Do I need a historian server or database?
No. It reads your .xfc export files directly. There is nothing to install on the server side.
Does it work offline / on air-gapped PCs?
Yes. It runs entirely locally and licenses are delivered as a file, so no internet connection is required.
What can I export?
CSV, Excel, and a SQLite database with a clean Source / Tag / Sample schema.
What OS does it run on?
Windows 10 and Windows 11 (64-bit).
How is it licensed?
Per machine; perpetual or subscription; quotas can be topped up at any time.
What is maintenance and do I need it?
Maintenance is an optional annual subscription for perpetual Pro and Site licenses. It converts your lifetime hosted message bucket into a monthly renewable one and includes updates while active. You do not need it if you only use BYOK or local providers; the lifetime bucket is plenty for occasional Bravura-hosted use. Renewal preserves your consumption history.
Will my perpetual license still work in future versions?
Existing perpetual licenses (anyone who bought before the version-coverage policy was introduced) are grandfathered uncapped: they run on any current and future build. New perpetuals come pinned to the version sold; if you later install a newer build than your license covers, the app prompts you to either roll back to a covered build, buy maintenance to refresh coverage, or continue in demo mode (your file and tag quotas stay; only the perpetual hosted bucket downgrades to demo). Renewing maintenance issues a fresh license file that bumps coverage to the renewal version. Subscriptions, the Free demo, and operator-unlimited licenses do not carry a cap.
Can someone extract the bundled key from the installer?
Not via casual extraction. The Free demo's hosted Claude Haiku 4.5 key, and the per-license keys for Bravura-hosted Pro and Site, are hidden inside the binary using a commercial compile-time protection. A text-search or hex-editor scan of the installer returns no match for those keys. A determined attacker with a debugger could still recover the in-memory copy at process load; that surface is on the roadmap. In practice, damage on the demo key is bounded by a tight monthly spend cap on the workspace Bravura uses for hosting, and paid customers carry their own per-license key inside an encrypted license envelope rather than the bundled demo key.
What happens after my hosted message bucket runs out?
Perpetual without maintenance: top up at any time with a 500-message credit pack ($15 each, balance is permanent), or upgrade to a maintenance plan to convert the lifetime bucket into a monthly renewable one. Perpetual with maintenance and subscriptions: the bucket auto-renews on the 30-day cadence; top-up packs still work as overflow and survive the rollover. Free demo runs out after 2 lifetime messages and does not allow top-ups.
How big a dataset can it handle?
Millions of samples across many files, with sub-second browsing on a modern Windows machine.
What is "Advanced Export"?
Resampling and filtering applied as you export: linear, step (LOCF), nearest, time-weighted, and min/max/count modes, boundary fill, quality filtering, and despike / deadband / swinging-door noise filters. It is included with Pro and Site, or available as an add-on on Lite and subscriptions.
Can I still export without the add-on?
Yes. Raw export to CSV, Excel (one sheet per tag), and a raw SQLite database is available on every paid tier. Only the resampling and filter controls are part of Advanced Export.
How do I choose the .xfc folder?
Use the built-in folder picker: click Browse... and select the folder of exports. The app reads them in place.
Can I zoom into a section of the chart?
Yes. Drag-select on the chart (or mouse-wheel) to zoom; use the overview brush below to pan and resize the window. Double-click or Reset zoom restores the full range. The summary strip always reports min / max / mean / count for the visible window.
Which time zone are the timestamps shown in?
Your choice. The app stores timestamps in UTC but lets you pick the display zone (Local, UTC, or any IANA zone via a searchable picker in the header). Chart axes and metadata times re-render in the chosen zone, and your choice is remembered.
Can I use the historian without an internet connection?
The core app (browse, search, chart, export) runs fully offline and never phones home. Ask Historian today, however, needs an internet connection: prompts go to your chosen cloud provider (BYOK) or to the Bravura-hosted endpoint. A local-model option (Ollama on the workstation) and the Site Air-Gap Bundle are on the roadmap; when they ship, a workstation in air-gap mode will be locked to local-only and the kill switch will be enforced from the license itself.
Do you store my Anthropic / OpenAI key?
No. API keys typed into the app are encrypted at rest by Windows and sent only on the request that uses them. They are never written to disk in plaintext and never sit on a Bravura server.
What's the privacy default when I use Ask Historian?
Tag names plus server-computed summary stats only. Raw historian samples are never sent unless you explicitly ask for a chart, and even then they are hard-capped at a 200-point downsample. Every chat reply carries a per-turn footer that spells out exactly what left your machine, and every session writes an audit log you can export as a ZIP.
