ColibotAI

Translate, summarize & explain any text — on-device or BYOK

74 followers

Translate, summarize & explain any text — on-device or BYOK

74 followers

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Chrome Extensions

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Translation

Welcome to ColibotAI, the Chrome extension that revolutionizes how you interact with page and text on the web page in the browser. Leveraging the power of ChatGPT(in future more AI), ColibotAI allows you to translate or summarize (and more) selected text with just a click, add note and more.

This is the 2nd launch from ColibotAI. View more

ColibotAI

Launched this week

Translate, summarize & explain any text on-device

Most AI extensions lock you to one cloud model and send your text to their servers. ColibotAI is different. Select any text and translate, summarize or explain it - and YOU pick the engine: on-device with Chrome's built-in AI (free; nothing leaves your computer), your own key (Claude, GPT, Gemini, OpenRouter), or your own local model (Ollama, LM Studio). No account, no analytics, no tracking, no backend. Results save as searchable local notes. Free, Made in Switzerland.

Free

Launch tags:Chrome Extensions•Productivity•Artificial Intelligence

Launch Team / Built With

Prometheus by FirecrawlA Forward Deployed Agent for web data.

Promoted

ColibotAI

Maker

📌

Hi Product Hunt 👋 I'm Edoardo, from WebWakeUp. ColibotAI started as a simple "highlight‑and‑translate" extension. People liked it — but under the hood it had grown into something I wasn't comfortable shipping anymore. So for 0.8 we didn't patch it. We rewrote it from scratch. Here's the honest why. What was wrong with the old build 🔑 The API key was stored in chrome.storage.sync — i.e. synced to your Google account. There were "encryption" modules too, but they were dead code (and broken in a service worker). 🐛 A regex "sanitizer" was being run over the AI prompts themselves, quietly corrupting them. 🐦 A little hummingbird icon followed your cursor via a mousemove listener on every page. 📦 ~15 content scripts + 3 stylesheets were injected into every HTTPS page, even when the extension was off — and toggling it reloaded all your tabs. 🧱 No types, no bundler, no tests, a hardcoded model and a 500‑token cap. It worked, but it was fragile, leaky, and slow to evolve. What we did instead We rebuilt ColibotAI on a modern stack and a privacy‑first architecture: WXT + TypeScript + Vite (Manifest V3). WXT gives file‑based entrypoints, a generated MV3 manifest, typed messaging/storage, and — crucially — the in‑page UI now lives in an isolated Shadow DOM (createShadowRootUi) that can't clash with the page's CSS. UI is injected on demand (activeTab), not on every page. A hybrid AI engine. On‑device first (Chrome's built‑in Gemini Nano — free & private), with automatic fallback to your own key across OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and OpenRouter — plus a new Custom / Local option that points ColibotAI at any OpenAI‑compatible server (Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp, or your own gateway), so you can run open models fully local and free. There's no backend — your text goes straight from your browser to the provider you chose, to your own machine, or nowhere at all on‑device. Security & privacy as defaults. The key lives in chrome.storage.local only (never synced), with an optional session‑only mode; a one‑time migration moves any legacy synced key to local and deletes it from sync. AI output is rendered with marked + DOMPurify (no more regex‑sanitizer XSS surface). Minimal permissions; provider hosts are optional and requested only when you add a key. The little things that add up: typed end‑to‑end messages, EN/IT localization, light/dark, ESLint + Prettier + Vitest, a notes side panel with search and JSON export/import, API‑key validation on save (a zero‑token check so you know immediately if a key works), a debug mode, and a smart cache that reuses a saved answer for near‑identical selections so you don't spend tokens twice. Same idea, a much better tool. It's free, GDPR‑compliant, and Made in Switzerland. Would love your feedback — especially on the on‑device vs. bring‑your‑own‑key balance. 🙏

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7d ago

On-device/BYOK is a nice answer to the trust issue with browser text tools. Translate/summarize/explain selected text is crowded, but privacy + notes could differentiate. Are you planning per-site rules or quick actions for repeated workflows?

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1d ago

the privacy-first rebuild is solid, but tbh the on-device gemini nano quality ceiling is real - idioms and technical language tend to fall apart. feels like the byok path will be where most serious users end up, which makes the 'nothing leaves your computer' headline a bit misleading for typical use. worth being upfront about that

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1d ago

ApyHub : The All in one API Platform

I really appreciate the transparency in this post. It takes a lot to step back, acknowledge what wasn't working, and rebuild something properly instead of continuing to patch it.

What stands out most is the privacy-first approach. Giving users the option to run things locally or bring their own key while keeping control of their data is a huge plus.

I also like that you focused on performance and simplicity behind the scenes. Those improvements may not always be visible to users immediately, but they make a big difference in the overall experience.

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1d ago

Previous ColibotAI Launches

ColiBotAI speeds up and improves your study or work

Launched on January 24th, 2025