Sery for Education

See how your class is doing —
without collecting their files

Students keep their data on their own machines. You query across all of them from one dashboard. No upload. No central server. No FERPA risk.

The problem

You need class-wide visibility. Students need privacy.

Collecting files breaks trust

Asking students to upload raw data to a shared drive or your personal cloud puts you in the chain of custody for their work. One breach and it's your problem.

FERPA compliance is fragile

Central cloud storage for student submissions creates a compliance surface. Every new vendor, every integration, every breach disclosure adds risk you didn't need to take.

Aggregate insight requires aggregation

You need to know which datasets are complete, which columns are consistent, which students are behind — without opening every file yourself.

How it works

Privacy by architecture, not by policy

01

Students install Sery Link — free, no account required

Each student installs Sery Link on their own machine and connects their project folders. Their data never leaves their machine. Sery only indexes schema metadata — column names, row counts, file paths.

02

You invite the class to a shared workspace

As the instructor, your Plus workspace ($19/mo) supports up to 5 machines. For larger classes, use multiple workspace keys per lab group, or contact us for an education arrangement.

03

Query across every student's dataset from one place

Ask questions like "which datasets have a customer_id column?", "show column distributions across all submitted files", or "which students haven't uploaded a file in the last 24 hours?" — answers assemble across every connected machine.

04

Students query their own data from Sery Snap

During lab, students hold the mic on Sery Snap and ask questions about their own data by voice — in 8 languages. Results stream back in seconds. No SQL required.

Use cases

Five questions instructors ask every week

"Which datasets have been updated in the last 24 hours?"

Lab check-in — who has progressed since yesterday

"Show column distributions across all submitted files"

Spot outliers and inconsistencies before grading

"Which students' files have a "revenue" column?"

Verify assignment schema compliance in seconds

"How many rows does each student's dataset have?"

Sanity-check submissions without opening files

"What's the average value in the sales column?"

Students ask this by voice during lab — Sery Snap answers in seconds

Privacy guarantee

Student data never leaves their machine

Raw files stay on student machines

Sery syncs schema metadata only — column names, row counts, file paths. File contents are never uploaded to any server.

Queries run locally on DuckDB

When you ask a question, the SQL executes on the student's machine. Only the answer (a number, a row count, a distribution) travels back.

Verifiable audit log

Every outbound network event is logged to a local file. Students can open Settings → Privacy and see exactly what Sery sent, byte-by-byte.

AGPL-3.0 open source

The desktop client is open source. The privacy claims are in the code anyone can read — not a policy checkbox on a marketing page.

Start with your next lab

Sery Link is free for every student. The instructor workspace is $19/mo — one bill, up to 5 connected machines, 7-day trial, no card.

Larger classes or institutional licensing? Get in touch.