Privacy policy

Short version

Shelf is a local-first Chrome extension. Your saved articles, videos, podcasts, collections, and tags live in chrome.storage.local on your own device. Nothing is uploaded to a Shelf server — there is no Shelf server.

Network calls only happen when you trigger them: exporting to Notion, fetching a YouTube transcript, generating an AI summary, or activating a Pro license. Each of those calls goes directly from your browser to the third-party service involved — never through us.

What we collect

Nothing. Shelf does not run analytics, telemetry, error reporting, or usage tracking. The extension does not send heartbeats, ping a Shelf server on launch, or report which features you use.

What lives on your device

Inside chrome.storage.local, scoped to the Shelf extension:

• Saved items: title, URL, excerpt, thumbnail URL, hostname, reading time, your tags, AI-generated tags and summaries when Pro is active, YouTube transcript when fetched, highlights you select.
• Collections + memberships: your folder structure and which items belong to which folders.
• Smart Rules: the auto-routing rules you create.
• Preferences: AI configuration, active destinations, streak data, daily-pick state.
• License: when Pro is activated, the license key and an opaque instance identifier returned by LemonSqueezy.

This data does not leave the device unless you trigger an export or a network operation listed below.

Third-party services (only when you opt in)

Notion

When you click “Send to Notion” or set up a Notion destination, Shelf sends your saved item to api.notion.com directly from your browser, authenticated with the Internal Integration token you pasted into Shelf. We never see this token. The data sent is the item itself: title, URL, tags, excerpt, AI summary, YouTube transcript, source link.

Notion’s privacy policy applies to anything that lands in your Notion workspace.

LemonSqueezy

LemonSqueezy is the merchant of record for Shelf Pro and Shelf Founder Lifetime. When you buy a license, your name, email, and billing details are processed by LemonSqueezy under their privacy policy. When you activate the license key inside Shelf, the extension calls api.lemonsqueezy.com/v1/licenses/activate with the license key and a non-identifying instance label (e.g., Shelf · Windows · 2026-05-11). LemonSqueezy returns the license status; Shelf stores that locally.

Groq (optional AI fallback)

Shelf Pro uses Chrome’s built-in Gemini Nano AI on-device by default. If Nano is unavailable on your machine, you can optionally configure a Groq API key. When enabled, Shelf sends the item’s title, URL, hostname, and excerpt to api.groq.com for tag and summary inference, using your own Groq key. Groq’s data retention policy applies.

YouTube

When you save a YouTube page and request a transcript, Shelf reads the transcript panel directly from the YouTube tab you have open — same as the page does. No third-party transcript service is contacted.

Ko-fi

The “Tip the maker” link points to ko-fi.com/riccalmo. Clicking it opens Ko-fi in a new tab, where Ko-fi’s privacy policy applies. Shelf does not transmit any data to Ko-fi.

Browser permissions and why

• storage — to keep your library in chrome.storage.local.
• activeTab — to capture the page you’re viewing when you press the save shortcut or use the right-click menu.
• scripting — to read the page metadata (title, excerpt, etc.) when you save.
• contextMenus — to add the “Save to Shelf” right-click option.
• alarms — to schedule the Daily Pick notification and the weekly license re-validation.
• notifications — to show the Daily Pick.
• host_permissions for api.notion.com, api.lemonsqueezy.com, www.youtube.com — to make the optional network calls described above.

Children

Shelf is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect any data from any user — children included.

Changes

If this policy changes, the date at the top of the page updates. There is no in-app banner; if it matters to you, periodically check this page.