Every permission, and why
Browser extensions ask for genuinely invasive access, and "trust us" is not an answer. This page lists every permission in the published manifest, what it lets the extension do, and — just as important — what it does not.
Described from the manifest shipped in extension version 1.5.0.
The short version
- Page content is read only when you explicitly save a page. Nothing is read in the background, and nothing is read on a page you never act on.
- Access to every website is optional, off by default, and requested from a click. If you never grant it, the extension has no reach beyond the platforms listed below.
- Cookie access is limited to notebooktoolkit.com and used for one thing: noticing that you signed in or out. The cookie value is never read or transmitted.
- No browsing history is collected, there is no advertising, and captured research is never sold or shared.
- Exports are assembled in your own browser from sources already in your library.
Permissions in the manifest
| Permission | What it enables | What it does not allow |
|---|---|---|
| activeTab | Reads the tab you are looking at, at the moment you press save or use the keyboard shortcut. | Chrome grants it only in response to your action and revokes it when you navigate away, so it is not standing access to anything. |
| tabs | Reads tab titles and addresses so "import my open tabs" can show you a list, and so the save panel knows which page you are on. | It does not read the contents of those tabs. Reading content is a separate step that only happens when you save. |
| storage | Keeps your settings, your pending save queue, and a cached "are you still signed in" flag on your own machine. | It stores no browsing history and nothing about pages you did not save. |
| sidePanel | Lets the extension open your library in Chrome’s side panel, next to whatever you are reading. | On its own it grants no access to page content — it only allows the extension to own a panel. |
| contextMenus | Adds the right-click entries for saving a page or a selected passage. | It does not report what you right-click on. Nothing happens until you choose one of the entries. |
| alarms | Runs two timers: a one-minute check for actions you queued in the web app, and an occasional re-check of your sign-in state. | No timer reads a page, opens a tab, or captures anything on its own. |
| notifications | Shows a Chrome notification when a save finishes, fails, or needs a decision from you. | It is never used for announcements, offers, or anything you did not start. |
| scripting | Places the save button on platforms you have enabled, and runs a one-off extraction function on the page when you save it. | Nothing is fetched from a remote server to run — the injected code ships inside the extension and is reviewable in the store package. It cannot run on sites the extension has no access to. |
| cookies | Watches for the session cookie on notebooktoolkit.com appearing or disappearing, so the extension notices your sign-in and sign-out immediately instead of asking you to log in again. | Host permissions confine it to notebooktoolkit.com, so it cannot see cookies for Google, your bank, or any other site. It reacts to the cookie changing and never reads or sends the cookie’s value. |
Reads the tab you are looking at, at the moment you press save or use the keyboard shortcut.
Chrome grants it only in response to your action and revokes it when you navigate away, so it is not standing access to anything.
Reads tab titles and addresses so "import my open tabs" can show you a list, and so the save panel knows which page you are on.
It does not read the contents of those tabs. Reading content is a separate step that only happens when you save.
Keeps your settings, your pending save queue, and a cached "are you still signed in" flag on your own machine.
It stores no browsing history and nothing about pages you did not save.
Lets the extension open your library in Chrome’s side panel, next to whatever you are reading.
On its own it grants no access to page content — it only allows the extension to own a panel.
Adds the right-click entries for saving a page or a selected passage.
It does not report what you right-click on. Nothing happens until you choose one of the entries.
Runs two timers: a one-minute check for actions you queued in the web app, and an occasional re-check of your sign-in state.
No timer reads a page, opens a tab, or captures anything on its own.
Shows a Chrome notification when a save finishes, fails, or needs a decision from you.
It is never used for announcements, offers, or anything you did not start.
Places the save button on platforms you have enabled, and runs a one-off extraction function on the page when you save it.
Nothing is fetched from a remote server to run — the injected code ships inside the extension and is reviewable in the store package. It cannot run on sites the extension has no access to.
Watches for the session cookie on notebooktoolkit.com appearing or disappearing, so the extension notices your sign-in and sign-out immediately instead of asking you to log in again.
Host permissions confine it to notebooktoolkit.com, so it cannot see cookies for Google, your bank, or any other site. It reacts to the cookie changing and never reads or sends the cookie’s value.
Site access
Permissions above say what capabilities the extension has. Host access says where it may use them. There are four groups, and only the last one is broad.
Our own site — notebooktoolkit.com
Two patterns, covering the bare and www addresses. This is what lets signing in on the website sign you in inside the extension.
Gemini Notebook — notebook.google.com and notebooklm.google.com
The core feature: putting your saved sources into a notebook. Google moved the product to notebook.google.com in July 2026; the old address stays listed because it still redirects and people still have it open in a tab.
The 11 supported platforms — 20 address patterns
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Google Docs, Grok, Kimi, LinkedIn, Perplexity, Reddit, X (Twitter), and YouTube. Several need more than one pattern because the site answers on more than one address. Each platform can be switched off individually in the popup, and switching it off stops the extension being injected there at all.
Every other website — optional, and off
Access to all sites lives in optional permissions, not required ones. It is what makes the save button appear on a site we ship no dedicated reader for. Chrome asks you for it from a click inside the popup, you can decline, and you can revoke it later from Chrome’s extension settings without uninstalling anything.
A mistake we made, and fixed
Until version 1.5.0, a build bug folded the broad "all websites" patterns into the published manifest, even though that access was always designed to be optional. In practice that meant the install prompt asked for far more than the extension was built to use. It was our error, it is removed in 1.5.0, and the manifest is now generated with an explicit guard that strips those patterns before packaging.
The rest of it
What is stored, for how long, and what leaves your browser is covered in the privacy policy. If something there is unclear, that is worth an email.