Your data stays
with you.

Privacy policy for Study Keys. Updated October 11, 2026.

What the extension processes

Study Keys reads readable text and controls on accessible loaded webpages to provide keyboard navigation, selection labels, highlighting and text search. It processes keyboard commands locally. It does not record a keystroke history. It excludes text fields and editable regions from its reading-text index; Insert mode passes website keys through except its Ctrl+C exit shortcut.

Open-tab search uses the tabs permission to read titles and URLs. Group commands use the tabGroups permission. Passage search runs locally on loaded pages, excluding editable fields. The bounded jumplist, recent-tab metadata and pinned search excerpts live in Chrome’s session storage and disappear when the browser session ends. Study Keys does not request the history API or scan stored browsing history.

Local Markdown and HTML documents

When you enable Chrome’s Allow access to file URLs setting, Study Keys also reads rendered Markdown and HTML documents that you open in Chrome. It does not scan folders or fetch unopened files. Local file URLs, selected text, notes, drawings and reading positions can be saved in the local library and backups. The helper stores them under pages/local-files and never reads or edits the source document. Local file paths may contain personal information.

What you choose to save

When you save a highlight, note, drawing or mark, the library may contain the page URL and title, selected text and nearby text used to find it again, your note, highlight color, timestamps, scroll positions, drawing elements and embedded image bytes. Global marks also store a destination URL. Quick spots and workspaces save chosen reading positions, page URLs, titles and group names in the local navigation folder. Question annotations can retain a resolved status. Per-site shortcut preferences and notebook window layouts are saved. These records can contain personal information if the webpage or material you choose to save contains it.

Where it is stored

The required local helper writes to ~/.study-keys on your computer, organized by website and page. Chrome’s local extension storage holds a cache; it does not use Chrome’s sync storage. Temporary notebook authorization sessions live in Chrome’s session storage. The native helper is registered for allowed extension IDs. It offers library operations and an optional, explicitly enabled macOS action that clicks Chrome’s native vertical-tabs expand/collapse button. It has no network or general command-execution API.

Optional AI-agent access

The companion includes a local MCP server. AI access is off by default and can be enabled or revoked in extension setup. When enabled, connected agents can read a requested page’s rendered text and existing annotations, add or edit highlights and notes, and modify the same Excalidraw notebook. The connection uses a private Unix socket, with no network listener, arbitrary shell command, or JavaScript execution API. A cloud agent may send the content it reads to its own model provider; that provider’s policies apply. Study Keys does not call a separate AI generation service. Study runs store local change receipts so retries and targeted undo can protect later manual edits.

Sharing and network use

The extension and helper do not upload your library to the developer, analytics, advertising or synchronization services. If you enable MCP access, your chosen agent receives the content it requests as described above. They contain no analytics or advertising. Drawing code and fonts are packaged locally. Opening a link or jumping to a global mark loads that website normally, under that website’s own policies. Chrome Web Store downloads, updates and account services are provided by Google under Google’s policies.

You control exported backups and any Git remote, cloud backup or other synchronization you configure outside Study Keys. The helper initializes a local Git repository when needed but does not create a remote, commit your notes or push them. Backups and saved library files are readable files, not an encrypted vault; protect them with your device’s access controls.

Retention, removal and control

Saved records remain until you remove them. Moving an annotation to Trash archives it locally so it can be restored; it does not permanently erase it. Uninstalling the Chrome extension removes its browser storage, but does not remove the library folder, exported files or native-helper registration. To completely remove the library, you must delete those local files yourself. Disabling letter shortcuts for a website disables keyboard commands there; Chrome’s extension site-access controls govern where the extension can run.

Limited use

Study Keys uses the data it handles only for the reading, navigation and annotation features described here. It does not sell data, use it for advertising, or transfer it for purposes unrelated to those features. Its use of user data follows the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Contact and changes

Study Keys is published by Sidharth Padhee. For questions, visit Study Keys support on GitHub. GitHub is an external service with its own policies; do not post private page content or library backups in a public issue. Any changes to these practices will be reflected in this policy and the store disclosures before the changed behavior is released.