SpruceTab
SpruceTab Privacy Policy
Last updated: 2026-10-07
SpruceTab is a browser extension that organizes your tabs. This policy describes exactly what data it handles. It matches the current code; if the code changes, this policy changes with it.
The short version
- Your tabs stay on your device. SpruceTab stores your tab tree, groups and saved trails in your browser's local extension storage. There is no SpruceTab account and no SpruceTab server.
- No analytics, no tracking, no ads. SpruceTab doesn't send usage data anywhere.
- Incognito stays incognito. Even if you allow SpruceTab in incognito windows, it never stores incognito tabs.
- Share links carry the trail themselves. When you copy a share link, the trail (titles, addresses, notes) is compressed into the link's
#part, which browsers never send to any server. Nothing is uploaded; anyone you give the link to can read the trail. - Groups you keep away from AI. A group marked "Keep away from AI" (side panel → the group's menu) is never in any request to an AI model, on your device or in the cloud: not its tabs, not its name, not trails saved from it, not in the weekly summary. Its name and summary come from simple rules. It stays kept away when it's reopened, restored, split, or reopened by Chrome itself, examples SpruceTab kept about it are erased (not just hidden), and every request is checked again just before it's sent.
- AI is optional and private by default. By default, names and summaries come from Chrome's on-device AI or simple rules on your device. Only if you choose Claude or another AI provider and enter your own API key are tab titles and site names sent, to the provider you chose.
What SpruceTab reads, and why
| Data | Why | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Open tabs: titles, addresses (URLs), favicons, order, groups | To show your tabs as a tree, place new tabs, and find duplicates | Stays on your device |
| How a tab was opened (from which tab, by typing, by a link) | To build the tree and place new tabs | Stays on your device |
| Saved trails, closed groups and windows (kept 30 days), notes | So you never lose tabs, and can reopen them | Stays on your device |
| What you corrected (e.g. "this site belongs in that group") | So placement learns from you | Stays on your device |
| What SpruceTab changed on its own (kept a day), and how often changes were undone or suggestions accepted (kept 30 days) | The activity log, and so you can see whether automatic organizing helps | Stays on your device |
| Where you moved tabs between groups, against SpruceTab or by hand (the tab's title and site, and the group names; at most 50, kept 30 days), and what you wrote about what belongs in a group | So placement and AI follow your lead | Stays on your device; when AI is on, up to 10 of these examples and the descriptions go with AI's questions (below). Settings → Forget them |
| Which tabs you've looked at, and when you were away (idle or screen locked, as a start and end time) | For the "Where was I?" recap: where you left off and which pages you haven't read | Stays on your device |
| Minutes per day spent in each group (or site, for tabs outside groups), estimated from tab switches, and how many tabs you opened and closed; kept 60 days | For "This week" on the new tab page | Stays on your device |
| Settings (including the size and place of SpruceTab's pop-out window, and the sites you fit beside the side panel), suggestions you put off (kept 30 days), and your API keys if you enter them (Anthropic, or another AI provider) | To remember your choices | Stays on your device |
| Each tab's zoom while SpruceTab fits it beside the side panel (until Chrome quits) | To put the zoom back when the panel closes | Stays on your device. SpruceTab never changes your zoom setting for a site |
SpruceTab does not read the content of web pages.
Backups
Backups are made only when you ask: a file you download, or, if you choose a folder in Settings, one file a day written to that folder on your computer (the last 14 are kept). They contain your saved trails, recently closed tabs, notes, This week and your settings, never your API keys. If you pick a folder that Google Drive, iCloud Drive or Dropbox syncs, that service copies the files to its cloud under your account and its terms; SpruceTab itself never uploads them anywhere. Restoring reads a backup file you choose and adds what you don't already have.
AI features
- Automatic (default): uses Chrome's built-in on-device AI when your device supports it, otherwise simple rules. Nothing leaves your device.
- Claude (optional, your own key): when you choose Claude, SpruceTab sends the titles and site names (for example
github.com, never full addresses) of the tabs in a group to Anthropic's API (api.anthropic.com) to get a name and a one-sentence summary, and, when you open the "Where was I?" recap, the titles and site names of your open tabs (which ones are unread, how long you were away) to get a short summary and next steps. When a new tab ends up outside your groups, or a link opens inside a group on a site that group doesn't have (or only shares a big site like YouTube with), its title and site and a few tab titles from each other group in that window are sent to check whether it belongs in one. A tab that has sat in a group for 10 minutes with nothing in common with the rest of it gets the same check, with a few titles from its own group too. These questions, and Spruce up's, include what you wrote about what belongs in a group, and up to 10 examples of where you moved tabs before (their titles, sites and group names). Commands and questions you send to AI (with ⌘Enter or Ask AI; never with plain Enter) also include the titles of up to 30 trails saved on your board and 20 recently closed ones, and of their first pages, so a question can find them. Spruce up and the weekly summary work the same way: titles, site names and group names only. When tabs pile up outside groups and SpruceTab tidies them in the background, the titles and site names of those tabs and a few tab titles from each group in that window are sent, at most 6 times an hour. Requests go directly from your browser to Anthropic using your key, at most 60 per hour. Anthropic's handling of that data is governed by your agreement with Anthropic. Your key is stored only in your browser. - Another AI provider (optional, your own key): if you choose an OpenAI-compatible provider (OpenAI, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, Doubao on ByteDance's Volcengine Ark or BytePlus ModelArk, Alibaba's Qwen, Kimi, Zhipu GLM, OpenRouter, Mistral, Groq, a model on your own computer…), the same titles, site names and group names go to the address you enter, using your key, at most 60 requests per hour (background tidying at most 6), under that provider's terms. Some of these providers process data in mainland China; you choose which one. SpruceTab asks Chrome for access to that address only. When you save or test a provider (Claude too), one short check is sent that contains nothing about your tabs; List models asks the provider which models it offers. A key is only ever sent to the address it was saved for. That provider's handling of the data is governed by your agreement with them. Your key is stored only in your browser.
- What's left out of titles, for every AI choice: mail and chat pages (Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Teams, WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, WeChat and the like) and pages on a private network (an intranet, your router) are described by what they are and their site only, like "Mail (mail.google.com)", never by their title. In other titles, email addresses, phone numbers, card and account numbers are masked before anything is sent.
- Off: simple rules only.
Permissions
| Permission | Why SpruceTab needs it |
|---|---|
tabs |
Read tab titles and addresses to show and organize them |
tabGroups |
Show, create and update tab groups |
webNavigation |
Know which tab a new tab was opened from, so it can nest it correctly |
sidePanel |
Show the tree in Chrome's side panel |
storage, unlimitedStorage |
Keep your tree and saved trails on your device |
favicon |
Show site icons from Chrome's own icon cache, without contacting websites |
search |
Let the new tab page's search box search the web with your default search engine |
idle |
Notice when you come back after a break (idle or locked screen), to offer a "Where was I?" recap |
Access to api.anthropic.com (optional) |
Requested only if you choose Claude |
Access to another AI provider's address (optional: the https:// address you choose, or localhost for a model on your computer) |
Requested only when you connect that provider, and only for its address |
Your control
- Delete any saved or recently closed trail from the new tab page.
- Turn AI off or switch providers in Settings; Forget key there removes a saved API key from your browser.
- Export my data (Settings) downloads everything SpruceTab keeps as a JSON file, without your API keys.
- Delete everything (Settings) erases all of SpruceTab's data, including your API keys; your open tabs stay open.
- Uninstalling SpruceTab deletes all of its data from your browser.
Changes and contact
We'll update this page when SpruceTab's data handling changes, and note the date above. Questions: support@sprucetab.com.