Reader.md — Privacy Policy

Reader.md is a Chrome extension that turns any web page into a clean reader view, then lets you save or copy what you're reading. This page explains exactly what it does with your data — in plain English.

The short version

Everything happens on your computer. The extension does not send page contents, URLs, browsing history, or anything else to any server. There is no account, no analytics, no telemetry, no ads. We have no way to see what you read or do.

What it stores on your computer

Three things, and that's it:

1. Your preferences — default action, filename template, frontmatter on/off, source metadata on/off, and similar settings. Saved with Chrome's standard storage.sync so they follow you across browsers signed into the same Chrome profile.
2. Whatever article you just extracted — held briefly in Chrome's session storage so the reader tab can display it and back/forward navigation can reload it. It is automatically cleared when the browser session ends, and the extension also removes stale reader sessions after about one hour.
3. A short list of files you recently opened — when you open a local file (Markdown, text, HTML, or PDF) from the reader's Home screen, Reader.md remembers its name, type, and when you opened it — the five most recent — so you can re-open it in one click. This list is kept only on this device (storage.local, never synced anywhere), alongside a browser handle that lets it re-open the file; your browser asks your permission again before it reads the file. The file's contents are never stored — they are read fresh each time and then discarded, exactly like any other article.

Nothing in any of these stores is ever sent off your computer.

What it does not do

• Does not collect personally identifying information, health data, financial data, passwords, location, browsing history, mouse movements, keystrokes — nothing.
• Does not transmit page contents, extracted HTML, Markdown, EPUB files, clipboard contents, or saved files anywhere.
• Does not run analytics or track usage.
• Does not load remote scripts, fetch executable code at runtime, or include any third-party network beacons.
• Does not sell, share, or transfer any user data — there is no user data to transfer.

When you explicitly send something somewhere

A few features involve other services. None of them happen automatically.

Saving and copying. When you click "Save Markdown," "Save HTML," or "Save EPUB," the file is written to your normal Downloads folder. When you click "Copy," the cleaned content goes onto your clipboard. Neither leaves your machine.

AI share targets (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini). These are off by default. If you choose to share an article to one of these services, Reader.md opens the service's chat page in a new tab and pre-fills the prompt box with the cleaned Markdown. You then review and send. Once you do, the data is in the hands of that service per its own privacy policy. Reader.md is just the courier.

Right-click "Open link in Reader.md." When you right-click any link and pick this option, Reader.md asks Chrome for permission to read that one site, opens the link in a hidden background tab, extracts the article, and immediately closes the tab. The hidden tab makes the same network requests your browser would have made if you had clicked the link normally. Nothing extra is sent anywhere.

Loading media. When the reader view contains images or videos, your browser fetches them from the original site, exactly as it would on the source page. The extension tells the browser to suppress the referrer header (referrerpolicy="no-referrer") where supported so the source site does not learn you came from Reader.md.

Permissions, plain English

• activeTab — read the current page when you click the toolbar.
• scripting — inject the bundled extraction code into that page.
• storage — save your preferences, the temporary reader content, and your list of recently opened files.
• downloads — save the file when you ask for one.
• clipboardWrite — copy the cleaned content when you ask for it.
• contextMenus — register the right-click menu items.

Optional permissions for claude.ai, chatgpt.com, gemini.google.com, and per-site grants for the right-click "Open in Reader.md" feature are requested by Chrome only when you trigger a feature that needs them. You can revoke any of them at any time at chrome://extensions.

Changes

If this policy changes, the new text will replace this page and the change will be visible in the project's git history.

Contact

Questions or concerns: support@spoonkeyworks.com