Privacy Policy

Last updated: April 23, 2026

Overview

PaperPilot is a browser extension and web application for tracking conference deadlines, managing research projects, and helping with citations in Overleaf. We are committed to protecting your privacy. This policy covers two separate surfaces: the PaperPilot extension (what you install into Chrome or Firefox) and the marketing website at getpaperpilot.com. They have different data practices, so we describe each separately below.

The PaperPilot Extension — Data We Do NOT Collect

The PaperPilot extension does not collect, transmit, or store any personal data on external servers. Specifically, the extension does not collect:

• No personally identifiable information (name, email, etc.)
• No authentication credentials or passwords
• No browsing history or web activity tracking
• No analytics, telemetry, or usage statistics about your research work
• No cookies or tracking pixels
• No financial or health information

Data Stored Locally

PaperPilot stores the following data locally in your browser using Chrome's storage API (extension) or localStorage (web app). This data never leaves your device:

• Tracked conferences: Conference IDs you choose to track for deadline reminders
• Projects: Research project names, kanban tasks, descriptions, due dates, progress, and notes
• Custom conferences: Conferences you manually add that aren't in the default database
• Activity log: A local history of your actions (task created, project archived, etc.) - stored only on your device, never transmitted
• Archive and trash: Projects you archive or delete are kept locally until permanently removed
• Settings: Your preferences (timezone, urgency thresholds, notification preferences)
• Cached conference data: A copy of the public conference database for offline use

Network Requests

PaperPilot makes one type of network request:

• Conference data fetch: The extension fetches a public JSON file from getpaperpilot.com/data/deadlines.json to update the conference deadline database. To keep that data fresh without re-downloading the whole file, it also fetches a tiny version manifest at getpaperpilot.com/data/deadlines.version.json (~200 bytes) every few minutes. Both are simple GET requests to public URLs and contain no user data.

Permissions

• storage: To save your tracked conferences, projects, tasks, and settings locally
• alarms: To refresh the badge countdown hourly and check deadline reminders
• sidePanel: To open a kanban board side panel alongside the Overleaf editor
• notifications: To send optional browser notifications for upcoming deadlines. Disabled by default - you must opt in via Settings.
• host_permissions (overleaf.com): To inject the citation helper and deadline nudge bar into the Overleaf editor. The extension only activates on overleaf.com/project/* pages.

Third Parties (Extension)

• Google Fonts: Loaded for the dashboard interface typography.
• Semantic Scholar: When you use the citation search feature (searching for papers to cite inside Overleaf), your search queries and paper lookup requests are sent to our Cloudflare Worker at paperpilot-api.paperpilotreseaxr.workers.dev and forwarded to the Semantic Scholar API. We do this to provide search results. The Worker does not log your queries beyond a few seconds of transient Cloudflare request logs, does not associate queries with your identity, and does not use them for advertising or any other purpose. See Semantic Scholar's privacy policy for how they handle the forwarded request.

No project data, personal information, or browsing activity outside the citation search flow above is shared with any third party by the extension.

The Marketing Website (getpaperpilot.com)

The marketing website uses a small amount of privacy-respecting analytics to understand aggregate visitor behavior (which pages are viewed, how visitors navigate, what breaks). This data is not tied to your identity and is not linked to anything you do inside the extension. Specifically:

• Microsoft Clarity — captures aggregate heatmaps and anonymous session recordings of the marketing site (cursor movement, clicks, scroll depth, page views). Clarity automatically masks sensitive inputs; we additionally mask the waitlist name and email fields so they are never captured. Clarity does not sell your data and does not use it for advertising. You can learn more and opt out at clarity.microsoft.com/terms.
• Waitlist signups — if you voluntarily submit your name and email to the waitlist, that information is sent to our Cloudflare Worker and stored so we can email you when new features ship. It is never shared with third parties and is used only for waitlist communication.
• Vercel Analytics and Speed Insights — our hosting provider collects anonymized page-view and performance metrics. No cookies, no cross-site tracking.

The marketing website does not use Google Analytics, Google Ads tracking, Facebook Pixel, or any third-party advertising network.

Children's Privacy

PaperPilot does not knowingly collect data from children under 13.

Changes

If this policy changes, we will update the "Last updated" date above.

Contact

For questions about this privacy policy, contact hello@getpaperpilot.com.