1 Overview
ColibotAI is a free Chrome (Manifest V3) extension that turns any text on the web into something you can act on. Select text and a small toolbar appears beside it: Translate, Summarize, Explain or Search with ChatGPT — plus a Quick Translate panel for text you type or paste. Every result can be saved as a searchable Note.
Under the hood it runs a hybrid AI engine: it uses Chrome's built-in on-device AI (Gemini Nano — free and private, nothing leaves your computer) when available, and otherwise falls back to your own key across OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), Google (Gemini) and OpenRouter — or to a custom / local LLM you point it at (any OpenAI-compatible endpoint: Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp, or a remote server). There is no ColibotAI backend; you choose where your text goes, or it stays entirely on your machine.
- Free — the extension is free; on-device AI is free; with your own key you pay your provider directly.
- Private by design — no account, no tracking, no cookies. Your key is stored locally and never synced.
- Made in Switzerland, GDPR-compliant. Published by WebWakeUp.
New in 0.9. Answers now stream in live as they're generated; you can ask a follow-up right on any result; you can summarize or translate the whole page in one click (page translation runs in place, on-device); and you can set the summary detail to Short, Medium or Long. See The actions below.
2 Install
The simplest way to get ColibotAI is from the Chrome Web Store.
- Open the Chrome Web Store listing and click Add to Chrome, then confirm. (Use the “Add to Chrome” button in the site header.)
- Pin the icon (optional) — click the puzzle-piece menu in Chrome's toolbar and pin ColibotAI so the popup is one click away.
- Open the popup from the toolbar icon to pick your engine, set your languages, and start using it on any page.
Developers: you can also load unpacked. Build the extension, then go to chrome://extensions, enable Developer mode, choose Load unpacked and select the build's output directory. The source lives on GitHub.
ColibotAI requires Chrome desktop 138 or newer (its declared minimum). On-device AI has additional hardware requirements — see On-device AI.
3 Choose your engine
ColibotAI's Engine setting decides where the AI runs. Set it in the popup, or in full under Settings → AI engine → Engine. There are three modes:
Below the engine picker, the Settings page shows a live On-device (Chrome AI) status (Translate / Summarize / Explain each show Ready, Downloads on first use, Downloading… or Unavailable) and a Your API key (BYOK) block where you pick a provider and model.
If you're not sure, leave it on Auto. You get free, private on-device AI whenever it can handle the request, and your key as a safety net for everything else.
4 On-device AI (Chrome built-in)
On-device mode runs on Chrome's built-in Gemini Nano models. It's free, works for supported languages even offline, and your text never leaves your computer. It does, however, need a recent Chrome and capable hardware, and downloads a model on first use.
Requirements
- Chrome desktop 138+ on supported hardware (roughly 4 GB+ VRAM and 22 GB+ free disk).
- A one-time model download on first use (Summarize and Explain need the Gemini Nano model; Translate covers many language pairs via the Translator API).
Setup steps
ColibotAI can't change Chrome's settings for you — these steps are manual. In Settings → AI engine, open the “Set up / troubleshoot on-device AI” panel, which has buttons that jump straight to each page below:
- Use Chrome desktop 138+ on supported hardware (≈4 GB+ VRAM, 22 GB+ free disk).
- Open the flag pages below and set each to Enabled (pick “Enabled BypassPerfRequirement” for the on-device model flag if offered), then relaunch Chrome.
- After step 2, open
chrome://componentsand update “Optimization Guide On Device Model” — it only appears once the flags are enabled and Chrome has relaunched (chrome://on-device-internalsshows the real status). - Return to Settings and click Recheck. Translate covers many language pairs; Summarize / Explain need the Gemini Nano model.
The exact pages
The “Optimization Guide On Device Model” entry in chrome://components only shows up after the flags are enabled and Chrome has relaunched. If it isn't there, re-check the flags and restart Chrome.
Language coverage & fallback
Translate supports many language pairs (probed at runtime). Summarize and Explain are limited to the languages Chrome's Gemini Nano supports. When a language or action isn't available on-device:
Set the engine to Auto so unsupported on-device actions fall back to your API key automatically. On-device AI runs privately and free, but needs Chrome desktop 138+ and downloads a model on first use.
5 Bring your own key (BYOK)
Prefer a specific cloud model — or need a language on-device can't handle? Add your own API key. ColibotAI supports four providers; you pick the provider and the model. Set this under Settings → AI engine → Your API key (BYOK).
OpenAI
Get a key at platform.openai.com/api-keys (keys look like sk-…).
Best value for translation: gpt-5-mini. Complex / literary: gpt-5.5. Cheapest for simple text: gpt-5-nano.
Anthropic (Claude)
Get a key at console.anthropic.com/settings/keys (keys look like sk-ant-…).
Best value: claude-haiku-4-5. Complex / literary: claude-sonnet-4-6 (or claude-opus-4-8 for the highest quality).
Google (Gemini)
Get a key at aistudio.google.com/app/apikey (keys look like AIza…).
Best value: gemini-2.5-flash. Cheaper for simple text: gemini-2.0-flash.
OpenRouter
Get a key at openrouter.ai/keys (keys look like sk-or-v1-…). One key → hundreds of models.
Best value: google/gemini-3.5-flash or deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash. Complex: anthropic/claude-opus-4.7 or openai/gpt-5.5. Browse all at openrouter.ai/models.
Choosing a model
No model is preselected — you must pick one (BYOK needs both a key and a chosen model, otherwise you get an actionable error). Type a model id or pick a suggestion; the Settings page shows a “Recommended — …” price/performance hint for translation per provider, including for complex / literary text.
Where your key is stored
- Stored in
chrome.storage.local— on this device only, never synced to your account. - Optional session-only mode (Key storage → This session) clears keys when the browser restarts.
- Used only to call the provider you chose, directly from your browser. ColibotAI has no backend.
Validation on save
When you click Save, ColibotAI requests the provider's host permission (in the same click) and runs a zero-token check against the provider's model-list / key-info endpoint, showing “API key valid ✓” or “API key rejected by the provider” right away — so you find out immediately, not later at translation time.
Each provider's host (e.g. api.openai.com) is an optional permission, requested only when you save a key for it. If you deny it, you'll see “Saved — but network access was denied”.
6 Custom / Local LLM NEW
ColibotAI can point at any OpenAI-compatible Chat Completions endpoint — a local model server (Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp; free, private, no key required) or a remote self-hosted / third-party gateway. Choose the provider “Custom / Local (OpenAI-compatible)” in Settings.
What to enter
- Base URL — your endpoint, usually ending in
/v1. ColibotAI calls{base}/chat/completionsfor results and{base}/modelsto validate. - Model name — the exact name your server exposes, e.g.
llama3.1,qwen2.5,mistral,gemma2,phi3.5. - API key — optional. Local servers usually need none; leave it blank. Authorization is only sent when you provide a key.
Common endpoints
What happens on save
- Enter a Base URL first (required) and a model name. If the Base URL is missing you'll see “Enter a Base URL first”.
- On Save, ColibotAI requests permission for that host (derived from your Base URL) in the same click.
- It validates by listing models (
GET {base}/models) and shows “Endpoint reachable ✓” or “Couldn't reach the endpoint…”.
Nothing is proxied. The request goes straight from your browser to your endpoint — there is no ColibotAI server in between, exactly like the other BYOK providers.
7 The actions
ColibotAI gives you a set of actions. Most are triggered by selecting text — a small toolbar appears in an isolated overlay beside your selection. You can also use the right-click context menu on any selection, or act on the whole page from the popup. Every result streams in live, and you can ask a follow-up on it.
Translate
Translate the selection into your target language, in one click. Result opens in a centered popover you can copy or save.
Summarize
Condense long or complex text into the essentials — key points only, never longer than the source. Choose the detail level — Short, Medium or Long. It compresses; it doesn't explain.
Explain
Get a clear, contextual explanation of difficult text — meaning, purpose and key terms — in well-structured markdown.
Search with ChatGPT
Send your selection straight to ChatGPT in a new tab for a deeper dive. (A link-out — no key needed.)
Quick Translate
A floating panel to translate any text you type or paste — no selection needed. Open it with Ctrl+Shift+U.
Summarize the page NEW
Summarize the whole page — not just a selection — in one click from the popup. Set the depth with summary detail: Short, Medium or Long.
Translate the page NEW
Translate the entire page in place, swapping the text where it sits — on-device when available, private and free — with a one-click restore to the original.
Results open in a centered popover and stream in live as they're generated, so a selection near the bottom or edge of the page never pushes the panel off-screen. On-device results carry an “on-device” badge. Need more? Ask a follow-up right in the popover — it keeps the original text as context, so you can dig deeper without re-selecting.
8 Notes
Every result can become a Note. Turn on Auto-save every result to notes (Settings → Behavior) to keep everything automatically, or click Save in the result popover to keep one manually.
The side panel
Open the notes side panel with Ctrl+Shift+Y (or from the popup). From there you can:
- Search / filter your notes as you type.
- Edit the annotation on any note (add your own comment to an entry).
- See each note's source URL / host and timestamp, plus an auto / manual tag.
- Export all notes to a JSON backup, and Import a file — import merges, skipping duplicates.
- Watch the local storage meter, and Clear all (with a confirmation) when you want a clean slate.
Notes live in local storage and are capped at 1000 (the newest are kept) to avoid quota errors. Export keeps a JSON backup you can re-import anytime.
9 Smart reuse / token saving NEW
Re-running an action on text that's near-identical to a saved note reuses that saved answer instead of calling the AI again — so you don't spend tokens twice. Matching ignores case, whitespace and leading/trailing punctuation, so a stray trailing comma (or a leading > ) won't re-run the AI or create a duplicate.
The similarity threshold
Closeness is a Sørensen–Dice score. Tune it under Settings → Behavior → “Reuse for similar text”: lower = looser matching, and 100% = only identical text (“Exact only”).
When a result is reused, the new note is still saved, with a “↺ reused from a similar note (NN%)” reference shown in the result popover and the side panel — no extra tokens used.
10 Keyboard shortcuts
ColibotAI uses Chrome's command shortcuts. The defaults are:
Rebind any of them at chrome://extensions/shortcuts (Settings → Shortcuts has a “Configure in Chrome” button, and lists each command's current key live).
If a shortcut shows “Not set”, the key is unassigned or already used by another extension. Assign or change it at chrome://extensions/shortcuts. On Mac, use ⌘ in place of Ctrl.
11 Settings reference
The popup gives you quick access to the engine and core options; the full options page (Settings) has everything, grouped into AI engine, Languages, Behavior, Shortcuts and Notes.
[ColibotAI] console logs and detailed (non-generic) error messages. For troubleshooting.12 Privacy honest
ColibotAI is built so your data stays yours — and we're specific about exactly what happens.
On-device mode: your selected text is processed locally by Chrome's built-in AI. Nothing leaves your computer — fully private and free.
Your-key mode (including local / custom): your selected text is sent directly from your browser to the provider or endpoint you chose. ColibotAI has no backend and never sees or stores it.
No tracking, ever: no analytics, no cookies, no account. Your key is stored locally and never synced; notes live locally and you can export or delete them anytime.
ColibotAI is GDPR-compliant and Made in Switzerland. Read the full Privacy Policy and Terms for controller identity, legal bases, third-country transfers for BYOK, retention and your data-subject rights.
13 Languages & localization
- Interface: the whole UI is localized in English and Italian and follows your browser's UI language.
- Translation: covers a wide range of languages — English, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Hindi and more. With your own key, virtually any language your model supports.
- On-device coverage depends on Chrome's built-in models: Translate handles many language pairs (probed at runtime); Summarize and Explain are limited to what Gemini Nano supports. In Auto mode, anything unsupported on-device falls back to your key.
14 Troubleshooting & FAQ
On-device AI shows “Unavailable”
Your Chrome version, hardware, or flags don't (yet) support it. Follow the on-device setup, click Recheck, and meanwhile switch the engine to Auto or API key so you can keep working with your own key.
My API key was rejected
ColibotAI validates keys on save with a zero-token check. If it shows “API key rejected by the provider”, re-check the key in Settings → AI engine (correct provider, no extra spaces, still active on the provider's dashboard) and save again.
A language isn't supported on-device
Set the engine to Auto — it falls back to your API key for that request — pick another language, or add a key. Summarize / Explain are limited to Gemini Nano's languages; Translate covers many more pairs.
A shortcut shows “Not set”
The key is unassigned or already used by another extension. Assign or change it at chrome://extensions/shortcuts (Settings → Shortcuts → Configure in Chrome).
My custom / local endpoint is unreachable
Verify the Base URL (usually ends in /v1) and that the server is running. Make sure you granted the host permission on save, and that the server allows requests from the browser (CORS). ColibotAI validates by listing models at {base}/models.
Is ColibotAI free?
Yes. The extension is free, and on-device AI is free. If you use your own API key, you pay only your provider's usage directly. A local / custom model is free too.
How do I see detailed error messages?
Turn on Debug mode (Settings → Behavior). You'll get verbose [ColibotAI] console logs and the raw provider/HTTP error detail under the message, instead of a generic “something went wrong”.
Where are my notes stored, and can I move them?
Notes are stored locally in your browser (capped at 1000, newest kept). Use Export in the side panel for a JSON backup, and Import on another device — import merges and skips duplicates.