Offline behavior, privacy, and security

Hoursmith for Chrome is cached-first for a responsive interface, but it is not a fully offline copy of your workspace. Server-side permissions and current workspace state remain authoritative.

What works during a brief connection loss

The extension can queue these actions in order:

• start a timer;
• stop, trim, or discard a timer (version 0.3.0+ can also queue Save as 5 minutes); and
• update a running timer's note.

The status bar shows Offline, the queue count, and Syncing when replay begins. Other task, time-entry, expense, client, and project changes require a connection.

The queue holds at most 100 commands. Reconnect before it fills; after that, the extension refuses new offline timer changes rather than dropping older intent. The server accepts queued timer timestamps up to 30 days old, so reconnect and resolve the queue well before that window expires.

Conflicts during replay

When the server state changed while you were offline, Hoursmith does not silently overwrite it. A visible conflict is scoped to the selected workspace. Version 0.3.0+ also binds the displayed queue and conflict review to that workspace's exact device connection.

Open the conflict review, read what changed, then choose Keep server state and discard local change. Dependent queued actions are discarded when their prerequisite can no longer be applied.

Current-page access

Hoursmith requests the active tab only when you invoke its toolbar or context-menu action. The temporary preview can contain the title, sanitized URL, favicon URL metadata, and at most 8,000 characters of selected plain text. It expires from Chrome session storage after at most one hour.

Hoursmith does not use Chrome's history API, run a persistent content script, or capture screenshots, full pages, form fields, passwords, cookies, background tabs, or continuing browsing activity.

The Chrome Web Store conservatively classifies the explicitly selected current-page URL and title as Web history. That disclosure describes this one-time capture; it does not mean Hoursmith observes your browsing in the background. Preview data stays in the extension until you intentionally save it to Hoursmith, and optional receipt bytes go only to Hoursmith's exact receipt-upload host.

Local storage

Chrome local storage holds only what the extension needs to operate, including:

• an opaque browser-device ID and approved workspace credentials;
• bounded cached workspace data, separated by device grant;
• queued timer and note actions;
• selected workspace, recent searches, and interface preferences; and
• bounded, time-limited hash-only recovery markers that help avoid duplicate saves after a lost response. Receipt recovery stores an opaque file ID and content fingerprint, never the receipt bytes or filename.

Chrome does not sync this extension storage through your Chrome account. Disconnect clears data tied to that connection. General interface preferences, recent searches, and the opaque device ID remain until you clear the extension's storage or uninstall it.

Receipt access

The normal extension has no blanket receipt-storage access. After you select a receipt and submit an expense, Chrome may request optional permission for the exact upload host. Denial affects only that receipt upload.

Device authorization and workspace rules

Each connection uses rotating, workspace-scoped device authorization. Every request checks the live device grant, account, membership, workspace, role, project access, and relevant feature entitlement. Removing a membership, closing a workspace, revoking the device, or resetting account security makes the next request fail.

Review the full Hoursmith privacy policy, and use Account → Security → Extension devices to review or revoke browser connections.