Field note 08 / Privacy
How to connect an ESPN league to Knute, what it stores, and how to disconnect
The connection as the app actually performs it, what it keeps, who else processes it, and every way out.
The short answer
Is it safe to give an AI app my ESPN login?
Yes. Knute never sees your ESPN password. You sign in on ESPN's own page inside the app, and Knute keeps only the session ESPN issues afterward, the same thing your browser holds. That session is encrypted at rest, never sent to an AI model, and revoked the moment you tap Disconnect ESPN. Deleting your account removes the rest.
I built Knute and wrote its privacy page. This note follows the connection the way the app performs it: what is kept, who else processes it, and how to leave.
01 / Connecting
How the connection works
ESPN has no public API and no OAuth for fantasy, so Knute does what your browser does: it holds a signed-in session and talks to ESPN with it. The sign-in itself happens on ESPN's page, not on a form I built, and the app says so before it opens that page.
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01
Create a Knute account
Download the iPhone app, sign up with an email and password, and verify the email with the link or six-digit code.
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02
Sign in on ESPN's own page
Tap Connect ESPN. ESPN's secure sign-in page opens inside the app's own web view. You type your ESPN credentials there. Knute does not receive them.
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03
Knute keeps the session
When the sign-in finishes, Knute captures the two session cookies ESPN issued to that web view and stores them, encrypted at rest. That is the whole credential.
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04
Pick the teams to import
Knute discovers the leagues on that ESPN account and shows the teams it found; you choose which to import. Sync teams in Settings runs discovery again later.
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05
Set a permission level
Per league, choose Advisor, Co-pilot or Autopilot. In Advisor nothing happens on its own; start there.
02 / Storage
What Knute stores
Everything here is on the privacy page too. The ESPN session, described above. Your account email and the verification records that prove you own it. League and roster data synced from ESPN: your team, your players, the free-agent pool, matchups, scoring settings, transactions and the moves Knute makes. Your chat transcripts in full, so the agent can explain a decision it made days ago. Photos you attach in chat, for as long as that conversation exists. Your Apple push token, if you turn notifications on.
Then the bookkeeping: App Store purchase and credit records for the optional packs, never your card or bank details; the reasoning and proposed or submitted actions behind proactive monitoring, so it can explain itself; and your account-level decision on third-party AI processing.
Access is scoped per account at the database level, so one account cannot read another. The website alone uses anonymous page-view analytics, not tied to any account. Nothing is sold, and there is no advertising on the site or in the app.
03 / Third parties
Who else sees it, and what they never see
Knute asks for explicit account-level permission before any of your content goes to a cloud model. If you allow it, the league context, roster data, chat content, uploaded rankings and photo attachments needed for a request go through OpenRouter to the model that handles it: xAI, Moonshot AI, Anthropic, OpenAI or Alibaba, which process that content only to produce the requested answer.
Your ESPN credentials are never part of that; the session is held server-side for talking to ESPN and excluded from every prompt. Withdraw the AI permission any time under Settings, AI & Data, and future cloud-model calls stop without disconnecting ESPN or deleting your account.
04 / Leaving
How to switch off, disconnect or delete
Four exits, each independent of the others.
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01
Switch the agent off
One tap. The connection and your history stay; nothing runs on your team until you turn it back on.
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02
Withdraw AI permission
Settings, AI & Data. Future cloud-model requests stop. ESPN stays connected and the account stays open.
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03
Disconnect ESPN
In the app, tap Disconnect ESPN. The stored session for that connection is revoked, and Knute can no longer read your league or act on your team from that point.
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04
Delete the account
Settings, Delete account. A deletion, not a deactivation: ESPN credentials, synced league and roster data, chat transcripts, attachments and push-token bindings go with it, and backups roll off shortly after. Only minimized, de-identified financial records required for refunds, fraud, tax and ledger integrity remain.
Prefer it done for you, or want the website email-list entry removed too? Email david@knute.ai; a person reads it and it will be done without asking why. Otherwise account, league and chat data are kept for as long as your account exists.
05 / Boundaries
What Knute does not do
It does not see, store or ask for your ESPN password; if a Knute form ever asks for it, close the app and email me. It does not sell data or run ads. It never makes trades. It connects to ESPN only, football and baseball; a league on another platform cannot be connected today.
It is not directed at children under 13. The commitment here is narrower: you always know what it holds, and you can take it away in one tap.
06 / Questions people ask
Frequently asked
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01
Does Knute see my ESPN password?
No. You sign in on ESPN's own page inside the app, and your password goes to ESPN, never to Knute. Once the sign-in finishes, Knute keeps only the session ESPN issues, the same session your browser would hold. That session is encrypted at rest, is never shown back to you, and is never included in a prompt to an AI model.
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02
Is it safe to give an AI app my ESPN login?
With Knute you do not hand over your login. You type your password on ESPN's page, not ours. Knute stores the resulting session so it can read your league and act on your team, encrypted at rest and scoped to your account at the database level. Disconnect ESPN in the app revokes it whenever you want.
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03
What data does Knute store?
Your account email, the ESPN session, your synced league and roster data, your chat transcripts and any photos you attach, your push token if you turn on notifications, App Store purchase and credit records, activity records of what the agent did and why, and your third-party AI permission decision. Knute never receives your card details.
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04
How do I disconnect Knute from ESPN?
Tap Disconnect ESPN in the app. That revokes the stored session for that connection, and from that point Knute can no longer read your league or act on your team. You do not need to delete your account to do it, and you can switch the agent off in one tap without disconnecting anything.
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05
How do I delete my Knute account?
In the app, go to Settings and tap Delete account. It removes the active account and the data attached to it: ESPN credentials, synced league and roster data, chat transcripts, attachments and push-token bindings. Only minimized, de-identified financial records required for refunds, fraud, tax and ledger integrity remain. You can also email david@knute.ai and it will be done without asking why.
07 / Where that leaves you
Connect it, read the log, keep the exits
If you play on ESPN and want the moves made by something you can inspect and switch off, get Knute on iPhone and leave it in Advisor until it has earned more.