1. What a cookie is
A cookie is a small text file a site asks your browser to keep and hand back on your next request. Session cookies live only until you close the browser. Persistent cookies stay until they expire or you delete them.
This page covers cookies and the other browser storage Lumina uses. How we handle the data behind your account is set out in our Privacy Policy.
2. The short version
Lumina sets only the cookies it needs to keep you signed in. There are no advertising cookies, no marketing cookies, and no third-party analytics cookies on this site — so there is no consent banner to dismiss and nothing to opt out of.
We do measure how the product is used — which scholarships get opened, saved, and applied to. That measurement runs on our own server against your account, never through a tracking cookie or a third-party analytics script in your browser. Signed out, nothing is measured.
3. The cookies we set
All of them are strictly necessary: they exist so that a signed-in session works. They are set by Clerk, the service that handles sign-in for Lumina. Blocking them means you cannot stay signed in.
| Cookie | Set by | What it does | Lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| __session | Clerk | Holds your signed-in session so pages like your profile and saved list know who you are. | Session |
| __client_uat | Clerk | Records that a signed-in session exists, so the server can render the right page without a round trip. | Session |
| __refresh | Clerk | Renews an expiring session so you are not signed out mid-application. | Session |
| __clerk_handshake | Clerk | A short-lived value used while a session is being established or refreshed. | Momentary |
| __clerk_db_jwt | Clerk | Development builds only. Never set on the live site. | Session |
That is the whole list. Notably absent is our database: the Supabase clients Lumina runs are server-side only and hold no session, so they set nothing in your browser.
4. Storage that is not a cookie
One preference is kept in your browser’s local storage rather than in a cookie, which means it is never sent to our server:
- lumina-theme — whether you chose the light or dark theme, so the page does not flash the wrong one while loading. Clearing your site data removes it.
5. Controlling cookies in your browser
Because we set nothing optional, there is no toggle to offer you here — your browser is the control. Every major browser lets you see stored cookies, delete them, block third-party cookies, or block a specific site outright.
- ChromeSettings → Privacy and security → Third-party cookies — or go straight to chrome://settings/cookies
- FirefoxSettings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data — or go straight to about:preferences#privacy
- Safari (macOS)Safari → Settings → Privacy → Manage Website Data
- EdgeSettings → Cookies and site permissions → Manage and delete cookies and site data — or go straight to edge://settings/cookies
- Chrome (Android)Settings → Site settings → Cookies
- Safari (iOS)Settings → Safari → Privacy & Security → Block All Cookies
Two things worth knowing before you block them: clearing cookies signs you out of Lumina, and blocking them entirely will stop you signing in at all. Your choice applies per browser and per device, so it will not follow you to your phone.
6. Do Not Track
Some browsers send a Do Not Track signal. There is still no agreed standard for what a site should do with one, so Lumina does not respond to it — which changes nothing in practice here, since we run no cross-site tracking to switch off.
7. Changes and questions
If we add something that stores data in your browser, this page and its effective date change with it. Questions go to legal@mylumina.tech.