Pathlight privacy, in plain language
A one-page summary for teachers, families, and district privacy staff. The technical details are in the IT and deployment guide.
The short version
- Pathlight has no account, no server, and no analytics. We, the makers, never receive your guides, screenshots, or any information about you or your students.
- Everything stays on your computer. Guides, screenshots, class rosters, and settings are stored in your browser (IndexedDB and
chrome.storage) on the device you use. - Data leaves your computer only when you send it, and only to the place you choose:
- Anthropic (optional AI). This happens only if you add your own Anthropic API key and use an AI feature.
- Google Drive (optional). This happens only if you choose Publish to Drive and sign in with Google.
- Google Classroom (optional). Share to Classroom opens Google's own share page with your guide's link and title.
- A file you export. PDF, HTML, Word, slides, Markdown, SCORM, and images are saved where you choose.
What information Pathlight handles
The Chrome Web Store asks every extension to list the kinds of information it handles, even when that information never leaves the computer. Pathlight handles five kinds. All five are kept on your computer. They leave it only when you take one of the actions above: an AI request to Anthropic with your own key, or publishing to Google Drive or sharing to Google Classroom.
| Kind of information | What it is in Pathlight | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Personally identifiable information | Student names you type into a class roster so they can be blurred. Names or emails that appear in a screenshot (Smart Blur hides them before the picture is saved). | Stays on your computer. Rosters are never exported or sent anywhere. Before an AI request, roster names are replaced with "[student]". |
| Authentication information | Your own Anthropic API key, if you add one. The Google sign-in token used to publish to Drive. Password fields are never recorded. | The key is sent only to Anthropic, with your AI requests. The Google token is used only to talk to Google Drive and is held by Chrome or in memory for up to an hour. |
| Web history | The address and title of each page you visit while recording, so a step can say "Go to …". | Stays in the guide on your computer. Exports and AI requests drop the extra parts of web addresses (query strings). |
| User activity | While recording: your clicks, the name of what you clicked, keyboard shortcuts, and typed examples if you leave that setting on. Never passwords or card numbers. | Stays in the guide on your computer. AI requests send step text only. |
| Website content | Screenshots and text of the tab you record. | Stays on your computer. Sent to Anthropic only if you use AI (text by default, blurred crops only if you turn that on). Uploaded to your Google Drive only when you click Publish. |
What Pathlight records
When you click Record, Pathlight saves each step as you go: a screenshot of the tab you're recording, the name of what you clicked (for example "Turn in"), and the page address.
- Passwords, credit-card numbers, and other sensitive fields are never recorded.
- Smart Blur is on by default. It hides email addresses, phone numbers, long ID numbers, card numbers, and the names on your class roster. The blur is burned into the saved image, so the original pixels are not stored.
- "Scan for personal info" in the Studio reads the text in your screenshots on your own computer, with a text reader that ships inside Pathlight. Nothing is sent anywhere. The words it reads are kept with the screenshot on your device so the next scan is instant. They are removed when you delete the guide and left out of
.pathlightfiles you share. - Typed examples (for example a search word) are saved only if you leave that setting on. Student mode and school policy can turn it off for everyone.
- Pathlight records only the tab you choose, and only while recording is on.
- Better navigation steps (optional, in Settings → Capture) asks Chrome to tell Pathlight how you reached each page, for example "typed in the address bar" or "followed a link". This only improves the wording of steps. It is used only while recording and stays in the guide on your computer.
Voice narration (optional, experimental)
If you turn on voice narration, Pathlight records your microphone while you click through a task and saves one short audio clip per step on your computer. If Chrome can turn speech into text on your computer, Pathlight uses that for a written transcript; otherwise no transcript is made, because Pathlight never sends your voice to an online speech service. Your clips and transcripts are included in guides you export or publish, unless you turn off sharing for a clip. You can delete a clip at any time.
Class rosters
You can add your students' names so Pathlight blurs them whenever they appear on screen. Rosters:
- stay on this computer only;
- are never exported, never included in shared guides, bundles, or version history, and never sent to AI or Drive;
- can be deleted at any time in Settings → Privacy → Class rosters.
AI (optional, off by default)
AI stays off until you add your own Anthropic API key. Your school can turn AI off for everyone, and it is always off in student mode. When you use AI:
- Text only by default. Step text, page titles, and button names are sent. Screenshots are sent only if you turn on "Send blurred screenshots". Even then, only the cropped, already-blurred area is sent, never the full screen.
- Before anything is sent, roster names are replaced with "[student]", ID-like numbers with "{id}", and web addresses are trimmed to remove query strings.
- Requests go straight from your browser to Anthropic using your key. Pathlight has no server in between. Anthropic's commercial terms apply to that key.
- AI-written text is marked "AI" until you edit or accept it.
- On-device AI (no key). If your Chrome version supports it, Pathlight can use Chrome's built-in AI, which runs on your computer: the translator and language detector, and the Prompt, Rewriter, Writer and Summarizer models (Gemini Nano). The first time, Chrome itself may download the model or a language pack from Google. Pathlight does not send any guide text anywhere for these features.
Sharing
When you publish to Google Drive, Pathlight asks Google for one narrow permission, drive.file (the full name is https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file). With it, Pathlight can see only the files it creates itself, never the rest of your Drive. Pathlight asks for it only when you click Publish to Drive. You choose who can open the link: "anyone at my school" or "anyone with the link". Students can open shared guides without an account.
Share to Classroom opens Google Classroom's own share page (classroom.google.com/share) in a new window, with your guide's link and title filled in. Pathlight doesn't sign in to Classroom or read anything from it. What you post there is between you and Google.
Students as authors (student mode)
Student mode is for students who make their own guides. A teacher can turn it on with an optional PIN, and a district can force it on by policy. In student mode:
- there is no AI, no API key, and no Google Drive;
- typed text is never recorded, and every blur category is on;
- exports are limited to PDF, print, HTML, and Word;
- students see the reminder "Don't capture classmates' info."
No data leaves the device in student mode. This makes it a good fit for COPPA-sensitive settings.
FERPA and COPPA posture
Pathlight is a local tool, and the vendor collects no student data. No education records are transmitted to or stored by the vendor. Teachers decide what to record, blur, and share. We recommend:
- adding your class roster so names are blurred automatically;
- recording with a demo or test student account where possible;
- running the pre-share privacy check before you publish.
Chrome Web Store Limited Use
Pathlight's use of information received from Chrome and Google APIs adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy and the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Pathlight uses the data it handles only to make, show and share the guides you create. It never sells it, never uses it for advertising, and never uses it to determine creditworthiness. People never read it. The developer never receives it at all.
Deleting your data
Delete any guide from the library, or empty the trash, to remove it from this computer. Removing the extension deletes all of its local data. Files you exported or published to Drive are yours to manage.
Questions
District privacy staff can find the permissions, network destinations, and managed-policy keys in the IT and deployment guide. An accessibility conformance checklist (VPAT 2.5 structure) is in progress.
This summary describes the Pathlight extension, version 0.1.1. This website is static: it sets no cookies, runs no analytics, and the practice recorder and demo guides run entirely in your browser.