Record a workflow and turn it into a step-by-step guide. Everything stays in your browser.
Last updated: 19 September 2026 · Applies to version 0.5.3
Every permission Tracepaper requests is listed here, with the reason and the moment it is asked for. If a permission is not on this list, Tracepaper does not have it.
Nothing.
Install Tracepaper and Chrome shows no permission warning, because the extension cannot see any website until you tell it to. This is unusual for a screen-recording extension and it is deliberate.
| Permission | Why | What it does not do |
|---|---|---|
storage |
Saves your settings and the recording state. Chrome requires it for both. | Does not grant access to any website. Chrome shows no warning for it. |
scripting |
Lets Tracepaper run its recorder, and its area picker, in the tab you are working on. On its own it grants access to nothing: it is useless without permission for a site. | Cannot reach any website by itself. Chrome shows no warning for it. |
activeTab |
Lets Tracepaper see the address of the tab you are looking at, and lets you pick areas to hide on it, but only while the popup is open. Without it, Tracepaper could not tell you which site it is about to ask permission for. | Does not give any access while the popup is closed, and none at all to your other tabs. Chrome shows no warning for it. |
| Permission | Asked when | Why |
|---|---|---|
A single site, e.g. https://example.com/* |
You press Record on that site, or the page moves to a host you have not approved and you choose to continue | Lets Tracepaper watch and photograph that site, and lets the recording survive clicking a link to another page on it. This is the one prompt you will see, and it names the site. Granted one site at a time, revocable at any time. |
You will see a Chrome prompt naming the exact site. Tracepaper never asks for “all websites.”
When a recording ends — you pressed Stop, you closed the tab, or the tab left the site you approved — Tracepaper gives the site permission back to Chrome. While no recording is running, Tracepaper holds access to nothing.
Chrome does not do this on its own. Extensions normally keep a granted site forever, so a permission list quietly grows for years. Tracepaper releases it so that “this extension has no access to any website right now” is true between recordings, and you can check it yourself at any time.
You are asked about a site the first time you record it. After that, Chrome remembers your answer permanently, and Tracepaper can take the permission back without asking you again.
That is Chrome’s behaviour and no extension can change it. Since Chrome 130 the browser
keeps a granted set — every permission you have ever approved for an extension —
and chrome.permissions.remove() does not remove anything from it. A later request for
a site already in that set is granted silently.
So the accurate statement is:
If you want a site out of the granted set entirely, remove and reinstall the extension; that is the only thing that clears it.
Choosing areas to hide asks for nothing at all: it runs on activeTab, so no site is
added to Chrome’s list just because you marked something on it.
Access is released at the end of every recording, and any leftover is released when Chrome starts, so “no recording running means no site access” holds without you having to do anything. The Site access line in the popup reads the live answer straight from Chrome.
This one is confusing and worth understanding before you conclude something is wrong.
After Tracepaper releases a site, chrome://extensions still lists that site under
“Automatically allow access on the following sites”, with its toggle off.
That is deliberate on Chrome’s part, and it is not something an extension can change. Since Chrome 130, that page shows the granted set: every permission the extension has ever been granted, rather than the permissions it currently holds. Chrome’s own developer relations team states it plainly:
“Permissions remain in the ‘granted’ set even if they are removed in an update, or by using the permissions.remove() API.” — Oliver Dunk, Chrome Extensions, chromium-extensions, October 2024
No API lets an extension clear those rows. A {revoke: true} option for
chrome.permissions.remove() has been proposed and does not exist yet. Only removing
and reinstalling the extension clears the list.
Chrome does this to protect you: a sticky list means an extension cannot quietly re-acquire a site in some later update without that site being visible to you. So the list is best read as a permanent record of every site you have ever approved, and the toggle beside each row is the live answer.
Three ways to confirm access really is gone:
These are listed now so there are no surprises later. Neither exists in version 0.5.0.
| Permission | Arrives at | Why | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
identity plus Google’s drive.file scope |
Step 13 | Saving an exported guide to your own Google Drive. | drive.file lets Tracepaper see only files it created itself. It cannot read anything else in your Drive. |
| A network connection to ExtensionPay | Step 15 | Checking whether you have paid for Pro. | Sends your email address and install ID. Never guide content. |
| Permission | Why we avoid it |
|---|---|
tabs |
Would let us read the address and title of every tab you have open. We only need the one tab you are recording, which activeTab already covers. |
<all_urls> at install |
Would grant access to every website you visit, forever, from the moment you install. We ask per site instead. |
history, bookmarks, cookies, downloads.open |
No feature needs them. |
desktopCapture |
Screen and window recording is out of scope. Tracepaper photographs one browser tab. |
| Broader Google Drive scopes | drive.file is enough to save a file. Anything wider would let us read your existing documents. |
chrome://extensions.The extension popup shows the same count, so you can see it without leaving the page you are on.
chrome://extensions → Tracepaper → Details → Site access → remove any site.
Guides you already recorded stay where they are, on your computer.