Privacy Policy — DEV New Tab (unofficial)

DEV New Tab (unofficial) is a Chrome extension published under the Axrisi brand and operated by I/E Niko, located in Tbilisi, Georgia (“we”). It replaces your browser's New Tab page with a DEV community feed. This is an unofficial community application, not created or endorsed by the DEV team. For privacy questions, contact support@axrisi.com.

DEV content and account features

The extension displays public articles, author information, cover images, topics, and reading metadata. If you have an existing DEV login in the same browser profile, it accesses your current DEV profile, followed topics, reading list, reaction state, and notification count for the relevant features. Normal use does not require a separate Axrisi account or an API key.

Your browser attaches existing DEV session cookies to authenticated requests. The extension does not extract or persist raw session cookies or collect DEV passwords. Authenticated saves and likes are sent directly to DEV only after an explicit user action.

Saves and reactions run directly in the extension worker, without opening helper tabs or using a DEV page. A request rule removes the extension Origin header only from the extension's own POST requests to DEV's reaction endpoint; normal browsing requests and other hosts/endpoints are not modified. Session, CSRF and account checks remain required. CSRF tokens are transient and are not stored or returned to the user interface. Only an explicit Sign in action opens DEV's normal login page.

What stays in your browser

• Preferences, themes, sidebar state, favorite topics, custom shortcut names and URLs, local saves, hidden articles, and article-opening history are stored locally in your browser. Article-opening history covers articles opened through the extension; it does not monitor all browser history.
• Public article data and presentation settings are cached locally.
• Current account information, private feed and reaction data, and notification caches are session-scoped. Account caches are cleared when logout or account changes are detected and when the browser session ends.
• Local preferences and local libraries can remain until you remove them, clear extension data, or uninstall the extension.

Optional on-device AI reading features

Version 0.8.0 provides short paragraph overviews using the browser's built-in on-device AI APIs. Overviews are enabled in Preferences by default, but depend on your browser, device, and language. You can turn all AI off or control individual features. A ready model may summarize an article after you open its preview. Preloading defaults to preparing up to three visible-card overviews, with a five-card option, hover/focus mode, and Off setting. An opt-in all-fetched mode sequentially prepares eligible loaded articles, including offscreen cards and articles added with Load more. It has no 3/5-card or ordinary speculative start-budget limit, but does not fetch additional feed pages automatically. Cached and excluded articles are skipped; cache limits and ready-model requirements remain. Overviews are shown only in opened article previews, not inserted into feed cards. Preloading uses already-ready models only and shares one inference slot across New Tabs. Hidden tabs and dialogs pause new speculative starts. A started job may finish after its preview closes, the feed changes, or the tab becomes hidden. Inference stops when no New Tab remains open.

The extension requests public article bodies directly from DEV without attaching DEV credentials for those body requests. Article text and generated overviews are processed on your device. The extension does not send them to an Axrisi AI server or a cloud inference service and does not use a cloud AI fallback. Your browser may first download models from its provider after an explicit action, and may update or remove those models according to its own model-management and privacy practices. Model-download connections have normal network metadata.

Public article text is cached in bounded session storage for up to 30 minutes for ordinary reuse; an older cached body may be used during a connection failure. With AI caching enabled, paragraph overviews persist locally across browser restarts. Ordinary retention is seven days by default, with 14- and 30-day options. DEV saved articles, local saves, and article-opening history use 180-day retention by default, with 90- and 365-day options. Expiry is measured from generation; reading does not extend it. The cache is capped at 500 overviews and 1.5 MB, with ordinary entries evicted before saved/history entries. Entries are account-scoped; switching accounts does not expose another account's overviews. Expired data is pruned during use and by a daily browser alarm that does not fetch content or run inference. Disabling AI or AI caching clears stored AI results. Preferences also provides a control to clear AI results and article text. Retained advanced-tool caches remain session-only; conversations are not persisted in the library.

Translation and conversational article tools are retained under an internal release flag but are disabled and have no user-facing controls in this version. The preview does not display the full article; Read article opens the original on DEV. Public author bios and reaction counts can be requested from DEV. After rendering the feed, public author details for fetched articles may be prepared sequentially, visible authors first, or requested on hover/focus. Display fields can include names, usernames, bios, avatars, websites, joining dates and optional self-reported public author location. The extension does not request GPS/browser geolocation or infer the reader's location. These public display profiles persist locally for 30 days from fetching, with a 500-profile, 1-MB limit. Reading does not extend expiry; cached bios may reflect an older profile until refresh. Expired data is pruned during use and by the existing daily pruning alarm. Profiles are public metadata, separate from private account caches and AI-result controls. Clearing extension data or uninstalling removes them. Concurrent requests share the same read. Sharing buttons pass the selected public article link to the service or system share sheet only after your action; the extension does not post automatically.

Selecting a passage can expose snapshot, copy-with-source, or plain-copy actions; the menu retains full-overview export. Copying text or saving its attributed image is an explicit action. Image cards render locally, may load the public author avatar anonymously with a fallback, and do not post automatically or start another AI request. Clipboard content or downloaded images then remain under your control and are separate from the extension's cache. Browser-managed models are separate from extension data and may remain after the extension is removed. AI-generated text can be inaccurate; verify it against the original article.

Where requests go

Data requests and user-triggered account actions go directly to DEV. Article and profile images may load from DEV and its content or image-hosting providers. These services receive normal connection metadata, such as your IP address and request information. Their handling of data is governed by their own practices; see DEV's privacy policy.

The current extension does not send account data, shortcuts, local libraries, or browsing activity to publisher-operated servers. It has no publisher-operated analytics, advertising, tracking, or AI-processing service.

Chrome Web Store Limited Use

DEV New Tab's use of data complies with the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements. Data is used only to provide the extension's stated article discovery, reading-list, preview, customization and user-requested sharing features. We do not sell extension data or use it for advertising, creditworthiness or lending. Direct requests to DEV support those features; selected sharing data is passed to the chosen destination only after your action.

If you contact support

We receive the information you voluntarily provide, such as your email address, message, and any attachments, and use it to respond to your request. Support messages and attachments are stored in our support mailbox. We do not currently apply a fixed automatic deletion schedule. You may contact us to ask about retention or request deletion of your support correspondence, subject to applicable legal requirements. Do not send passwords, API keys, session cookies, or other credentials.

Removing data and the extension

You can remove local items through the extension's relevant controls or clear its stored data using your browser's extension-data tools. To uninstall, open Chrome's Extensions manager (enter chrome://extensions in the address bar), find DEV New Tab (unofficial), and choose Remove. Uninstalling removes the extension's browser-local data; it does not delete your DEV account, reading list, or reactions stored by DEV. Manage those directly on DEV.

Scope and policy changes

This policy covers DEV New Tab (unofficial). Visiting axrisi.com, including this page, is separate from using the extension and is subject to the Axrisi website's privacy policy and website practices, including its existing website analytics. The website policy's descriptions of other Axrisi product features do not describe this extension.

If the extension's practices change, we will update this page and its last-updated date to reflect those changes. You can revisit this page to read the current policy.

For questions or help, visit DEV New Tab (unofficial) support or email support@axrisi.com.