Privacy Policy

Last updated: March 22, 2026

phi-thread does not collect, transmit, or store any personal data. All data stays in your browser. There are no analytics, no tracking, no accounts, and no servers.

What phi-thread does

phi-thread is a browser extension that searches for existing answers across developer platforms (Stack Overflow, Reddit, Hacker News, GitHub, and the web). It shows results in a sidebar when you search on Google, DuckDuckGo, or Bing, and in a floating panel when you visit a question page on Stack Overflow, Reddit, or Hacker News.

Data phi-thread accesses

Data	Purpose	Where it goes
Your search query text	Sent to platform APIs to find answers	Stack Overflow API, Reddit API, HN Algolia API, GitHub API, DuckDuckGo
Question titles on SO/Reddit/HN pages	Used as query to find related answers on other platforms	Same platform APIs as above
Search results cache	Avoid redundant API calls (24-hour TTL)	Your browser only (chrome.storage.local)
Keyword index	Improve future search results	Your browser only (chrome.storage.local)

Data phi-thread does NOT access

Your browsing history
Your bookmarks, passwords, or autofill data
Any page content beyond the search query or question title
Your identity, email, or account information on any platform
Cookies or authentication tokens

Third-party APIs

phi-thread sends your search query to the following public APIs to retrieve results:

Stack Exchange API (api.stackexchange.com) — Privacy Policy
Reddit API (www.reddit.com) — Privacy Policy
Algolia HN API (hn.algolia.com) — Privacy Policy
GitHub API (api.github.com) — Privacy Policy
DuckDuckGo (html.duckduckgo.com) — Privacy Policy

Each API receives only the search query text. No personal identifiers, cookies, or authentication tokens are sent. All requests use public, unauthenticated endpoints.

Permissions explained

Permission	Why it's needed
`storage`	Cache search results locally and store the keyword index in chrome.storage.local
`activeTab`	Read the search query from the current tab's URL on search engine pages
Host permissions (API domains)	Make fetch requests to the platform APIs listed above from the service worker

Data storage

All data is stored locally in your browser using chrome.storage.local:

Search cache: Query results are cached for 24 hours, then automatically expire.
Keyword index: A local index of keywords from results you've seen, used to improve future search relevance. This data never leaves your browser.

You can clear all phi-thread data at any time by removing the extension or clearing extension storage in your browser settings.

No analytics or tracking

phi-thread contains no analytics scripts, no telemetry, no usage tracking, and no crash reporting. There is no server component. The extension is entirely client-side.

No accounts

phi-thread does not require or support user accounts, sign-ins, or registration of any kind.

Children's privacy

phi-thread does not knowingly collect any information from anyone, including children under 13.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be published at this URL. The "Last updated" date at the top will reflect the most recent revision.

Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy, you can reach the developer at:

Email: bits.abhi@gmail.com
GitHub: github.com/bitsabhi/phi-thread

Open source

phi-thread is open source. You can inspect every line of code to verify these claims: github.com/bitsabhi/phi-thread

← Back to phi-thread