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Trust Charter & The 6 Golden Rules

Tab managers interact with the most sensitive layer of your digital workspace: open browser tabs, active projects, internal tools, and private research. Trust is not a marketing buzzword for TabBoy — it is the architectural baseline.

This Trust Charter sets out our 6 Golden Rules and permanent privacy invariants.

Rule 1: Zero Account Required

Section titled “ Rule 1: Zero Account Required”

TabBoy is ready to use the instant you install it.

  • No login barrier: No email, sign-up form, password, or OAuth login required.
  • No functional gating: Core tab scanning, rule evaluation, duplicate cleanup, hierarchical collections, search, backup, and restore are 100% available without an account.
  • No trial counters: TabBoy never uses trial periods, artificial usage caps, or registration nag screens.

Rule 2: Zero Telemetry & Zero Tracking

Section titled “ Rule 2: Zero Telemetry & Zero Tracking”

We believe browser utilities should never spy on their users.

  • Zero analytics SDKs: The extension bundle contains no Google Analytics, PostHog, Mixpanel, Sentry, or behavioral tracking libraries.
  • Zero background pings: TabBoy makes zero outgoing network requests during normal operation. Opening the popup, scanning windows, evaluating rules, or restoring collections generates no network traffic. Outbound network requests occur only if you explicitly opt in to the optional Bring-Your-Own-Key (BYOK) AI summary feature to connect directly to your chosen provider.
  • Zero device fingerprinting: TabBoy collects no device identifiers, hardware specifications, canvas hashes, or IP addresses.
  • Directly auditable: Open Chrome DevTools on the extension service worker or dashboard at any time to verify that the Network panel remains completely empty during local tab management.

Rule 3: 100% Local Tab Control

Section titled “ Rule 3: 100% Local Tab Control”

All computation, organization, and storage remain strictly on your machine.

  • Local MV3 Service Worker: All tab scanning, URL normalization, domain grouping, rule matching, and suggestion generation execute entirely on your device’s CPU.
  • Local persistence: All data stays in your local browser profile (chrome.storage.local and ephemeral chrome.storage.session).
  • No Chrome Sync by default: TabBoy explicitly disables chrome.storage.sync in V1, preventing automatic transmission of your collections to third-party cloud servers.
  • For physical disk paths and storage keys, see Where your data lives.

Rule 4: Non-Destructive Actions & Explicit Consent

Section titled “ Rule 4: Non-Destructive Actions & Explicit Consent”

We never mutate or close your browser state without your permission.

  • Explicit approval: TabBoy never closes, moves, or groups tabs automatically behind your back.
  • Dry-run previews: Suggestion cards show transparent diffs detailing exactly what will change before any action is executed.
  • Double confirmation: Destructive actions (closing duplicates, closing tabs after saving for later, deleting collections) require explicit confirmation.
  • Automatic safety net: TabBoy automatically takes a recovery snapshot (local:recoverySnapshotsV1) before executing destructive actions, allowing instant one-click restoration.
  • Safe ordering: When saving tabs for later, TabBoy writes the tab set to local storage before issuing any close command to Chrome.

Rule 5: Privacy-First AI & Zero Third-Party Cloud

Section titled “ Rule 5: Privacy-First AI & Zero Third-Party Cloud”

TabBoy V1 is 100% deterministic and algorithmic. AI is never forced or silently enabled.

  • 100% deterministic core: All V1 suggestions, deduplication, and clustering rely on transparent, local rule-based algorithms. No AI model is required.
  • Strictly isolated optional AI:
    • Bring-Your-Own-Key (BYOK): Direct client-to-provider communication using your own API key with zero intermediate relay. FlowCrate servers never see your key, URLs, or summaries.
    • On-device AI (Gemini Nano): Runs locally on your hardware with zero data leaving your machine.
    • Optional TabBoy Pro (future tier): Operates under strict Zero-Knowledge End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) with blind relays. FlowCrate servers never see unencrypted URLs or collection contents.
  • No training on your data: Your browsing sessions and tab contents are never scraped, aggregated, or used for AI training.

Rule 6: Open Data Portability & Zero Lock-in

Section titled “ Rule 6: Open Data Portability & Zero Lock-in”

Your data belongs to you. You can export, inspect, or move it whenever you choose.

  • Standardized JSON export: Full workspace backup to clean, human-readable JSON validated against public Zod schemas.
  • Human-readable Markdown export: Export collections to structured Markdown (# Spaces, ## Collections, - [Title](URL)) ready for Obsidian, Notion, or plain text notes.
  • Universal third-party import: Import sessions and tab sets directly from OneTab, Session Buddy, Toby, and Tablerone with conflict review.
  • High-fidelity restore: Restore whole browser windows, tab groups, or individual URLs with one click.
  • Zero lock-in: Export your data and uninstall TabBoy at any time without data loss.

The TabBoy & FlowCrate Promise

Section titled “ The TabBoy & FlowCrate Promise”
  • TabBoy is the free, local-first extension.
  • TabBoy Pro is the optional paid FlowCrate service for multi-device sync and team collaboration.
  • The promise: The free local core of TabBoy will always remain completely functional and generous. Paid hosted features will never be used to artificially limit or handicap local tab control.

For more details on data handling and privacy, see Privacy & security and Where your data lives.