Privacy
Privacy policy
Short version: Empire Forge runs on your computer and collects nothing about you.
Effective 7 October 2026. This policy covers the Empire Forge app (the GitHub download and the Microsoft Store version) and this website. Empire Forge is a free, open-source project by NapKingCole.
What we collect
Nothing. Empire Forge has no accounts, no analytics, no telemetry, no advertising and no crash reporting. The developer receives no information about you or how you use the app, and never sees your civs or your game files.
What the app does on your computer
The app runs a small local web server that only your own computer can reach (127.0.0.1) and shows
its pages in your browser. While it runs, it:
- Reads your Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition game files to build mods. It never modifies them.
- Saves your custom bonus library and some caches that make builds faster in
%APPDATA%\EmpireForge, and temporary build files in your Windows temp folder. - Keeps civs in progress in your browser's local storage for that page, so a refresh doesn't lose your work.
All of this stays on your computer. You can delete it at any time: remove the EmpireForge folder,
clear the site data for 127.0.0.1 in your browser, or uninstall the Microsoft Store version.
Network requests
Empire Forge never sends your civs, mods or game files anywhere. It does make a few ordinary web requests, and the services that answer them see what any website sees — your IP address and basic browser information — under their own privacy policies:
| Request | Sent to | When |
|---|---|---|
| Check whether a newer version exists | GitHub | Once per launch, GitHub download only. The Microsoft Store version doesn't check; the Store handles its updates. |
| Fonts | Google Fonts | When the app's pages load |
| Icons | Font Awesome | When the app's pages load |
| Page styling and scripts (Bootstrap) | jsDelivr | When the app's pages load |
Links in the app — to Discord, GitHub or this website — open in your browser only when you click them.
This website
This site is hosted on GitHub Pages. It sets no cookies and uses no analytics. GitHub may log visitors' IP addresses for security, as described in the GitHub Privacy Statement. Pages load fonts from Google Fonts and icons from cdnjs (Cloudflare).
Contacting us
If you email us or post on Discord or GitHub, we see what you choose to send, and use it only to reply and fix problems. We don't sell or share it.
Children
Empire Forge collects no personal information from anyone, including children.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted on this page with a new effective date. The source code for both the app and this site is public, so any change to what the app does is visible on GitHub.
Contact
Questions about privacy: aoenapkingcole@gmail.com