Telemetry (opt-in, off by default)

trstctl can send a small amount of anonymized usage data to help the project understand adoption and prioritize work. It is off by default and never sends anything unless you explicitly turn it on. This is a decided, privacy-first position for a self-hosted product used in regulated environments.

What is sent (only when enabled)

A single JSON document, at most once per interval:

{
  "schema": 1,
  "instance_id": "9f2c…",          // random, generated once, never host-derived
  "version": "v1.2.3",
  "os": "linux",
  "arch": "amd64",
  "credential_buckets": {            // counts BUCKETED into coarse ranges by type
    "x509_certificate": "101-1000",
    "ssh_key": "1-10"
  }
}

instance_id — a random 128-bit identifier generated on first use and stored locally. It is not derived from your hostname, IP, MAC, organization, or any credential. The receiver counts distinct IDs to estimate active deployments; that figure is treated as a lower bound.
credential_buckets — how many credentials of each type you manage, reported as a coarse range (0, 1-10, 11-100, 101-1000, 1001-10000, 10000+). Exact counts never leave the process.

What is never sent

No credential content or metadata of any kind: no subjects, SANs, serials, fingerprints, public keys, or expiry dates. No owner identities, emails, team names, hostnames, IP addresses, file paths, CA names, or connector targets. No configuration values. If a field could identify you or your credentials, it is not in the payload — by construction, the payload struct has no place to put it.

How to opt in

Telemetry is enabled only when you set it explicitly:

# environment
export TRSTCTL_TELEMETRY_ENABLED=true
# optional overrides
export TRSTCTL_TELEMETRY_ENDPOINT=https://telemetry.trstctl.com/v1/usage
export TRSTCTL_TELEMETRY_INTERVAL=24h

or in the config file:

{ "telemetry": { "enabled": true, "interval": "24h" } }

When enabled, the endpoint must be an absolute https:// URL and the interval a positive Go duration; trstctl validates this on boot and refuses to start on a bad telemetry configuration. A typo in TRSTCTL_TELEMETRY_ENABLED (anything that is not a recognized boolean) is ignored and leaves telemetry off.

Verifying the current setting

trstctl -check-config | grep telemetry
# telemetry.enabled: false

How to opt out

Do nothing — it is already off. If you previously enabled it, set TRSTCTL_TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false (or remove the config key) and restart. You may also delete the stored instance_id file; a new random ID is generated only if you opt in again.