I am building a Chrome extension to help users quickly scan and identify key highlights in emails and web content, making content consumption and decision-making more efficient. For example, when managing my Gmail inbox, I often skim through emails to decide whether to act on them immediately, save them for later, or ignore them entirely — essentially performing inbox review and triage.
Most of the existing AI tools focus on summarization using language models (LLMs), but they often fall short when it comes to efficiently highlighting critical details, without losing context. Additionally, these tools frequently require sending private information to the cloud, which raises privacy concerns.
This project leverages Chrome’s built-in AI to process Gmail messages locally, extract key highlights, and visually mark them up to draw reader's attention i.e., it's essentially an assistant that reads content for you and highlights important items. While the initial focus is on Gmail, the plan is to extend the solution to other web content, such as blogs and articles, by applying the same principles and learnings from this initial version.
Instant highlights marked up in emails for inbox review and triage using a private, local AI. i.e., an assistant that reads emails for you and highlights important info.
This repository provides everything you need to set up and use the Chrome Built-in AI and Highlights AI extension. Follow the instructions below to get started.
Ensure your system meets the requirements specified in the Built-in AI Early Preview Program documentation.
- Download the latest version of Chrome Canary.
- Refer to the Built-in AI Early Preview Program documentation for the specific version needed.
- Enable Gemini Nano and the Prompt API by following the steps outlined here.
After enabling the required features, relaunch Chrome.
Note: The setup process may take some time as the model downloads to your machine. You can follow instructions in the document linked above to test things are setup properly from Developer Tools -> Console of Chrome Canary.
- Download the
highlights-aicode from this GitHub repository to your local machine.
- Open Chrome Canary.
- Navigate to
chrome://extensionsin the URL bar. - Enable the Developer Mode toggle (top-right corner).
- Click on Load unpacked.
- Select the folder containing the extension code from your machine.
- Log in to Gmail and open a message in your Inbox.
- Use the shortcut
Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + Uor click the Highlights AI button near the URL bar to activate the extension.
This project is open source and licensed under a custom non-commercial license.
You may use it for personal, educational, or research purposes only.
For full licensing details, see the LICENSE file in this repository.
- Gmail, Chrome and Gemini are trademarks of Google LLC.
- Logo file: https://www.flaticon.com/
Chrome's built-in AI is still not GA and this Chrome extension is an early version and works for English language primarily; you could run into issues when using Highlights as a result. If you encounter any issues or have feedback please:
- Create an issue in this repository.
- Reach out on X/Twitter: @notnotrishi.