Privacy policy — Tangent
Tangent is open source. Everything below can be verified by reading the source.
The short version. Tangent reads one thing: the message you just typed into an AI chat. It works out a search phrase from it on your own device.
Nothing is transmitted anywhere until you click Find explainers.
When you do, a phrase such as database migration postgres
explained goes to the YouTube Data API using your own
API key. Your message is never transmitted.
There is no Tangent server. No analytics, no tracking, no advertising, no accounts.
What is collected
| Data | Where it goes | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The message you just typed | Stays in your browser | To work out the topic |
| A short derived phrase | YouTube, only when you click | To find videos on that topic |
| Your YouTube API key | Stays in your browser | To make that request as you |
| Search results | Stays in your browser | So a topic is not searched twice |
Tangent does not collect or transmit your name, email, location, browsing history, the assistant's replies, your conversation history, your files, your credentials, or your activity on any other site.
Where it runs
Only on these AI chat sites, and nowhere else:
claude.ai,chatgpt.com,chat.openai.comgemini.google.com,aistudio.google.comgrok.com,chat.deepseek.com,chat.qwen.aikimi.com,kimi.moonshot.cnperplexity.ai,chat.mistral.ai,copilot.microsoft.compoe.com,meta.ai,huggingface.co/chat
Any of them can be switched off individually in settings, and Tangent will ignore it entirely.
What is removed before anything is sent
Before your message is used to build a search phrase, the following are stripped out: code blocks, diffs, stack traces, file paths, filenames, URLs, email addresses, IP addresses, hashes, base64 blobs and environment variables.
If what remains contains anything shaped like a credential — an API key, an
access token, an AWS key, a JWT, a private key, or a password:
assignment — Tangent discards the message entirely and
offers nothing.
What is stored, and for how long
| Stored | Lifetime |
|---|---|
| Your settings, including the API key | Until you change or remove them |
| Cached search results | 7 days by default; never more than 30, as YouTube's developer policies require |
| Daily search counter | Resets each day |
| The pending suggestion, and clips already shown | Per tab; cleared when the tab or browser closes |
All of it uses the browser's own extension storage. Nothing is synced to any server. Uninstalling removes every stored item.
Third parties
YouTube / Google. When you click Find explainers, a request goes to the YouTube Data API containing your search phrase and your API key. Your IP address is visible to Google, as with any web request. This is governed by Google's Privacy Policy.
The player page. To play a clip inside the panel, Tangent
frames a small page hosted on GitHub Pages whose only job is to embed the
official YouTube player. YouTube refuses to play inside a browser extension
panel without an HTTP Referer, which Chrome does not send from
extension pages. That page contains no analytics and no logic, receives only
a video id, and its source is
docs/player.html.
You can point the extension at your own copy, or clear the field in settings
to disable inline playback entirely.
Nobody else. Tangent runs no server of its own and sends your data to no other party.
Your choices
- Don't click. A suggestion you ignore transmits nothing.
- Switch off any site in settings.
- Hide the panel with the toolbar icon.
- Remove the API key, and nothing can be searched at all.
- Uninstall, which removes every stored item.
Children
Tangent is not directed at children under 13 and knowingly collects no data from anyone.
Changes
Material changes will be published in the repository and reflected in the store listing before they take effect.