Privacy Policy
Effective date: September 5, 2026 · Applies to the Recast Chrome extension.
The short version
Recast processes captures on your device and saves reconstruction archives locally. It has no Recast-hosted analytics, account, or archive-upload service. It also keeps local recovery data and can send diagnostic logs to a collector running on your machine.
What Recast does with website content
When you start an extraction, Recast fetches the pages and assets of the website you chose and processes them entirely in your browser to build a local reconstruction archive. That content goes into the local archive. Extraction requests pages and resources from the selected site and its resource hosts, including third-party CDNs. Browser-rendered capture opens pages in capture tabs, where the site can make its own network requests.
What is stored
Recast stores extraction preferences in Chrome’s local extension storage. During capture it also stores recovery checkpoints, archive data, and temporary rendered content in browser-managed storage. Completed tabs retain archives for repeat downloads; later extractions reclaim them after the tabs close and extension downloads finish. Interrupted runs may retain data for recovery. Downloaded ZIPs remain until you delete them.
Local diagnostic logging
The extension attempts to send bounded diagnostic batches to a collector at 127.0.0.1:4787. If you run that collector, it writes local logs containing target URLs, capture options, progress, timing, and error details. These logs are not sent to a Recast server. You can stop the collector and delete its log files at any time; archive creation does not depend on it being available.
Permissions and why they exist
| Permission | Purpose |
|---|---|
activeTab | Read the URL and title of the page you invoke Recast on, to prefill the extraction target. |
scripting | Read site markers, rendered content, and links from the source tab for detection and capture. |
debugger | Capture rendered DOM, layout, and screenshots of the site being extracted via the Chrome DevTools Protocol, only during an extraction you started. Capture tabs are detached and closed when it finishes or is cancelled. |
downloads | Save ZIP archives and check extension download status before cleaning up retained files. |
storage | Remember your extraction options locally. |
Host access (<all_urls>) | Fetch the selected site and its resources, including cross-origin assets. |
Code and captured information
- Extension code ships inside the package. Downloaded source scripts are stored as archive data. Capture tabs run the selected website, and opening the exported runtime mirror separately executes its localized source scripts.
- Captured pages, URLs, screenshots, or error messages may contain information the site displays. Review archives and diagnostic logs before sharing them with anyone else.
Your responsibility
Recast is intended for websites you own or have permission to reproduce — migrations, design-system recovery, and archival of your own work. Respect the rights of others when choosing what to extract.
Changes and contact
If this policy changes, the update will be published at this address with a new effective date. Questions or concerns: email developer.piyushgambhir@gmail.com.