Last updated: March 2026 · Applies to Tab Economist Chrome Extension v1.0.0 and later
chrome.storage.localTab Economist is a Chrome browser extension developed and maintained by Anish Monci Varghese as an independent project. It is distributed through the Google Chrome Web Store.
For questions about this policy, contact: chromeextensions@anishmoncivarghese.com
Tab Economist stores the following data locally on your device only, using the browser's built-in chrome.storage.local API. This data never leaves your device and is never transmitted to any server.
Tab activity records — For each open browser tab (excluding sensitive sites), the extension stores:
github.com)These records exist only while the tab is open and are deleted when the tab is closed.
Archive (Library) — When a tab is archived, the following is stored locally:
Archive items persist until you manually delete them or clear the archive. The archive is capped at 500 items.
User settings — Your preferences are stored locally:
Usage statistics — Aggregate counts stored locally for the weekly digest feature:
Search history — The last 5 search queries you typed in the Library search bar, stored locally only.
When a tab is archived, the extension may inject a script into the page to extract readable text (headings and paragraphs, capped at 2,000 characters). This text is passed directly to Gemini Nano — Google's on-device language model built into Chrome.
Gemini Nano processes text entirely on your device. The page content is never sent to Google's servers, to our servers, or to any third party. The result (a one-sentence summary and a category label) is stored locally in your archive.
If Gemini Nano is not available on your device, no page text is extracted or processed — the extension falls back to domain-based categorization rules only.
The extension never injects content scripts into sensitive sites. The full list of excluded site types is described in Section 6.
| Permission | Why it's needed |
|---|---|
| tabs | Read tab titles, URLs, and window IDs to track activity and render the Active view in the side panel. |
| storage | Save tab records, archive items, and settings to chrome.storage.local on your device. |
| sidePanel | Open and display the extension's UI as a Chrome side panel attached to the browser window. |
| alarms | Schedule periodic sweeps (every 15 minutes) to check for idle tabs, and set the 30-second undo window timer. |
| scripting | Inject the page-text extraction function into non-sensitive tabs when they are being archived, to generate AI summaries. |
| notifications | Show a system notification with an Undo button when tabs are about to be archived. |
| tabGroups | Create and name Chrome Tab Groups when you use the "Restore all" or "Group" features. |
| downloads | Save exported archive files (Markdown or JSON) to your Downloads folder when you use the Export feature. |
| <all_urls> (host permission) | Required to inject the page-text extraction script into tabs on any domain when archiving. The extension only does this for non-sensitive pages, only at the moment of archiving, and only to read page headings and paragraphs for AI summarization. No data is collected passively or sent externally. |
Tab Economist maintains a built-in blocklist of sensitive site categories. Tabs on these sites are never tracked, never have content extracted, and are never archived:
Users can also add custom domains to the Protected Domains list in Settings. These domains are stored locally and are never shared.
Tab Economist does not share any data with any third party — because no data ever leaves your device.
There is no analytics provider, no advertising network, no crash reporting service, and no backend infrastructure of any kind. The extension has no server-side component.
The only external software involved is Gemini Nano, which is part of Chrome itself and operates entirely on your device. Tab Economist does not control or have access to Gemini Nano's internal operation. Nano's use is governed by Google's own terms for Chrome built-in AI features.
Data is retained locally on your device until you delete it:
The archive is also automatically capped at 500 items — when the cap is reached, the oldest item is removed to make room for new ones.
Tab Economist does not knowingly collect any personal information from anyone, including children under the age of 13. Because no personal data is collected, transmitted, or stored with any identifying information, the extension does not present specific risks to children's privacy. However, it is intended for general adult use as a productivity tool.
If this privacy policy changes materially — for example, if a future version of the extension adds any form of data collection — the updated policy will be posted at this URL with a revised "Last updated" date, and the change will be noted in the Chrome Web Store release notes.
We will never introduce remote data collection without updating this policy and providing clear disclosure in the extension update notes.
Because Tab Economist does not collect or store any personal data on external servers, there is no personal data held by us to access, correct, export, or delete. All data exists solely on your own device under your own control.
To export your data: open the side panel → Settings → Export Archive (Markdown or JSON).
To delete your data: open the side panel → Settings → Danger Zone → Clear all archive. Alternatively, uninstall the extension.
If you have any questions about this privacy policy or the extension's data practices, please contact:
Tab Economist — Anish Monci Varghese
Email: chromeextensions@anishmoncivarghese.com
GitHub: github.com/anishmoncivarghese/tab-economist