Plain-English summary: Cove operates no user database, no account system, and no analytics server. Notes, tasks, custom feed URLs, cached articles, and on-device ranking data stay in browser storage. The extension uses a strict script-src 'self'; object-src 'self' CSP.
Exact permissions declared in manifest.json (v0.1.3) and verified by tests/core.test.mjs:
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| Permission | Exact Local Purpose in Cove | Hard Privacy Boundary |
|---|---|---|
| storage | Persists workspace settings, quick links, notes, tasks, and Cove Smart Engine Markov rhythm weights in chrome.storage.local. | Never synced to external Cove servers; exportable/deletable as JSON in 1 click. |
| alarms | Drives MV3 Pomodoro focus timers and periodic background tab-triage sweeps without keeping a persistent process awake. | Local timer events only; zero network wakeups. |
| tabs | Powers fuzzy tab search in ⌘K Command Palette, session snapshots, and Web Worker duplicate-tab detection. | No content scripts injected; never reads DOM content, passwords, or form inputs. |
| topSites | Optionally populates initial quick-access dock tiles on a fresh install (can be toggled off in Settings). | Read locally into memory only; never transmitted anywhere. |
| declarativeNetRequestWithHostAccess | Redirects user-specified distracting domains to blocked.html during active Focus Sanctuary timers. | Evaluated natively by the browser engine; Cove never intercepts or logs network payloads. |
feeds object store (stale-while-revalidate feed snapshots) and articles object store (LRU-capped at 120 extracted articles).chrome.storage.local and cove_news_cache_v1 immediately..woff2 font files across four families, eight 4K wallpapers, and the Web Audio synthesizer are bundled inside the extension.api.open-meteo.com when enabled.No. Cove contains no analytics SDKs (no Google Analytics, PostHog, Sentry, Mixpanel, or telemetry beacons). Bookmark, note, task, ranking, and cached-article data stay in browser storage. Cove does not upload them to a Cove server.
The tabs permission powers the local Command Palette tab switcher (⌘K) and background Web Worker duplicate-tab triage solely inside your browser. declarativeNetRequestWithHostAccess powers the optional user-configured Focus Site-Blocker during Pomodoro sessions without reading page bodies.
Cove itself makes no telemetry or analytics request. The new-tab shell, fonts, wallpapers, notes, and focus audio load from bundled local assets. When you enable Weather, the browser contacts the keyless Open-Meteo API. When you use Discover, the browser contacts the RSS publishers and the three keyless APIs directly and stores the result in IndexedDB. Search suggestions and article extraction can also contact the services you invoke.
/.well-known/security.txt.