Privacy notice

Last updated 28 October 2026

Stackstep runs practice internships for students. This page says, in plain words, what we keep about you, who can see it and what you can do about it.

What we collect

From GitHub when you sign in, your login, display name, email and avatar. We only ask GitHub for read access to your profile and email address, and we never see your GitHub password.
What you do on Stackstep, such as task status changes, hand-in links and notes, quiz answers, chat messages, AI helper questions and answers, points, credits and certificates.
If you apply for a cohort, your phone number, date of birth, college, course, branch and graduation year, the payment screenshots you upload with their UPI transaction IDs and amounts, and your messages with the admissions team.
Basic request logs (time, path, status, request id) to keep the service running. Logs don't include message text.

Who can see it

Stackstep admins and mentors can see everything about your internship so they can review your work.
If your internship belongs to a college cohort, that college's placement cell can see your progress, chat and AI helper conversations, but not other colleges' students.
Applications and payment screenshots are seen by Stackstep admins, and by the placement cell of the college that runs the cohort you applied to.
A certificate's public verification page shows your name, program, dates and the numbers on the certificate. Nothing else is public.

Teammates and the AI helper

The people in your chat are characters that make the internship feel real. Mentors play them and answer you. Some also reply automatically, with scripted notes such as standups and “got it”, and an AI team lead that answers everyday questions when no mentor has. Each chat header says which teammates do, and every automatic reply is labelled “Automatic reply”.
Stackstep uses Groq, an AI provider, in three places. The AI helper (your question and the task brief), automatic teammate replies (your message, your open tasks and the recent conversation), and review drafts a mentor may ask for (the task, your hand-in note and your public pull request). A mentor always makes review decisions. Don't paste passwords, keys or personal details into chat or the helper.

How long we keep it

We keep your account and internship data while your account exists, so certificates stay verifiable and colleges can report placements.
To have your account deleted, ask your program admin.

Your choices

Download everything we hold about you as a JSON file from the account menu (“Download my data”).
Ask your program admin to correct or delete your data.
We don't sell your data or show ads, and we don't use tracking cookies. We store your sign-in session in your browser.