Whiskrs privacy policy

Updated 28 October 2026 · version 1.1.0

Whiskrs is a bookmark and tab-session manager by theSpider. Your library stays in this browser profile by default. There are no accounts, cloud synchronization, analytics, advertising networks or personalized advertising. Optional public publishing sends only the space you explicitly choose to your configured sharing server.

Information on your device

Whiskrs reads open-tab titles and URLs to display and save tabs. It stores saved links, titles, notes, tags, workspaces, spaces, collections, favourites, Next items, aliases, recent links opened from Whiskrs, appearance preferences, and your optional local display name/avatar using Chrome extension-local storage. The sharing server address and publish key also stay in this storage. Website icons use Chrome's native favicon API. Whiskrs does not inspect website password fields or cookies. Credentials you manually enter in Private vault are encrypted before storage. Selected passages are read only when you choose Save selection. Browser history requires an optional permission; local archiving requires a separate opt-in.

Your Space profile fields (including an optional location you type, never device geolocation), social links, tools, pinned bookmark references, quick capture, project desk associations/notes, snippets, file folders/tags/favorites, dashboard layouts, PDF reading positions and focus-session snapshots are also stored locally. PDFs and raster images that you explicitly select are stored in local IndexedDB, not uploaded to a server. Full JSON backups include those selected files. Collection-only exports and public sharing exclude Your Space files and profile data. Local recovery can retain deleted file copies until older snapshots expire. Removing the extension or clearing its storage removes local files; keep a full backup or downloaded originals.

Workspace tutorial progress is saved locally to resume the guide. Its practice collections are ordinary saved collections; they are never uploaded automatically. Confetti and mascot animations run locally and respect reduced motion.

How information is used

Data is used to display, organize, search, save, group and reopen your links and sessions. Whiskrs contains no remote executable code, telemetry or model-generation requests. It does not sell information, use it for advertising or creditworthiness, or upload your entire library automatically.

Updates and featured placements

Chrome manages extension update delivery. Whiskrs listens for an available update and can request a check when you click Check for updates. It stores only local update-version, check-time and dismissal information. Checks use Chrome's update mechanism, not a Whiskrs tracking service. Applying a pending update requires an explicit action and reloads the extension.

The open-tabs panel can show clearly labelled sponsored placements and our own projects. It requests approved creative (text, a prepared image and a destination link) from https://admin.whiskrs.tech, without cookies, browser identifiers, bookmarks, tab titles, history, profile information or vault data. While the workspace is visible, the feed can refresh about every two minutes. Cloudflare and Turso process normal network requests for delivery; connection information such as IP addresses may be visible to hosting providers. Placements rotate without personal targeting. There are no remote ad scripts, tracking pixels, impression counters or click counters. You can hide the card, and opening a sponsor link is your choice. Advertiser submissions and Dodo checkout are covered by the separate partnerships privacy notice and sponsorship terms. The core extension remains usable without a sponsor or advertiser account.

Optional public pages

A Public Space starts as a local draft. Pressing Publish uploads that space's name, collection names/descriptions, link titles, URLs and tags to the server you configured. Link notes are excluded unless you check Include link notes. Standalone notes, other spaces, local profile and Next list are excluded. Publication creates a snapshot; later local edits do not automatically update it. Anyone with the public URL can read the snapshot. The hosting operator can access stored snapshots and may process network information such as IP addresses according to its own practices. Choose a host you trust.

Revoke a public page before making its space private, changing servers or uninstalling Whiskrs. Revocation removes the live snapshot from that server but cannot recall copies, downloads, screenshots or third-party caches. Published data remains on the host until revoked or removed by the hosting operator; its backups follow that operator's retention policy. HTTPS is required for remote sharing servers; HTTP is supported only on localhost for development.

Optional browser permissions

Onboarding offers optional access after the welcome screen. You select features and click Allow selected access before Chrome can request grants; declining does not block onboarding. It can request history, recently closed sessions, alarms, tab groups, side panel, packaged scripting, additional local storage, api.github.com access for public repository activity, and the narrow to/ alias redirect origins. It does not request all-website access or account sign-in. Granting access alone does not enable recording or publishing. Folder selection, device verification, account connection and individual websites still require their own setup. History access is also offered when you select the History search category or enable the History timeline. Search results stay in memory; the separate optional archive stores visited URLs, titles, latest visit times and visit counts locally. Archiving is off by default. You can pause it, exclude domains and subdomains, strip query strings (on by default), choose 7/30/90-day retention, and clear it. Expired records are pruned when the archive is read or updated, with a 5,000-URL/1.5 MB cap. Chrome history deletions also remove matching archived URLs. Archive-only deletion leaves Chrome history unchanged. It is never uploaded or included in library backups or publishing. Exporting the archive is a separate, explicit unencrypted download. Tab grouping requests the tabGroups permission. Side-panel mode requests sidePanel. Direct to/alias navigation requests declarativeNetRequestWithHostAccess and access only to http://to and https://to; the to/ omnibox keyword works without those redirects. Publishing requests access to the configured server origin. Declared optional HTTPS host patterns allow you to choose your own server; they do not grant access at installation. You can revoke permissions in browser extension settings. Configured GitHub sign-in asks for optional identity and API/exchange-origin access. Large imports may request optional unlimitedStorage. Floating save requests optional scripting and access only to a site you enable; no floating content script is installed on every website by default. Its isolated UI can read the current tab title/URL and collection names for the active workspace. It does not inspect form inputs, passwords or cookies. Save selected text reads only the passage you select and explicitly save, with its source URL/title. Track reading progress records a bounded scroll percentage only after you turn tracking on; it does not scrape article content. You can turn off a site in the popup or saver. Usage pairing asks only for the chosen localhost origin.

Private vault and device verification

Credentials are encrypted with a randomly generated AES-256-GCM key. A separate random recovery key protects an encrypted copy of that key; Whiskrs does not store the recovery key. A compatible passkey can protect another copy using WebAuthn PRF-derived encryption. The browser/operating system handles Touch ID, Windows Hello or PIN verification; Whiskrs receives no biometric templates, device PIN or computer password. Support depends on the authenticator and browser. Passkey enrollment does not enable a weaker unlock method when PRF is unavailable. Passkey providers may synchronize credentials according to their own settings.

Vault plaintext exists in this page's memory while unlocked. It locks when the page is hidden, closed, or after the chosen inactivity period. Copying an entry writes it to your device clipboard; Whiskrs cannot control clipboard history. The vault is excluded from search, ordinary backups, recovery, folder-library files and public sharing. Its separate export is encrypted; recovery-key downloads are plaintext and must be stored safely. No website autofill, account sign-in service or native companion is included in this vault. Removing the local vault does not delete exported files or passkeys held by your passkey provider.

Browser session recovery and folder files

Manual browser snapshots store web-tab URLs, titles and pin state in normal windows. Automatic snapshots require opt-in and optional alarms permission, at 5/15/30/60-minute intervals (browser sleep may delay them). Keep 10/25/50 snapshots, capped at 1.5 MB. Incognito tabs and URLs containing credentials are excluded. The optional sessions permission reads up to 25 recently closed Chrome sessions for explicit restore. Browser snapshots stay separate from library exports. You can delete them from Session recovery.

Encrypted folder sync uses a folder selected through the browser's file picker. The directory handle stays in local IndexedDB. Clicking Write creates/replaces an AES-256-GCM/PBKDF2 encrypted library file; clicking Read decrypts it for review before a separate import. Nothing is written, uploaded or merged automatically. Cross-device transfer requires your own file transfer or folder-sync tool. The file includes library attachments, reading notes and highlights, and excludes vault/history/browser snapshots. Its password stays in panel memory. Disconnect forgets the folder handle; it does not remove the file.

Optional link health checks

Selected saved HTTPS links can be checked in batches of up to 20 after you grant access to their origins. Requests use HEAD without cookies or a referrer, do not follow redirects, and contact the selected site directly. That site receives the URL and ordinary network metadata. IP literals, localhost and local-looking domains are excluded. Inconclusive responses are not marked broken. Results remain local and are excluded from backups; there are no automatic checks.

Files, clipboard and feedback

Import reads only a chosen JSON, bookmark HTML or plain-text URL file. Standard export writes unencrypted JSON, HTML, TXT or Markdown files. The optional encrypted full-backup export uses AES-256-GCM with PBKDF2-SHA256 (310,000 iterations); its password stays in memory and is not stored or transmitted. JSON backups include library content, workspaces, Next, aliases and notes; they exclude sharing keys, publication tokens and your profile/avatar. Copy actions write selected text to your clipboard; Whiskrs does not read your clipboard. Feedback opens an email draft in your mail application and does not send it automatically. Messages you choose to send are received at om.spider.dev@gmail.com and used to respond to support or product feedback.

Control, retention and deletion

You can edit or remove links and notes. Deleted collections remain in Trash until restored or permanently removed. Local data remains until deleted, the profile is removed or Whiskrs is uninstalled. Keep backups before uninstalling. Exported files and public snapshots must be removed separately. Whiskrs does not encrypt local library storage itself; your browser and operating system provide their usual protections.

Websites you open

Opening a saved link loads that website normally. Its own privacy practices apply. Incognito windows follow the browser's normal incognito rules and do not make saved library content private from other users of the same browser profile.

Optional repository activity

Repository pulse sends the public repository identifier and optional assignee username you choose to api.github.com when you select Save and load or Refresh. It reads open PRs, assigned issues and CI metadata; it does not edit repositories or read private code. Public reads require no token. Chrome API-origin permission is requested on demand. GitHub receives the request and network information under its own privacy practices.

Activity is cached in memory for five minutes, bounded to 20 repository/profile snapshots, and excluded from backups/public space snapshots. Project repository/assignee settings remain local and are included in JSON library backups. There is no continuous polling. Remove pulse to stop using this feature; revoke optional host access in Chrome settings if desired.

Optional developer integrations

Social links, project destinations, saved searches, recovery snapshots and AI usage readings are stored locally. Optional GitHub connection sends OAuth authorization to GitHub and a publisher-configured exchange endpoint, then reads identity and public repositories; session tokens are excluded from library exports. No GitHub OAuth app is preconfigured in this build.

The optional usage companion runs separately on your computer and accepts a paired extension origin. It reads supported CLI usage interfaces and returns percentages, reset times and timestamps. Claude's exporter discards prompts and other session data. Pairing keys are stored separately from library data. Whiskrs does not transmit these readings to a Whiskrs cloud service, and manual readings require no companion.

Limited Use

Whiskrs's use of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Data is used only for the disclosed developer bookmark and session workflows.

Contact

Publisher: theSpider. Support and privacy questions: om.spider.dev@gmail.com. whiskr.thespider.dev.

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