LocalPulse AI

Private AI for the page you're reading. Summarize, explain and chat with any web page from your browser's side panel, using AI that runs on your own computer whenever possible.

What is this?

LocalPulse is an open-source browser extension that reads the tab you're on and answers questions about it in the side panel. Local AI tools need no account and collect no analytics. Optional email read activity uses a separate open-source service on Vercel, or your own deployment, only when you explicitly connect it. Its public implementation and data policy explain the encrypted queue and hosting providers.

It uses the most private AI it can find, in this order:

1. Your browser's built-in model: Gemini Nano in Chrome, where the computer supports it.
2. An AI app on your computer: Ollama, LM Studio or llama.cpp.
3. A small model inside the browser: WebLLM on your graphics card. It works in Brave, Opera, Edge and Chrome after a one-time download.
4. A cloud API with your own key: Google Gemini, OpenRouter, Groq, Mistral and others. It's used only if you add a key, and LocalPulse asks you before any page is sent.

Every answer says where it was written: a green light means on this device, amber means the cloud.

Features

• 24 built-in actions, with a searchable library: summaries, research briefs, evidence and gaps, study guides, flashcards, quizzes, glossary, code review, meeting notes and more. Pin the ones you use, or add your own.
• Questions about the page. Long pages are read in parts, and questions use the sections that match.
• Right-click on selected text to explain, summarize, simplify, rewrite or translate it. Proofread text in a form and put the result back in the field.
• PDFs: the one open in a tab, or drop a file into the panel. Also YouTube transcripts, and GitHub files and pull requests.
• Several tabs at once, for example to compare two articles.
• Document workspace: read several PDFs, text files and captured pages together. Choose which sources to include, compare them, and see which document contains a checked quote.
• Checked quotes: quotes in an answer are looked up on the page, and invented ones are flagged. Open the verified source excerpt and its PDF page when available.
• Research library: explicitly save, search, rename and reopen source collections locally, with JSON import/export and fresh cloud consent.
• Local OCR and audio transcription: extract text from images/scanned PDFs and chosen audio, after an explicit model-data download. Review or export text and add it to your workspace.
• Tab organizer: preview duplicates, confirm closing, group domains in Chrome and save or restore named sessions locally.
• Optional web research: send only a query you type and select public sources to fetch.
• Continue in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Perplexity: LocalPulse copies the question and opens the site, and you paste it and press Send. It never automates those sites.
• Searchable local history, with favorites, custom names, Markdown export and portable JSON backups. Import adds conversations without replacing existing ones or granting cloud access. Tables in answers download as CSV.
• Interactive flashcards: reveal answers, rate what you know, review missed cards and export to Anki. Practice progress stays in the panel session.
• Read answers aloud with voices installed on your device. Remote voices are excluded.
• Local follow-ups: review and save a page reminder, search it, mark it done or snooze it. Export open tasks to your calendar for reminders.
• Optional private email read activity: enable it during onboarding for automatic Gmail/Outlook draft images, per-draft toggles and local read badges. Manual images remain available for other apps. The public open-source service encrypts timestamps for your extension, then deletes events after collection. Private keys and results stay in your browser, with password-encrypted backups. No email content, subjects, recipient addresses or link tracking.
• Light and dark themes, keyboard friendly, and translatable.

Privacy

Where the answer comes from	Where your page goes
Built-in model (Gemini Nano)	Nowhere. It stays on this computer.
App on your computer (Ollama, LM Studio)	To that app on this computer.
In-browser model (WebLLM)	Nowhere. It stays on this computer.
Cloud API with your key	Straight from your browser to the company you chose, after you agree.
Continue in ChatGPT / Claude / …	Only what you paste or send there yourself.

Settings add a Local-only mode and a list of sites that never go to the cloud. Emails, phone numbers and card numbers in the page are hidden before it goes to a cloud provider (you can turn this off); what you type in a question is sent as you wrote it. Follow-up questions only take earlier answers along to a cloud provider when their pages may go there too. Full details are in PRIVACY.md.

Email read activity has separate explicit setup. Creating an image sends only your public keys; the service never accepts email subjects, bodies, recipient addresses or destination links. It queues encrypted image-request timestamps, and your extension saves results locally before signing their deletion. Uncollected events and tracking images have no expiry. Hosting providers handle network metadata under their policies. AI Local-only mode controls AI requests; this separately connected feature can still contact its server. Image requests estimate activity and cannot prove a human read. See the complete service disclosure.

Screenshots

Install

LocalPulse needs Chrome or Edge 138 or newer, Opera 135 or newer, Brave or Vivaldi based on Chromium 138 or newer, or Firefox 140 or newer.

From a release (no build needed)

Chrome users can install from the Chrome Web Store. The store version is the published release. The v1.1.0 update described here is currently a source build for testing until the next store update is published.

1. Download localpulse-ai-<version>-chrome.zip (for Firefox, localpulse-ai-<version>-firefox.zip) from the Releases page and unzip it.
2. Open chrome://extensions, turn on Developer mode, click Load unpacked and pick the unzipped folder (the one with manifest.json in it).
   • For Firefox, open about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox, click Load Temporary Add-on and pick manifest.json in the unzipped Firefox ZIP. Firefox removes temporary add-ons when it restarts, so load it again after a restart.

From source

1. Install Node.js 24.15 or newer on the 24 line (with nvm: nvm install, which reads .nvmrc). Node 22.22.2 or newer on the 22 line, and 26 or newer, also work; 23 and 25 aren't supported. Node 26 and newer don't include Corepack: run npm install -g corepack first (if you installed pnpm with npm, run npm uninstall -g pnpm before that).
2. Build the extension:

   git clone https://github.com/user-github-me/localpulse-ai.git
   cd localpulse-ai
   corepack pnpm install      # the first run downloads pnpm itself
   corepack pnpm build        # Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi
   corepack pnpm build:firefox

3. Open chrome://extensions (or brave://extensions, edge://extensions) and turn on Developer mode.
4. Click Load unpacked and pick the local/build/chrome-mv3 folder inside the project. Don't pick the project folder itself: it holds the source code, and the build creates the extension, with its manifest.json, in local/build/chrome-mv3. (Picking the project folder gives "Manifest file is missing or unreadable".) Pick chrome-mv3 exactly: chrome-mv3-dev only works while corepack pnpm dev is running (the same goes for firefox-mv3-dev), and chrome-mv3-e2e is a test build with extra permissions.
   • For Firefox, open about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox, click Load Temporary Add-on and pick local/build/firefox-mv3/manifest.json. Firefox removes temporary add-ons when it restarts; after a rebuild, click Reload on the add-on there.
5. After changing the code, run corepack pnpm build again and click the reload button on the extension's card. Or run corepack pnpm dev: it opens a separate Chrome window with the extension and reloads it on every change. That window starts with a new, empty profile, so Chrome's built-in model isn't in it, and the in-browser models don't run under dev; to try on-device AI, build and load the extension in your everyday Chrome.

Usage

1. Click the LocalPulse icon in the toolbar, or press Alt+Shift+L (⌥⇧L on a Mac). Pin it from the puzzle-piece menu to keep it in the toolbar.
2. The first time, the welcome page checks what your computer can run and suggests a setup.
3. Pick an action or type a question. Select text first to ask about just that part.

No AI set up yet? When you click Summarize, the panel offers a free model that runs in the browser (a one-time download of about 0.7 GB), an app like Ollama, or your own API key. Continue in ChatGPT works with no setup at all.

Click Browse actions to find a task by name or category and run it without pinning it. Pin your favorites to keep them in the panel. Evidence and gaps examines the claims in your sources; it doesn't independently verify them. Review code suggests issues and tests; it doesn't run the code.

To compare documents, choose several PDFs or text files with the file button, or drop them into the panel. Open Document workspace beside the file button to add more files or Capture current page. Check the sources to include, then choose Read chosen sources and ask a question or click Compare. Captures are snapshots; a later edit or navigation doesn't change them. Back to current page returns to ordinary browsing. Sources remain only in this panel's memory, until you clear the workspace or close the panel. The limit is 12 sources, 2 million characters of extracted text and 25 MB per file.

In History, search questions, answers, titles and sites across all saved chats. Use the star to favorite a chat or the pencil to rename it. Back up all as JSON saves a portable copy; Import backup adds chats to this browser. Backups contain your questions and answers, so store them somewhere private. Page text, API keys and cloud permissions aren't included. Answers imported from a backup can be read and used with local AI; cloud follow-ups omit them because their original permissions cannot be verified.

Run Flashcards to generate a study deck. Valid structured answers show reveal, navigation, ratings and missed-card practice. Download for Anki saves an import file; choose the Basic note type with Front and Back fields. Existing table answers remain usable as ordinary Markdown. Saved history can reopen a deck; session ratings reset. Read aloud beside an answer uses only installed voices; install a system voice if none is available.

Open Follow-ups from the bell in the top bar. Add current page lets you review a title and due time before saving; New follow-up creates a standalone task. Due, Upcoming and Done views include search, completion, editing and snooze. Export open tasks to calendar downloads an ICS file with alarms. Import it into your calendar app to receive reminders. LocalPulse checks due dates while the board is open and does not deliver desktop notifications. Exported calendar events are copies: completing or editing a task here does not update an earlier calendar import.

The first-run welcome flow offers optional email tracking after AI setup. Choose Enable email tracking and accept browser access to the service and supported email sites. Your first image is prepared automatically. Gmail and Outlook drafts receive separate images and a per-draft tracking toggle; opening a tracked message displays a local estimated-read badge. Read the automatic workflow below for supported hosts and limitations.

Open Email tracking in the side panel for counts and times, notifications, a service test, private names, password-encrypted backup and custom hosting. Other mail apps use manual images under Advanced · manual images and private names. The service is public and MIT-licensed: GitHub source, live disclosure. It receives public cryptographic keys and image requests, queues encrypted timestamps without expiry and deletes signed acknowledged events after local saving. Email subjects, recipients, message content and private draft names never enter the tracking API.

How it works

Side panel (React) ── reads the tab on request ──▶ extractor.js (Readability + Turndown)
      │
      ├─ router: the first ready provider, most private first; the cloud only with consent
      ├─ run: fits long pages into small models (summaries in parts, relevant sections)
      └─ providers: built-in AI · OpenAI-compatible (Ollama, LM Studio, cloud APIs) · WebLLM
Service worker: toolbar button, right-click menu, shortcuts

The AI runs in the side panel page, not the service worker, so long answers aren't cut off. No page reader runs until you ask about a page. Separately opted-in Gmail/Outlook tracking registers a bundled site-specific integration script.

Permissions

Permission	Why
sidePanel	Shows LocalPulse in the browser's side panel.
activeTab	Reads the tab where you clicked the LocalPulse icon, only then.
scripting	Runs the page reader in the tab you ask about, and puts proofread or rewritten text back when you click Replace selection.
storage, unlimitedStorage	Keeps settings, history and downloaded models on this computer.
contextMenus	Adds LocalPulse to the right-click menu for selected text.
declarativeNetRequestWithHostAccess	Lets connected local AI servers accept requests; also blocks identifiable owner-side tracking-image loads on opted-in webmail sites.
Optional: access to sites	Asked when you choose Allow on all sites, add other tabs to a question, connect an AI endpoint or optional tracking server, or read a PDF open in a tab. When LocalPulse can't read the tab you're on, Chrome also shows its own request for that site.
Optional: tabs	Asked when you add other tabs to a question or review the tab organizer, to list titles and addresses.

Installing LocalPulse shows no permission warnings; the optional ones are asked for when a feature needs them.

Optional tabGroups is requested for Chrome domain grouping; alarms for opted-in tracking collection; notifications separately for generic read-activity notifications. Gmail/Outlook access is requested only when automatic tracking is enabled. Model downloads and explicit web research request their hosts on demand. No Gmail API, inbox account or OAuth access is used.

Limitations

• Chrome's built-in model (Gemini Nano) needs Chrome 138 or newer, 22 GB of free disk space, and a graphics card with more than 4 GB of memory or 16 GB of RAM and 4 CPU cores. You can check its status at chrome://on-device-internals. Brave, Opera and Vivaldi don't include a built-in model; use the in-browser model or a local app there.
• Small models make mistakes. Check important facts; quotes are checked against the page, but summaries aren't.
• YouTube transcripts depend on undocumented YouTube internals and may stop working.
• The Firefox version doesn't include the in-browser model yet: its files are too large for addons.mozilla.org's validator.
• Scanned PDFs need explicit local OCR and a language-data download. Recognition accuracy varies.
• Workspaces are temporary, and JSON history backups hold up to 1,000 conversations and 20,000 messages within 25 MB. Large sets may take longer to search or answer with a small local model.
• Free cloud plans change often. On Google's free Gemini tier, prompts may be used to improve Google's products.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome, especially new provider presets, quick actions, site readers and translations. Most of these are a JSON or YAML file. See CONTRIBUTING.md. To report a security problem, see SECURITY.md.

See ROADMAP.md for the project's current stage, design direction and next upgrades.

License

MIT

Saved research and source excerpts (v1.1.0)

Use Document workspace to choose files and capture pages. Open Research library, name your collection and choose Save chosen sources. Saved text stays in this browser until you delete the collection. Search names and full source text locally, reopen a collection as your workspace, rename it, or export/import JSON. Backups contain full text and source addresses: keep them private. Reopened/imported sources require fresh cloud consent and retain original never-send site rules.

Expand an answer's Quote checked control and choose Open source excerpt. The marked text and surrounding context come from the actual source; PDF page numbers come from extracted page headings. A source link opens a remote PDF at that page. For local files the excerpt remains local. Repeated wording opens its first match. Matching a quote does not verify the entire answer.

Public issues #2–#10 define the v1.1 features, acceptance criteria, privacy boundaries and contributor starting points. Implementation is under review in PR #11; linked issues close when that PR merges.

Automatic email tracking (v1.1.0)

In the welcome guide, choose Enable email tracking and accept the browser's access request. LocalPulse connects to the public service and prepares the first image. Open Gmail or Outlook (on mail.google.com, outlook.live.com, outlook.office.com or outlook.office365.com), compose as usual, and check the LocalPulse · tracking on control beside the editor. Every draft gets a separate random image. Click the control to turn tracking off for that draft. LocalPulse never presses Send or reads recipients, subjects or message text for tracking.

Opening a tracked message shows an estimated reads badge near its header when its image capability is present in the page. Click to collect again; scheduled collection runs every 15 minutes while the browser runs. Email tracking in the panel shows activity, optional generic notifications, a service test, private image names, encrypted backup and self-hosting. Manual images for other mail apps are under Advanced · manual images and private names. Other sites need a reviewed adapter; arbitrary editors are not automatically modified.

Direct image requests from the owner's supported webmail pages are blocked where browser rules can identify the capability. Gmail/Outlook server-side proxy fetches and mail preloads can still produce activity or cache later opens. Counts are image requests, not proof of human reads or delivery. Disclose tracking to recipients. Reload mail tabs after disabling integration. The free queue and local image limits still apply; no event or image time expiry is introduced.

Public implementation issue: #12.

Local media and web research (v1.1.0)

Image and PDF text recognizes user-chosen images/scans with bundled Tesseract. Choose one of seven languages and download its data (roughly 2–13 MB) from a pinned tessdata_fast commit on raw.githubusercontent.com. Text stays here; review/correct it before adding to your workspace. Limits are 25 MB per file, 10 PDF pages and 16 million image pixels.

Audio transcript downloads a pinned Whisper tiny English model from Hugging Face (roughly 75 MB), then transcribes chosen recordings on-device. No microphone permission or recording upload. Up to 10 minutes / 25 MB, in formats your browser can decode. Speech accuracy varies; review the text before using it. OCR/audio text can be exported or added to the existing summary, study and action-items workspace. Closing the tool releases its runtime; cached model data remains until extension/browser data is cleared.

Web research sends only a query you type after clicking Search. Its default searches Wikipedia; advanced users can provide a public HTTPS SearXNG server with JSON enabled. Choose each public source before fetching its text into the workspace. No current page or email text is attached automatically. A separate DuckDuckGo link offers wider search. Search services see your query and network metadata; AI Local-only mode governs AI providers and does not suppress this explicit search. Login-dependent, script-only or redirected sources may require manual page capture.

Tab organizer requests access when you choose to review tabs. Preview exact duplicates, select tabs to save as a named local session, or group by domain in Chrome. Closing and restoring require confirmation; pinned/changed tabs are protected. Saved sessions contain full addresses and titles, which may include private query details. Delete them separately from chat history.

Shortcut hints use the browser-reported operating system and actual configured extension command. Windows/Linux display Ctrl/Alt names; macOS uses its modifier symbols.