Understand EnsoLinks permissions

Required permissions

bookmarks — Read and optionally write Chrome bookmarks

EnsoLinks reads Chrome bookmarks for direct import and re-scan. It writes supported Library bookmark and folder changes only when you enable Chrome bookmark sync.

Turning Chrome bookmark sync off does not remove this required permission because one-time import and re-scan still use it.

storage — Keep settings and temporary extension data in this Chrome profile

Chrome storage holds settings, theme, pending Chrome bookmark-sync work, import progress, and temporary Session and recovery information shared between parts of the extension.

Durable Library and Session records, the local search index, and the rolling recovery snapshot live in the extension's local IndexedDB database.

tabs — Show and act on live tabs

This lets EnsoLinks list Open Tabs, activate or close them, save selected/current tabs, and restore saved Sessions.

Because Open Tabs is live Chrome state, this permission can expose page titles and URLs for current tabs to the local extension UI.

activeTab — Act on the current page after your action

When you open EnsoLinks for the active tab or explicitly save/inspect the current page, activeTab gives temporary access to that tab without granting broad access to every website.

scripting — Read local search metadata from the active page

During an explicit current-page action, EnsoLinks can capture supported metadata from the active HTTP or HTTPS page. If optional saved-page snippets are enabled, that capture can include headings and a short visible-text snippet.

This permission is paired with activeTab; the manifest does not grant an all-sites host permission for passive page fetching.

favicon — Display site icons locally

EnsoLinks uses Chrome's extension-local favicon endpoint to show familiar site icons beside saved pages and tabs.

alarms — Run local housekeeping after Chrome idles the extension

Chrome service workers go to sleep. Alarms let EnsoLinks wake for scheduled local work such as timed Session deletion when you enable it, recovery-snapshot refresh, and retries for Chrome bookmark sync.

sessions — Access recently closed browser state

This supports recently closed tab surfaces and Session recovery behavior that depends on Chrome's sessions capability.

tabGroups — Preserve supported Chrome tab-group details

EnsoLinks uses this to save and restore Chrome tab-group names and colors where available. If Chrome does not support restoring tab groups, the tabs can still reopen without grouping. A failed grouping operation can produce a partial-restore warning.

notifications — Report a tab-stash result after the popup closes

Notifications let EnsoLinks show whether a tab stash completed, partly completed, had nothing saveable, or failed after the popup closes. Selecting the notification or its Reopen button returns you to Workspace.

Optional permission

history — Include live Chrome History results only when enabled

History search starts off.

EnsoLinks requests the optional history permission only after you turn on Settings → Search → Include Chrome History in search. When allowed, it queries Chrome live for the current search. The results are transient and are never persisted or indexed by EnsoLinks.

If you decline or later remove the permission, History results remain unavailable. Standard Library, Session, and Open Tab keyword search continues.

No host permissions

The extension manifest has neither required nor optional host-permission patterns. In practical terms, it does not ask Chrome for standing access to read every page on every site.

An explicit current-page action can still use activeTab and scripting on the active HTTP or HTTPS tab. Both permissions support this current-page action; they do not grant ongoing access to every site.

See or change Chrome's permission state

Chrome controls the browser-level permission screen:

1. Open Chrome's extension management page.
2. Find EnsoLinks.
3. Open its details and permission controls.

Removing a required capability can stop the related EnsoLinks task from working. The extension reports the failure where it can, but Chrome decides the final permission state.

For History, prefer the in-product control under Settings → Search so that the saved preference and optional Chrome permission remain aligned.

Match permissions to the task