Browser extension

The Golem browser extension covers AI use that never touches a coding agent: people pasting into chat sites. It reads each prompt as the page sends it and each reply as it streams back, and hands both to the Golem agent on the same machine, which signs them into the record. It records. It does not block.

What Golem adds#

The extension appears in Chrome as Golem agent. It runs only on these sites:

It sends what it captures to the Golem agent at http://127.0.0.1:39393, over the machine's loopback address. Nothing goes from the browser to Golem's servers directly. The Golem agent must be installed and running on the same machine.

Install it across a fleet#

Under managed Chrome policy, Chrome installs the extension with no clicks, keeps it updated, and does not let the user remove it. The extension is not in the Chrome Web Store; each Golem release publishes a signed package and an update manifest, and the policy points Chrome at them. The extension id is permanent, because Chrome derives it from Golem's signing key:

{
  "ExtensionSettings": {
    "fagmdkaickjgbfijgaknbckijhjpcnae": {
      "installation_mode": "force_installed",
      "update_url": "https://storage.googleapis.com/golem-releases/browser-ext/updates.xml",
      "toolbar_pin": "force_pinned"
    }
  }
}

A policy naming the wrong id fails silently: Chrome ignores the entry and reports no error. After deploying, check chrome://policy on a managed machine for the ExtensionSettings entry with status OK, and chrome://extensions for Golem agent marked as installed by your organization. See Roll out to a fleet for the rest of the rollout.

Install it on one machine#

golem install browser-extension

Or fold it into the install, which also adds the editor extension:

curl -fsSL https://app.golem.team/install.sh | GOLEM_WORKSPACE_KEY=glk_... sh -s -- --with-extensions

Either way the extension is downloaded, checked against the release checksums and unpacked to ~/.golem/browser-ext. Chrome cannot be scripted into loading an unpacked extension, so three steps remain:

1. Open chrome://extensions.
2. Turn on Developer mode.
3. Click Load unpacked and choose the folder the command printed.

To update it, run golem update browser-extension, press Reload on the Golem card in chrome://extensions, and refresh any open chat tabs.

What a block and a hold look like#

There are none. A prompt is recorded as it is sent, and the extension cannot stop, change or delay it. Your rules cannot refuse or hold anything on these sites. To keep a person from using a chat site at all, use your browser or network controls.

What is recorded#

• Each prompt, with the site and the page address.
• Each reply, assembled from the streamed response.
• Files attached to a prompt, as their own entries, where the site exposes them.
• Estimated token counts for each exchange (characters divided by four, since the sites report none). An estimated cost is kept only when Cost estimates is turned on in the console.

Prompts and replies go through the Golem agent like any other call, so the content goes to your storage and the record holds its hash and signature. Entries are filed under the agent browser-extension and against the machine whose Golem agent received them.

Proton Lumo encrypts chats end to end, so a Lumo prompt or reply is recorded as a placeholder that says it was encrypted, with the token counts Lumo reports when it reports them.

The extension records whichever account is signed in to the site, work or personal. Tell people before you roll it out. Web chat use is part of the Shadow AI picture in the console.

Check that it is working#

1. Click the extension's icon. The popup shows a green dot and Connected when it can reach the Golem agent.
2. Send a short prompt in ChatGPT.
3. In the console at app.golem.team, open Events and look for a web_ai_prompt entry from that machine.

If the dot is red, check that the Golem agent is running with golem doctor. If the Golem agent listens on another port, set Golem agent URL on the extension's Options page.

Limits#

• It cannot block. It records what was sent and what came back; nothing more.
• Chrome only. The policy above is Chrome's. Firefox and Safari are not supported.
• A person can pause it. The popup's Capture enabled switch stops recording in that browser, even under policy, and Golem is not told.
• Nothing is kept while the Golem agent is down. The extension sends each entry once; if the Golem agent does not answer, that entry is lost.
• Settings are per user. The Options page cannot be set by policy. This matters only if your fleet moved the Golem agent off its default port.
• A site change can break capture. When a site changes how it sends chats, capture for that site can stop until a new extension release. Under policy, Chrome picks the release up on its own.
• Only the sites above. Desktop chat apps, and AI features built into other sites, are outside what the extension sees.

More in Coverage and Limits.

Remove it#

Under policy, remove the ExtensionSettings entry and Chrome uninstalls the extension. On one machine, click Remove on the Golem card in chrome://extensions. To remove Golem entirely, see Uninstall.