Frequently asked questions
The questions buyers and trial users ask us most. If yours isn't here, email support@shieldindex.app.
What does Shield Index actually do?
Shield captures the email traffic on your construction projects, runs an AI classifier over every message, and flags commercial-risk signals as they happen — variations, verbal instructions, delays, time-bars, pay-when-paid clauses, programme impacts. It builds a hash-stamped timeline so that if a project goes to dispute, you can hand a solicitor one PDF and the evidence is already there.
How accurate is the AI?
The classifier uses Anthropic's Claude Haiku model with a tool-use schema (so output is structurally enforced server-side, never malformed), keyword pre-detection (deterministic priors before AI runs), and self-consistency voting (three parallel runs on critical and high severity, majority wins). Every classification carries a confidence note. We grade output against a 12-case eval corpus and are growing it to 50+ real anonymised emails. AI output is labelled "AI-generated — not legal advice" everywhere it appears.
Is my email data used to train AI models?
No. Anthropic, our AI provider, does not use API inputs to train their models. Your email content is processed for classification only and discarded by Anthropic after the response is returned. The classified output is stored in your Shield account database; the original email is hash-stamped and stored unchanged.
Where is my data stored?
All application data lives in the UK on Fly.io (London region) and Supabase managed Postgres. We are a UK-registered company (White Ace AI Ltd) and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is our supervisory authority. Full third-party processor list is in our privacy policy.
How do you prove evidence wasn't altered?
Every inbound email gets a SHA-256 hash computed at the moment of capture and the raw Postmark payload is stored unchanged in a separate JSONB column. AI classifications are stored in their own columns — they overlay, they never edit. Audit logs are append-only. Dispute pack exports include the original hash and an integrity statement explaining the chain of custody so a third party can verify nothing was modified between capture and export.
Do I need to give a card to start the trial?
Yes. Card captured on sign-up, no charge until day 15. Cancel any time during the trial from the billing page and you won't be charged.
Can I invite my main contractor onto Shield?
Yes — this is a Phase 3 feature currently in progress. Solo gets 1 read-only invite per project; Team unlimited with commenting; Business adds @-mentions and summary digests. Your client is never billed — you remain the paying customer. This positions Shield as a transparency tool ("we both see the same timeline") rather than a defensive evidence locker.
What if a buyer decides they don't want Shield mid-trial?
Cancel from the billing page. Your subscription stays live until the end of the trial period. Your data is retained for 90 days after cancellation in case you change your mind or want to export it; after that it's permanently deleted. Full data export in JSON format is available from your account settings.
Still got a question?
Contact support