Privacy policy
Utils Grid · Effective 8 November 2026 · Version 0.0.1
Utils Grid is a Chrome side-panel extension of developer tools. It has no servers, no accounts and no analytics. The developer cannot see anything you do with it. This page says exactly what the extension handles and where that data lives.
The short version
- Nothing is sent to the developer or to any third party by the extension.
- No analytics, advertising, tracking, crash reporting or remote code.
- Your data stays in your browser. Some settings sync through your own Chrome profile if you use Chrome sync, which Google runs under its own privacy policy.
- You can delete everything by removing the extension or clearing its data.
What the extension handles
| Data | Where it is kept | Leaves your device? | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Settings (theme, engines, hidden or pinned tools) | chrome.storage.sync | Only via your Chrome sync, if enabled | Remember your preferences |
| Header and method rules you create | chrome.storage.sync | Only via your Chrome sync, if enabled | Apply the rules you set |
| Form-filler profiles, custom fields and domains | chrome.storage.local | No | Fill forms with the values you saved. Generated test data is created on the device |
| Annotations you draw, per page address | chrome.storage.local | No | Show your drawings again when you return to the page |
| Recent screenshots, and images you open to annotate (the latest 24), with the drawings made on them | The extension's own IndexedDB | No | Let you annotate a screenshot after you took it. Turn off "Keep screenshots to edit later" in the Screenshot tool, or delete them in Annotate ▸ Screenshots |
| The password generator's options | chrome.storage.local | No | Remember your choices. Generated passwords are never stored |
| Color history, capture preferences, user-agent choice, recent tools | chrome.storage.local | No | Remember your last choices |
| Per-tab results (found images, tables, links, scope) | chrome.storage.session | No. Cleared when the tab closes or the browser quits | Show results while you work |
| Text, files and images you give a utility (Base64, URL, hashing, HMAC, regex, QR code and so on), including HMAC keys, and the passwords the generator makes | In memory while a utility is open. Never saved, never sent | No | Compute the result you asked for. Only option choices (such as the selected algorithm) are saved in chrome.storage.local |
| Page content the tools read (text, images, colors, tables, form fields) | In memory while a tool runs | No | The tools exist to read and export it. Results are shown to you or saved to files you choose |
The extension does not read your browsing history, cookies, passwords or the content of pages you did not run a tool on. It reads a page only when you act on it: open a tool, press a shortcut or use the right-click menu.
Network activity
The extension itself contacts no server. Network traffic happens only because you asked for it:
- Downloading images. When you download images, the extension fetches the image address you selected, using your browser's normal session for that site (cookies included, as if you had opened the image yourself), and saves the result to your computer.
- Header, method and user-agent rewriting. If you create a rule, the browser applies it to your own requests. They go where the page was already sending them.
- Reading a QR code from an image. If you right-click an image and choose Read QR code in this image, the extension fetches that image (using your browser's normal session for that site, as if you had opened the image yourself) and decodes it on your device. For an image on another site this needs the optional all-sites access.
- QR codes. Reading a QR code decodes the image on your device. Opening a link found in a code happens only when you click Open link; the extension never follows it for you.
- Links in the About screen open in a new tab only when you click them.
Permissions and why
| Permission | What it is used for |
|---|---|
| Active tab, and optional access to all sites | Run a tool on the page you are looking at. The optional all-sites access is requested once, when you press Allow, and you can revoke it in Chrome's extension settings. The extension reads a page only when you run a tool on it. |
| Scripting | Inject the extension's own bundled scripts (color picker, scanners, annotation overlay, form filler) into the page. No remote code is ever loaded. With the optional all-sites access, one small script also runs when a page loads: it looks in the extension's own storage for drawings you made on that page and, if there are any, shows them with an "Annotated" badge. It sends nothing anywhere, and does nothing on pages without drawings. |
| Storage | Save your settings, header rules, form profiles and annotations (see the table above). |
| Downloads | Save the images, exports and files you choose to download. |
| Side panel | Show the extension's interface. |
| Context menus | The right-click menu. Besides the page tools, it can hand text you selected, a link you clicked or an image you clicked to a utility (Base64, URL, hash, QR code, timestamp, cron). The text is held in the browser's session storage for a moment so the panel can pick it up, then cleared. |
| Declarative net request (with host access) | Apply the header rules you create, using Chrome's own rule engine. No rules exist unless you add them. |
| Alarms | A once-a-minute check that ends an idle debugger session. |
| Debugger | Only for the optional High quality engine: exact full-page screenshots, vector PDFs and per-tab request rewriting. It attaches only while you run such a feature, and Chrome shows its own "debugging this tab" banner while it is attached. |
| Web navigation (optional) | Re-apply your chosen user-agent override after each navigation. Requested only when you turn that on. |
The utilities (password generator, Base64, hashing, HMAC, UUID, QR code, regex, cron, time converter, randomizer) use none of these permissions.
Form filler
The form filler writes values into form fields on the page you are viewing, using profiles you saved or fake data it generates locally. It never submits a form and never sends field values anywhere. The right-click actions on a text box (Fill this field, Generate a password…, Fill every field in this form) run only on the field you clicked, show a small card on the page, and keep the generated password in memory only.
Sharing and sale
The developer does not collect, sell, rent or share user data, because none reaches the developer. Data is not used for advertising, credit decisions or any purpose unrelated to the extension's features.
Children
The extension is a developer tool and is not directed at children. It collects no personal information from anyone.
Your control
- Export or import your settings, rules and form profiles from Settings, Config.
- Reset settings in Settings, Config. Delete annotations from the Annotate tool.
- Remove the extension to delete all its data. Chrome sync data can be cleared from your Google account's sync settings.
Changes to this policy
If the way data is handled changes, this page and its effective date are updated before the change ships, and the changelog notes it.
Contact
Questions or requests: utilsgridext@gmail.com