Story Seed Engine is a Chrome extension that helps fiction writers generate story ideas from text they highlight while browsing. This policy explains what data the extension processes, where it is stored, and what protections are in place for your writing.
What data the extension processes
Draft profile
Your writing profile (genre, point of view, tense, tone, clichés to avoid) is stored locally using chrome.storage.local. It never leaves your device.
Highlighted text (seed generation)
When you highlight text on a webpage and trigger seed generation, that highlighted text is sent to the Anthropic API to generate five story seeds. This is the only data transmission in the extension. The highlighted text is not stored by the extension after seeds are returned — it is used only for the single API call and then discarded.
Generated seeds
Seeds you save to your Garden are stored locally using chrome.storage.local, along with the source URL and date captured. They are never transmitted anywhere.
API key
Your Anthropic API key is stored in src/config.js inside the extension's local files. It is not stored in Chrome's sync storage and is never transmitted except as the authentication header in direct API calls to Anthropic.
Third-party services
Story Seed Engine uses the Anthropic Claude API to generate story seeds. When you trigger seed generation, the following data is sent to Anthropic's servers:
- The highlighted text you selected (the passage you want seeds from)
- Your draft profile settings (genre, POV, tense, tone, clichés to avoid) — used to personalise the seeds
Anthropic's handling of this data is governed by their Privacy Policy and API Usage Policy. By using Story Seed Engine, you agree to Anthropic's terms of service for API usage.
What the extension does not do
- Does not store highlighted text after seed generation completes
- Does not read your draft documents, files, or any browser content beyond the text you explicitly highlight
- Does not track your browsing history or reading habits
- Does not use analytics, crash reporting, or usage telemetry
- Does not display advertising
- Does not sell or share your data with third parties (other than the Anthropic API call described above)
- Does not require account registration for the free tier
- Does not access clipboard content
Permissions explained
- storage — to save your draft profile and seed garden locally on your device
- activeTab — to read text you have highlighted on the current page when you trigger seed generation via keyboard shortcut
- contextMenus — to add the "Plant a story seed" option to the right-click context menu when text is selected
- scripting — to read the selected text from the page when using the keyboard shortcut (⌘⇧P)
- sidePanel — to display the seeds, garden, and profile panel alongside any webpage
Your API key
Story Seed Engine uses your personal Anthropic API key to generate seeds. The key is stored only in the extension's local configuration file (src/config.js) on your device. It is used only to authenticate API calls to Anthropic and is never sent to any other server or stored in cloud storage. You are responsible for keeping your API key confidential.
Data retention
All locally stored data (profile, seed garden) persists until you manually delete seeds, clear the garden, or uninstall the extension. Uninstalling the extension permanently deletes all locally stored data. Highlighted text processed via the API is subject to Anthropic's data retention policies.
Children's privacy
Story Seed Engine is not directed at children under 13 and does not knowingly process any information from children.
Changes to this policy
If the extension is updated in a way that changes data handling, this policy will be updated and the version date at the top of this page will reflect the change. Significant changes will be noted in the Chrome Web Store update release notes.
Contact
Questions about this policy can be raised via the extension's support page on the Chrome Web Store, or by contacting the developer at the email address listed in the store listing.