PRIVACY

Privacy policy

What data KomaLens uses, where it goes in each mode and what is stored on your device.

Last updated: October 22, 2026 · KomaLens 2.0

Summary

KomaLens is a Bring-Your-Own-Key (BYOK) browser extension. It has no backend server, collects no analytics, and the developer does not see, store or receive your data in any form.

Since version 2.0, the Local mode, which is on by default, also processes everything inside your browser: the image you select never leaves your device.

What KomaLens does

You select an area of your screen: a manga panel, a subtitle, a sign in a video or any text you want to understand.
Your browser captures that area locally. KomaLens doesn't read the page's code: it only captures what you select, when you ask it to.
The capture is analyzed according to the mode you chose (see below).
The result (original text, translation and word breakdown) appears in a side panel next to the page.

At no point does this data pass through, or get stored on, any server operated by the developer of KomaLens, because no such server exists.

How information flows in each mode

Local mode

The capture is processed inside your browser: OCR (text recognition) and the word breakdown run on your device, with models and dictionaries bundled in the extension.
Translation is done by the browser's built-in Translator API, also on your device.
Nothing is sent anywhere. No API key is needed.
The only download is the language packs the browser itself fetches the first time you translate a language pair (see Third parties).

Hybrid mode

OCR runs on your device. The image never leaves your browser.
Only the recognized text is sent, along with your API key, directly from your browser to your AI provider, so the model you chose can translate and explain it.

Image to API mode

The cropped image is sent, along with your API key, directly from your browser to your AI provider, to be processed by the vision model you chose.

With a local model

If you set up a model running on your own computer (for example, with Ollama or LM Studio), KomaLens connects to localhost and nothing leaves your computer in any mode.

Data stored on your device

KomaLens stores data only in chrome.storage.local, that is, only on your own device:

Your provider's API key, base URL and model.
Your preferences: analysis mode, languages and interface options.
Your word list (“My list”): the word, its reading, meaning, type, language and the sentence where you found it.

This data is not synced to Google's or Microsoft's servers and never leaves your computer, except for the API key, which is sent directly to your provider as part of each request in Hybrid and Image to API modes.

You can delete your words from My list and your API key from Settings. When you uninstall the extension, the browser deletes all of this data.

What we don't collect

We don't collect browsing history, analytics, telemetry or any personally identifiable information.
We don't use cookies or trackers.
There is no account, sign-up or login.

Third parties

KomaLens only talks to the services you choose:

Your AI provider, in Hybrid and Image to API modes: OpenRouter, Kilo, OpenAI, xAI, Google, DeepSeek, Anthropic or any other OpenAI-compatible provider you set up. It receives what you send (the text or the image, plus your API key) and handles it under its own privacy policy. If you use a router like OpenRouter or Kilo, it forwards the request to the provider of the model you chose. For example, OpenRouter's policy is at openrouter.ai/privacy. Review your provider's policy.
Your browser (Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge), which in Local mode downloads its own language packs for the Translator API. That download is made and managed by the browser, under its own privacy policy. Translation happens on your device.

The developer of KomaLens has no access to, and receives no copy of, this traffic.

Permissions and why they're requested

activeTab and scripting: to select and capture an area of the current tab, after you click the KomaLens icon.
storage: to save your settings, API key and word list on your device.
sidePanel: to show the side panel with the results.
Optional site permissions (optional_host_permissions: https://*/*, http://localhost/* and http://127.0.0.1/*). They aren't granted at install time: the browser asks for them one by one, only when needed and only for one specific site:
1. The site you're reading, when you click “Allow on this site” because the browser wouldn't let the extension capture the tab.
2. Your AI provider's domain, when you set it up, so requests can be sent to it.
3. localhost / 127.0.0.1, when you connect a local model like Ollama or LM Studio.

If you decline any of these permissions, the rest of the extension keeps working. You can review and remove them anytime from the browser's extension settings. More details in Extension permissions.