Privacy and data handling

Historia Collect is a local-first archive bridge. It observes the ChatGPT conversation currently rendered in a permitted tab, sends a bounded observation to a native host on the same computer, and stores the result in the user’s local Git-native Historia vault.

Historia does not operate a remote collection service for this data.

Rendered content only

Visible messages, code, basic structure, attachment references, and the current ChatGPT page identity can be archived.

Local native host

The extension sends observations to ai.greenways.historia_collect, not a Greenways cloud endpoint.

Manual by default

Automatic collection stays disabled until the user enables it in extension settings.

Git retention

The archive is durable. Hide, redact, and purge are different operations.

Collected data

A browser observation can include:

• visible user and assistant message text;
• visible code blocks and basic formatting;
• visible image or file references and available display metadata;
• message roles, order, parent relationships, and the active path;
• the current ChatGPT page origin, path, and title;
• the private local source label configured for the browser profile.

URL query strings and fragments are removed before archival.

The extension observes rendered content. It does not call undocumented ChatGPT APIs to enumerate conversations or branches that the page did not render.

Local transfer and storage

ChatGPT page
  → content script
  → extension background context
  → native messaging
  → local Historia host
  → local bare Git vault
  → rebuildable local SQLite index

The native-host manifest permits only Historia Collect’s stable extension identity. The host validates the complete observation before advancing a Git source ref.

The vault has no remote by default. Adding a remote, pushing refs, exporting a context bundle, or copying the vault is a separate user-controlled action.

Excluded data

Historia Collect does not read:

• browser cookies;
• access tokens, authentication headers, or passwords;
• browser local-storage or session-storage credentials;
• unrelated tabs or sites outside the declared ChatGPT origins;
• unrendered account history through undocumented provider APIs.

It includes no analytics, advertising, attribution, remote model call, cloud upload endpoint, or third-party tracking SDK.

ChatGPT host access is not a cloud destination

The extension’s ChatGPT host permissions let its content script observe the rendered page. Archive transport uses browser native messaging to a local executable. Historia does not send captured conversation data to Greenways.

Manual and automatic modes

Manual collection is the default:

1. Open a ChatGPT conversation.
2. Open the Historia Collect popup.
3. Review the local-transfer disclosure.
4. Choose Collect this conversation.

Automatic collection must be enabled in settings. It is debounced after rendered message changes and uses the same local host, validation, and idempotence rules.

Firefox consent

Firefox 140 and newer provide the built-in data-collection consent model used by Historia Collect. The manifest declares:

browsingActivity
personalCommunications
websiteContent

These categories describe the current ChatGPT page identity, rendered chat messages, and visible page content transferred from the extension to the local native host. They do not mean that Greenways receives the data.

Firefox versions before 140 are not supported by this extension build.

Browser permissions

Historia Collect requests only:

nativeMessaging
storage
tabs

and these ChatGPT page origins:

https://chatgpt.com/*
https://www.chatgpt.com/*
https://chat.openai.com/*

It does not request cookies, history, proxy, debugger, management, web-request interception, geolocation, downloads, or unlimited-storage permissions.

Retention and deletion

Git history is intentionally durable:

Operation	Meaning
Hide	Exclude content from ordinary retrieval.
Redact	Produce a safer derived view while retaining the source.
Purge	Rewrite refs, expire reflogs, run garbage collection, and repeat on every remote or clone.

Uninstalling the browser bridge removes its native-host registration. It does not delete the vault or SQLite index.

Verify locally

Materialize and inspect the exact extension carried by the installer:

historia-collect paths

Check the Firefox registration and executable:

historia-collect doctor --browser firefox

The embedded extension has a deterministic bundle digest and per-file checksums. A modified materialized copy is replaced from the compiled payload on the next installation operation.