Privacy Policy

Last updated: 1 June 2026

The short version: gc(tab) collects no personal data, sends nothing off your device, and uses no third-party services. Everything stays local.

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how the gc(tab) Chrome extension ("the Extension", "we", "our") handles information on your device. gc(tab) is a browser productivity tool that automatically closes idle and suspended tabs to help you reclaim system memory.

2. Data We Collect

gc(tab) does not collect any personal data. The Extension does not gather, transmit, or share any information about you, your identity, or your browsing activity.

To provide its features, the Extension reads and temporarily processes the following information locally on your device only:

Tab URLs and titles — used solely to match against your custom domain rules and detect duplicate tabs. This information is never stored persistently or sent anywhere.
Tab state — whether a tab is active, background, discarded (suspended), or audible — used to determine when a tab qualifies for closure.
System memory metrics — the available physical memory capacity reported by the browser, used to calculate memory pressure and adjust tab timeouts accordingly.

3. Data Stored Locally on Your Device

The Extension stores the following data in Chrome's local storage (chrome.storage.local), which remains entirely on your device:

User preferences — your configured idle and suspension timeouts, GC interval, and toggle settings (e.g. protect pinned or audible tabs).
Custom rules — domain patterns and timeouts you have defined.
Tab tracking state — timestamps recording when each tracked tab was last active or suspended, used to calculate expiry.
Memory samples — a rolling window of system memory readings used to render the live pressure graph in the dashboard.
GC event log — a history of garbage-collection runs including how many tabs were closed and the memory state before and after.
Recently closed tabs — a list of tabs closed by the Extension (URL, title, favicon, timestamp) so you can restore them.
Lifetime statistics — aggregate counters such as total tabs closed and total pressure rescues, displayed in the dashboard.
Unprotected group titles — tab group names you have explicitly opted out of automatic protection.
UI preferences — your chosen colour theme (System, Light, or Dark).

None of this data is ever transmitted off your device, shared with us, or accessible to any third party.

4. Data Transmission

gc(tab) makes no network requests of any kind. The Extension contains no remote analytics, telemetry, crash reporting, advertising, or tracking code. It does not communicate with any external server.

5. Permissions Used

The Extension requests only the permissions strictly required for its stated functionality:

Permission	Purpose
`tabs`	Read tab state (active, idle, suspended) and close expired tabs.
`tabGroups`	Identify tab groups and apply group-level protection rules.
`storage`	Persist your settings, rules, and local performance data on your device.
`alarms`	Run a reliable background scheduler to periodically evaluate tabs for closure.
`system.memory`	Read the available system memory capacity to calculate memory pressure.
Host permissions (`<all_urls>`)	Allow the background script to read tab URLs across all domains, which is required for hostname matching in custom rules and duplicate detection.

6. Third-Party Services

gc(tab) does not integrate with, or depend on, any third-party service, library, API, or CDN. The Extension is entirely self-contained.

7. Children's Privacy

The Extension does not knowingly collect information from anyone, including children under the age of 13. No data collection occurs at all.

8. Data Deletion

All locally stored data can be cleared at any time by either:

Uninstalling gc(tab) from Chrome (this removes all associated storage automatically), or
Navigating to chrome://extensions, selecting gc(tab), clicking Details, and choosing Clear Data.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be reflected by an updated "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Continued use of the Extension after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

10. Contact

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact us:

Email: [email protected]
GitHub Issues: github.com/lawther/gctab/issues