AI Sidekick - Chrome Extension

AI Sidekick is a minimalist, "Arc-style" Chrome Extension that brings multi-LLM chat (Gemini & DeepSeek) and contextual analysis to your browser side panel.

🟢 Status: v1.0.2 | Beta - Core features largely implemented and stable.

🚀 Quick Install

Non-technical user?

1. Download the latest .zip from the Releases page.
2. Follow the 30-second Setup Guide to load it into your browser.

🎯 Key Features

• Multi-Model: Switch between Gemini 2.5 (Pro/Flash) and DeepSeek (V3/R1 Reasoner).
• Conversation Memory: Maintains chat history across sessions with a "Sliding Window" (keeps last 10 messages) to manage token usage.
• Secure Vault: Client-side encryption (PBKDF2 + AES-GCM) for API keys.
  • Session Persistence: Keys stay unlocked for the browser session.
  • Auto-Lock: Automatically locks after 15 minutes of inactivity.
• Contextual Actions:
  • Right-click to Explain, Summarize, or Analyze pages.
  • Summarize Button: One-click summary of the current conversation.
• Accessibility: Tooltips and persistent, high-visibility notifications for status changes.
• Streaming: Real-time text generation.

🛠 Architecture Decisions

• Manifest V3: Compliant with latest Chrome standards.
• No Backend: Privacy-first. All calls go directly from browser to LLM APIs.
• Vendor-ing: marked.js is included locally to respect CSP (Content Security Policy).
• Testing: Pure logic (formatting, crypto) is separated from UI logic for easy Node.js testing.

🏁 Setup

1. Get the Code:

   • User: Download the Latest ZIP and extract it.
   • Developer: Clone this repo and run npm install.

2. Open chrome://extensions.

3. Enable "Developer Mode".

4. Click "Load Unpacked" -> Select this folder.

🛠 Development

To ensure code quality and prevent regressions, this project uses ESLint and Prettier.

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run Static Analysis (Linting)
npm run lint

# Auto-fix Lint errors
npm run lint:fix

# Format Code
npm run format

⚙️ Configuration

1. Click the extension icon -> Options.
2. Paste Keys (Stored locally or encrypted in Cloud Vault):
   • Get Gemini Key
   • Get DeepSeek Key
3. Arc Browser Setup:
   • Pin the Extension: Hover over the URL bar -> Click Puzzle Piece 🧩 -> Pin 📌 AI Sidekick.
   • Toolbar Icon: Clicking the icon opens Options/Config.
   • Open Chat: Use Right Click -> AI Sidekick -> Open Sidekick Here (or Summarize/Explain).
   • Split View: To use alongside a page, open Sidekick, then click the External Link Icon (top right) to open in a tab -> Drag to Split View.

🧪 Testing

Manual Verification:

1. Select "Gemini Web (Free)" -> Type "Hello" -> Verify it opens gemini.google.com.
2. Select text on a page -> Right Click -> "Explain This".

Automated Tests: Run pure logic tests:

node tests/run_tests.js

Configurable Prompts

You can customize the prompts used for context menu actions and page analysis in the Options page (Right-click extension icon -> Options).

Automatic Content Extraction

AI Sidekick uses Mozilla Readability.js to automatically extract the main content of the active page. This includes:

• Link Preservation: Links are preserved in the text as Text [URL].
• Whitespace Cleaning: Noise and excessive whitespace are removed for a cleaner prompt.
• Smart Logic: Boilerplate (menus, ads) is automatically filtered out.

Available Variables

Use these placeholders to insert dynamic content into your prompts:

Variable	Description	Context
{{selection}}	The text currently selected by the user.	Select Menu Actions
{{content}}	The full text content of the active page (including links).	Analyze Page
{{url}}	The URL of the active page.	All Actions
{{title}}	The title of the active page.	All Actions

Examples

• Summarize Selection: Summarize this in 3 bullet points: {{selection}}
• Explain Selection: Explain this to a 5-year-old: {{selection}}
• Analyze Page: Find any deadlines mentioned in this page: {{content}}

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on how to get started.

🔒 Security & Privacy

• Privacy: API Keys are stored locally on your device. If you use the Cloud Vault feature, they are encrypted with a Master Password using your Google Account for sync, but we cannot see your keys. No usage data is collected.
• Security: If you find a vulnerability, please see SECURITY.md.

📄 License

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

Third-party libraries are listed in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt.