Chrome Memory Tracker

A Chrome Extension (Manifest V3) built with React + TypeScript that tracks browsing time and captures user highlights using the Chrome Extensions API.

A productivity tool for personal knowledge management and memory capture.

📋 Overview

This project demonstrates:

• Manifest V3 architecture and best practices
• Background service workers for efficient resource usage
• Content scripts for user interaction capture
• chrome.storage.local for persistent local storage
• React-based popup UI with TypeScript
• Type-safe state management

✨ Features

• Track Time Spent - Monitor browsing time per page
• Capture Highlights - Save selected text via context menu
• Local Storage - Persistent storage, no backend required
• Search Functionality - Quickly find saved entries
• Toggle Tracking - Enable/disable tracking on demand
• Clear Memory - Manage stored data easily

🛠 Tech Stack

Technology	Version	Purpose
React	^19.2.0	UI Framework
TypeScript	^5.9.3	Type Safety
Vite	7.2.5	Build Tool
Chrome API	Manifest V3	Extension API
ESLint	^9.39.1	Code Quality

🏗 Architecture

src/
├── background.ts       → Handles tab events + time tracking
├── content.ts          → Captures selected text
├── popup/              → React-based UI components
├── storage.ts          → Storage abstraction layer
└── types/              → TypeScript type definitions

🚀 Installation (Development)

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• Chrome/Chromium browser
• npm or yarn

Setup Steps

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/eswar06/chrome-memory-tracker.git
   cd chrome-memory-tracker

2. Install dependencies

   npm install

3. Build the extension

   npm run build

4. Load in Chrome

   • Open Chrome and navigate to chrome://extensions
   • Enable "Developer Mode" (toggle in top right)
   • Click "Load unpacked"
   • Select the dist/ folder from this project

5. Start development (optional)

   npm run dev

📖 Usage

Tracking Time

• The extension automatically tracks time on each tab
• Click the extension icon to see time spent per page
• Use the toggle to pause/resume tracking

Capturing Highlights

• Select any text on a webpage
• Right-click and choose "Save to Memory"
• View saved highlights in the extension popup

Managing Data

• Search through saved entries
• Delete individual entries
• Clear all data with one click

🧪 Development

Available Scripts

npm run dev       # Start Vite dev server
npm run build     # Build for production
npm run lint      # Run ESLint
npm run preview   # Preview production build

Code Quality

This project uses ESLint to maintain code quality. Run linting before committing:

npm run lint

🔍 Key Learnings

• Managing state between popup, background, and content scripts
• Handling Chrome lifecycle events (tab creation, updates, closure)
• Preventing popup resize collapse issues
• Structuring scalable extension architecture
• Efficient data persistence with chrome.storage.local

🔐 Privacy & Security

• ✅ All data is stored locally on your machine
• ✅ No data is sent to external servers
• ✅ No telemetry or analytics
• ✅ No ads or tracking
• See SECURITY.md for more details

📋 Extension Permissions

This extension requests:

• tabs - To track active tab and browsing time
• scripting - To inject content scripts for text capture
• storage - To persist user data locally

No sensitive permissions beyond what's necessary for core functionality.

🚧 Future Improvements

• IndexedDB support for larger datasets
• Smarter highlight anchoring and context
• Unit and integration tests
• Export functionality (JSON/CSV)
• Dark mode support
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Cloud sync option (optional)
• Data visualization and statistics

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on:

• Setting up development environment
• Making changes
• Submitting pull requests
• Reporting bugs and requesting features

🐛 Troubleshooting

Extension not appearing

• Ensure you loaded it from the dist/ folder, not src/
• Try refreshing the extension on chrome://extensions

Changes not showing

• Run npm run build to rebuild
• Refresh the extension

Storage not persisting

• Check that you have enough disk space
• Ensure the extension is not using incognito mode

Context menu not appearing

• Restart Chrome
• Reload the extension from chrome://extensions

📚 Resources

• Chrome Extension Documentation
• Manifest V3 Migration Guide
• React Documentation
• TypeScript Documentation

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

👤 Author

eswar06

• GitHub: @eswar06

📌 Acknowledgments

Built with:

• Vite - Lightning fast build tool
• React - UI library
• TypeScript - Type safety
• Chrome Extensions API - Extension platform

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