Permissions audit
Why SignalTabs asks for Chrome permissions.
SignalTabs is a local-first tab workspace. These permissions let it see, organize, close, reopen, search, and release browser tabs after user action. They do not mean SignalTabs uploads your tab list or browsing history by default.
Local first
What stays in Chrome
Open tabs come from Chrome's local extension APIs. Saved items use Chrome sync storage. Local Archive records use Chrome local extension storage. Spotlight can query Chrome bookmarks and history locally when you search.
Memory release
No new memory permission
SignalTabs 1.0.8 releases eligible background tabs with Chrome's existing tabs API. It does not request processes, system.memory, debugger, or page-content access to show the approximate MB/GB estimate.
Required permissions
Permission-by-permission
tabs
Reads open tab titles, URLs, favicons, window IDs, audio state, and discarded state so the Dashboard can group tabs, jump across windows, close duplicates, mute tabs, and release eligible background tabs.
activeTab
Supports user-triggered actions on the current page, including Spotlight flows started from the extension.
storage
Saves settings, Saved for later items, Archive metadata, device context, and local feedback queue state.
alarms
Runs scheduled cleanup for expired Archive records based on the retention setting you choose.
bookmarks and history
Power Spotlight results when you search your browser context. They support retrieval, not analytics.
scripting
Injects the Spotlight helper only for user-triggered search flows when a page does not already have it loaded.
sessions
Shows and reopens recently closed Chrome tabs or windows when Chrome exposes them through the sessions API.
favicon
Displays site icons in the Dashboard and Spotlight so results are easier to scan.
search
Lets a user-triggered Spotlight fallback open a web search when there is no matching browser-context result.
Optional
tabGroups
Requested only when you confirm a cross-window gather action that includes native Chrome tab groups. If you decline, SignalTabs does not move those grouped tabs.
Optional host
signal-tabs.vercel.app
This optional host permission supports a configured feedback endpoint. Feedback is separate from core tab management and is only sent when you submit it.
Boundary
Chrome Web Store notices can sound broad.
SignalTabs needs tab, history, and bookmark permissions to make a browser-context dashboard and search layer. The public promise is narrower: core tab management runs locally, and SignalTabs does not upload tab lists, saved items, browsing history, or page content by default.