not magic containment. Wipe.me cannot control plaintext
after an authorized human or trusted program retrieves it. The recipient can still
copy, log, transmit, photograph, or otherwise retain the content. Give links only to
recipients and tools you trust.
## Opening a private link
When a private link opens, the web app captures its message ID and, for Auto-mode
links, the fragment secret in transient page memory. It immediately replaces the
browser's current history entry and visible address with `https://wipe.me/`, removing
the link values from that entry.
The temporary in-page handoff value is deleted as soon as the recipient flow receives
it. It is never placed in `localStorage` or `sessionStorage`.
An Auto-mode fragment secret and a Custom-mode passphrase are never sent to the
server. The message ID is necessarily present in the initial HTTP path request so
the page can be delivered, but it is removed from the browser's current history
entry immediately afterward.
Refreshing after the address has been scrubbed intentionally cannot reconstruct the
private link. The refreshed page opens the new-message screen instead.
## Free-message limits
Free anonymous messages have a maximum complete encrypted-envelope size of **3 MiB**
and can expire no later than **14 days** after creation.
Choose a safe handoff pattern for humans, agents, tools, and automation.
Learn what Wipe.me removes from supported files before encryption.
See when local image compression is offered and how it protects your draft.