Cookie Policy

SQLPress sets no cookies. No analytics cookie, no preference cookie, no session cookie — the site has no server-side session to keep. This page exists because “we use cookies to improve your experience” is the default assumption, and the default is wrong here.

It covers everything the site can leave on your device, including the one thing that is not a cookie and the ones that are not set by site code.

Storage set by this site

That is the complete list.

localStorage is not a cookie: it is never attached to an HTTP request, so the value never reaches a server, ours or anyone else’s. It holds the string light or dark. Selecting System in the theme switcher deletes the entry rather than storing a third value, so the default state leaves nothing behind.

It is read in one place — a small inline script that applies your theme before the first paint, which is what stops the page from flashing white on a dark-theme device.

Cookies set by Cloudflare

Cloudflare sits in front of this site as CDN and DDoS protection. On some requests its edge may set strictly necessary security cookies, most commonly:

• __cf_bm — bot management. Distinguishes automated traffic from human traffic. Expires roughly 30 minutes after the last request
• cf_clearance — set only if a challenge (a CAPTCHA or JavaScript check) was presented and passed, so you are not challenged again immediately

These come from Cloudflare’s network, not from anything in the site’s code. They carry no advertising or profiling function, and SQLPress cannot read them or tie them to a person. Cloudflare documents them in their cookie list.

Analytics without cookies

Page views are measured with Cloudflare Web Analytics, which is cookieless by design and does not fingerprint devices. It cannot follow you between sessions or recognize a returning reader. What it reports is listed in full in the privacy policy.

Why there is no consent banner

Consent under the ePrivacy Directive is required for storing or reading information that is not strictly necessary for a service the reader asked for. Nothing here falls into that category:

• The theme entry is set only when you operate the theme switcher, and stores exactly the preference you selected
• The Cloudflare cookies are security measures, which are strictly necessary
• Analytics stores nothing on your device at all

There is no non-essential storage to consent to, so no banner is shown. A banner that asked permission for nothing would be theater, not compliance.

Third-party cookies

None are set while you read. The site loads no ad tags, no social widgets, no embedded players and no external fonts, and its Content-Security-Policy blocks such requests outright.

Share buttons are plain links. They set nothing until you click one; after that you are on X, LinkedIn, Hacker News or Reddit, and that site’s cookie policy applies.

Inspecting and clearing it yourself

Do not take the table above on trust — check it:

1. Open your browser’s developer tools and go to the Application panel (Chrome, Edge) or Storage panel (Firefox, Safari)
2. Cookies lists what has actually been set for sqlpress.com
3. Local Storage shows sqlpress-theme if you have chosen a theme

To remove everything, clear site data for sqlpress.com in your browser settings, or delete the sqlpress-theme entry directly. The site keeps working either way; it will simply follow your operating system’s theme again.

Browsers that block all cookies or all storage will not break anything here. The theme switcher falls back to your system preference, and search still works, because the index is fetched, not stored.

Changes

Any new storage would be listed in the table above before it shipped, with a new Last updated date. Questions: [email protected].