Neurvane Focus – Privacy Policy 

Last updated: 2026-09-12

Contact: hello@neurvane.com

1) Summary

Neurvane Focus is a Chrome extension that helps you block distracting websites you choose and run focus and break sessions.

Optional features:

- Pre-flight Check (Beta): a 30-second local readiness check that recommends a realistic focus plan. Before enough hourly history exists, it uses your visible current-state answers. After at least three focus sessions have been started during the same local hour across any number of days, it can use that hour’s started-versus-completed pattern instead. Pre-flight Check data stays on your device.

- AI Coach (BYOK): optional focus guidance using your own API key and a supported AI provider. Your messages go directly from your browser to the provider you choose.

Neurvane Focus is built to be privacy-first: most extension data stays on your device, the developer operates no server that collects your activity, and nothing is sold. Data leaves your browser only when you intentionally use an optional third-party service such as AI Coach, feedback forms, newsletter signup, or donations, or when Chrome sync is enabled for settings stored in chrome.storage.sync.

2) What the extension stores (in your browser / Chrome storage)

A) Settings (Chrome sync storage)

Stored in chrome.storage.sync (may sync across devices signed into the same Chrome profile):

Settings may sync between your own signed-in Chrome browsers through your Chrome profile if Chrome sync is enabled. This sync is provided by Google as part of Chrome; the developer does not receive or access those synced settings.

- Focus and break durations, schedule settings

- Your blocklist hostnames (e.g., youtube.com)

- Feature toggles (Hard Mode, Always-On, Block-during-Focus, etc.)

- Optional: AI Coach configuration (provider, model, endpoint toggle)

B) Local session state and timers (device-local)

Stored in chrome.storage.local:

- Whether a focus or break session is active and its end time

- Snooze ("pause") until time

C) Progress, badges, and blocking statistics (device-local)

Stored in chrome.storage.local:

- Sessions completed, focus minutes, streaks

- Earned badges and timestamps

- Total blocked navigation count and a per-day blocked-navigation count. These contain no URLs and no page content; they're used locally for progress display and for the optional Usage Snapshot export.

D) Goals and intention reminders (device-local)

Stored in chrome.storage.local:

- Optional top goals you enter, including goal text and optional goal URLs.

- Optional intention reminder text and timestamp, if you use reminder features.

- Local UI state such as growth-banner dismissal, support prompt state, and theme preference.

This data stays on your device and is not sent to the developer.

E) Local-only usage counters (device-local)

Stored in chrome.storage.local:

- Aggregated feature usage counts (e.g., popup opened, session started, snooze used). These counters contain no URLs, no page content, no unique identifiers, and are not sent anywhere automatically.

- Counters include lifetime totals per event type and a daily breakdown. The daily breakdown is automatically pruned to keep only the most recent 120 days. All counter data is removed when you uninstall the extension.

F) Pre-flight Check (Beta) (device-local)

A one-time consent notice is shown before the first use of Pre-flight Check.

Pre-flight Check inputs—including energy, stress, focus clarity, distraction urge, available time and optional text—are used only in the open extension page to generate a plan and are not saved in recent history.

Recent history stores only:

- The check time

- The derived readiness score

- The recommended focus length

Hourly personalization stores only 24 started/completed counters, one for each local hour. Each focus session is assigned to the local hour in which it started. The counters accumulate across days and contain no browsing history, page content, visited URLs or individual session timestamps.

After at least three focus sessions have been started during the current-hour bucket, Neurvane can use that hour’s started-versus-completed pattern to personalize a future recommendation. Before enough history exists, or when you choose current-state mode, the current visible check-in is used instead.

If a generated plan starts a focus session, its selected focus and break durations may remain in local session state until that session cycle ends.

Pre-flight Check does not send this information to Neurvane, OpenRouter, OpenAI or any other server.

You can:

- Use Clear history to remove recent Pre-flight history while retaining hourly personalization.

- Use Reset hourly personalization to remove the 24 hourly started/completed counters while retaining recent history.

- Use Clear all Pre-flight data in Settings to remove Pre-flight history and hourly personalization data.

- Uninstall the extension to remove locally stored extension data.

G) AI Coach API key (session-only, if you enable BYOK)

If you enable AI Coach with your own API key, the key is held only in memory-backed Chrome session storage (chrome.storage.session).

The key is not written to persistent chrome.storage.local or chrome.storage.sync storage and is not included in settings exports or Usage Snapshots.

The key remains available during the current Chrome session, including ordinary extension service-worker suspension and wake. It clears when Chrome restarts or when the extension is reloaded, updated or disabled. You must enter it again afterward if you want to continue using BYOK AI Coach.

The extension supports only these BYOK provider endpoints:

- OpenRouter (openrouter.ai)

- OpenAI (api.openai.com)

When you make a BYOK request, Neurvane requests access only to the exact selected provider origin if that origin has not already been granted. Provider access is separate from the optional broad website access used for distraction blocking.

Your API key is sent only to the selected provider as part of the user-initiated request. Neurvane's developer does not receive or store the key.

The extension may store a small local cache of which request format works for the selected AI endpoint and model so the coach can reuse the working format. This cache contains no API key, prompts, responses or personal data.

3) Website blocking and browsing activity (local processing)

Neurvane Focus blocks sites using Chrome's declarativeNetRequest API and redirects blocked navigations to a local blocked page bundled with the extension.

To provide this user-facing blocking feature, the extension processes full tab URLs in the extension to:

- Detect whether the current site matches your blocklist

- Apply blocking immediately to already-open tabs when blocking becomes active

- Restore a blocked tab to its original full URL when blocking turns off

These full tab URLs are used only for the user-facing blocking and restoration functionality. They are not automatically sent to Neurvane or to an AI provider.

What it does NOT do:

- It does not read page content.

- It does not transmit, log or upload your browsing history or visited URLs to the developer.

- It does not sell browsing activity data.

- The developer operates no server, database or analytics endpoint that automatically receives these URLs.

Separately, if you choose “Open in ChatGPT” in AI Coach, the extension may copy the active site's hostname—not the full URL—to your system clipboard as part of the context prepared for you. Nothing is pasted into or submitted to ChatGPT automatically.

Your configured blocklist is part of Chrome-synced settings and may be synchronized by Chrome across browsers where you are signed in and Chrome Sync is enabled. Neurvane does not receive that Chrome Sync data.

4) AI Coach (BYOK) – third-party processing (optional)

AI Coach is optional. The built-in offline focus plan works without an API key and without contacting an AI provider.

If you enable BYOK AI Coach, Neurvane supports only:

- OpenRouter (openrouter.ai)

- OpenAI (api.openai.com)

A BYOK request is made only when you actively ask AI Coach to generate a plan.

For a direct BYOK request, the extension sends the selected provider:

- Your task entered in AI Coach

- Your time budget

- The coach instructions needed to generate the requested focus plan

- Technical request information such as the selected model and request-format parameters

The direct BYOK request does not automatically include:

- Your active website hostname or full URL

- Your blocklist

- Your top goal

- Your browsing history

- Page content

- The broader Focus Context shown by the “Copy focus context” feature

Your API key is included only as required to authenticate the user-initiated request with the selected provider. Neurvane's developer does not receive or store the API key or AI Coach request.

If you use OpenRouter, OpenRouter may route the request to a downstream model provider according to OpenRouter's service, routing configuration and policies. Processing by OpenRouter and any downstream provider is governed by their respective terms and privacy practices.

If you use OpenAI directly, the request is sent to OpenAI and is governed by OpenAI's terms and privacy practices.

“Copy focus context” copies a local text summary to your system clipboard. That summary may include your current focus state, focus/break duration, auto-cycle state, top goal, block totals and a limited blocklist preview. It does not include the task currently entered in AI Coach or the active-site hostname.

“Open in ChatGPT” prepares a richer context for you by copying the Focus Context together with the task entered in AI Coach and the active site's hostname. It copies the hostname only, not the full page URL. The extension then opens ChatGPT. Nothing is automatically pasted into ChatGPT and nothing is automatically submitted or sent to ChatGPT.

Clipboard contents remain under your control. Data is sent to ChatGPT only if you choose to paste or submit it yourself.

5) Feedback, updates and external services (optional)

Feedback and roadmap voting are optional. When you choose to open the external Google Form, Google may process standard technical data and anything you voluntarily submit. The form may ask for an optional reply email; it is used only to respond about that feedback and is not added to the Neurvane product-update list or newsletter. Product-update subscriptions are collected separately at neurvane.com, stored in Brevo, and covered by the website privacy policy. The extension also contains a separate optional link to the Substack newsletter; Substack handles anything the user chooses to submit there under its own privacy policy.

"Copy focus context" copies focus state, the top goal, aggregate block counts and up to 12 blocklist domains to the system clipboard. "Open in ChatGPT" copies that context plus the active-site hostname, entered task and time budget, then opens the Neurvane Focus Coach on ChatGPT. The extension does not paste or submit this content automatically; OpenAI receives it only if the user chooses to paste or submit it.

Optional support links open Buy Me a Coffee, which handles payments and information the user submits on its site. The public Founding Wall is hosted on GitHub Pages; a supporter name is displayed only after separate opt-in. The extension sends no stored extension data to Buy Me a Coffee or the Founding Wall. Those sites may process standard browser/network data when opened under their own privacy policies.

6) Usage Snapshot (optional)

Neurvane Focus can generate a "Usage Snapshot" you may choose to paste into a feedback form.

The snapshot is generated locally and may include:

- Extension version and export timestamp

- A safe settings summary (durations and toggles)

- Aggregate stats (e.g., total blocks, blocks per day totals)

- Progress and badges

- Aggregated local event counters (feature usage counts)

The snapshot is designed to contain no URLs, no page content, no blocklist, no API keys, and no unique identifiers.

Settings export is optional and occurs only when the user selects Export settings. The versioned file may contain Chrome-synced settings—including the blocklist, schedules and configuration—plus up to three goal texts and sanitized optional HTTP(S) goal links. It never contains the BYOK API key, browsing history, page content, progress statistics, badges, Pre-flight history or hourly data, or local interaction counters. The file is generated locally and is not sent to Neurvane.

7) Donations (optional)

The extension may link to Buy Me a Coffee for optional support. Payment information is handled by Buy Me a Coffee and its payment processors. The extension and developer do not receive your payment card details through the extension.

If you voluntarily include your name or message for supporter recognition or a public wall, that information is provided by you through the external service you used.

8) Data sharing, selling, and human access

Neurvane Focus does not sell user data.

Except for Chrome Sync and optional sharing you choose as described in this policy, Neurvane Focus does not send your blocklist, Pre-flight Check answers, generated-plan history, hourly statistics or browsing activity to the developer or third parties.

When Chrome Sync is enabled, Chrome may automatically synchronize settings, including your blocklist, through Google; the developer does not receive those synced settings (sections 2 and 3).

“Copy focus context” and “Open in ChatGPT” place context that includes a limited blocklist preview on your system clipboard. “Open in ChatGPT” additionally includes the active site’s hostname, not its full URL, along with the other context described in sections 4 and 5. The extension does not automatically paste or submit that content to ChatGPT; you choose whether to share it.

Settings export creates a local file containing the settings and goal data described in section 6, including your blocklist, only when you request it. The extension does not upload that file.

AI Coach messages are shared only when you intentionally enable AI Coach and send a message to the provider you selected.

Neurvane Focus’s use and transfer of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Apart from Chrome Sync as described above, data is shared with external services only when you intentionally use them, such as an AI provider, ChatGPT, Google Forms, Google Sheets, Brevo, Substack, or Buy Me a Coffee. If you voluntarily opt in to supporter recognition through Buy Me a Coffee, your chosen display name may be manually published on the public GitHub-hosted Founding Wall page.

The developer operates no server that automatically receives extension data. Neurvane Focus limits data use to what is necessary for the features described in this policy and in the extension UI, consistent with Chrome Web Store user data requirements.

9) Permissions explanation

- storage: save settings, progress, and local state.

- alarms: manage focus and break timers and schedule boundaries.

- notifications: show timer and reminder notifications.

- tabs: scan and update already-open tabs so blocking applies immediately when a focus session starts or the blocklist changes, and restore blocked tabs back to their original URLs when blocking turns off. This requires the tabs permission because the service worker must act on all open tabs (not just the active one), including in response to alarms and schedule transitions where no user gesture is available.

- declarativeNetRequestWithHostAccess + website access: apply blocking rules to the websites you choose, after you grant access. Website access is requested as an optional permission. The extension does not gain access to all websites at install time. Site access is requested through Chrome's standard permission prompt and can be revoked at any time from chrome://extensions, which immediately stops all blocking.

10) Your controls

You can:

- Edit or clear your blocklist and settings

- Disable Pre-flight Check

- Clear recent Pre-flight Check history from the Pre-flight Check page

- Reset hourly personalization from the Pre-flight Check page

- Clear all Pre-flight data from Settings → Pre-flight Check

- Disable AI Coach and remove or clear your API key

- Revoke site access from chrome://extensions, which immediately stops all blocking

- Uninstall the extension to remove extension data (subject to Chrome's storage behavior)

11) Changes to this policy

If the extension changes in a way that materially affects data handling, this policy will be updated and the "Last updated" date will change.

12) Privacy policy website hosting

This privacy policy is hosted on Google Sites. When you view this page, Google may process standard technical information such as cookies, IP address, browser/device information, request logs, and site usage data under Google's own terms and privacy policy. This relates only to viewing this privacy policy page. It does not mean that the Neurvane Focus extension sends extension data, blocklists, browsing activity, AI prompts, API keys, check-in data, goal data, or local usage statistics to Google Sites.