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Hacker News Search Toolkit (Unofficial) — Privacy Policy

Privacy policy for the Hacker News Search Toolkit Chrome extension.

Effective date: 2026-05-11

Hacker News Search Toolkit ("the extension") is a browser extension that helps you compose, save, and launch Hacker News search URLs (via the Algolia HN search) from a side panel. This policy describes what data the extension processes, where it is stored, and what permissions it uses.

Summary

• The extension does not collect, transmit, or share any user data with the developer or any third party.
• All saved searches and settings are stored locally on your device via chrome.storage.local and never leave your browser.
• The extension makes network requests only to navigate browser tabs to URLs you explicitly composed. No background, scheduled, or automated requests.

Data the extension stores

All of the following is stored in chrome.storage.local, which is scoped to your Chrome profile on this device and does not sync across devices unless you manually export/import:

• Saved searches — names, tags, and the search-input shape you composed (keywords, points, comments, author, date range, etc.) plus the resulting hn.algolia.com search URL.
• Tags — labels you attach to saved searches for organization.
• Settings — theme, display mode (popup vs side panel), default landing view, open mode (current tab vs new tab).

This data is not transmitted anywhere. The "Export JSON" feature in Settings → Backup writes this data to a file on your disk via the browser's standard download mechanism; the extension does not upload the file.

Permissions used

storage

Used to persist saved searches, tags, and settings locally via chrome.storage.local.

sidePanel

Used to render the extension UI as a Chrome side panel. You can switch to a classic popup in Settings; both modes render the same UI.

What the extension does NOT do

• No background scraping. No content scripts. No scheduled, recurring, or polling reads.
• No automation. No clicks, no API calls. The extension only opens user-composed URLs in browser tabs.
• No data sold or transferred to third parties.
• No data used for advertising, profiling, or analytics.
• No data used to determine creditworthiness or for lending purposes.
• No data sent to the developer or any external server. The extension has no developer-controlled backend.
• The extension declares no host_permissions and runs no content scripts. It cannot see the URLs or content of any of your tabs.

Third-party services

The extension does not use any third-party services, analytics providers, error-reporting services, or remote configuration.

User rights and choices

Because the extension stores all data locally and transmits nothing, you have complete control:

• View your data via Settings → Backup → "Export JSON."
• Modify any saved search or tag from inside the extension UI (Rename, Delete, etc.).
• Delete all extension data at any time by removing the extension from Chrome — that automatically clears its chrome.storage.local namespace.

Changes to this policy

This policy may be updated as the extension evolves. Any material change will be reflected in a new "Effective date" at the top of this document. The latest version is always available at the URL where you read this policy.