I Built a Suite of Privacy-First Browser Extensions β€” Here's Why

arun vmarun vm
2 min read

Hey devs πŸ‘‹

I’m Arun, an indie maker and software engineer from India. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been building something called HashPal Labs β€” a growing collection of free, open-source, privacy-respecting browser extensions.


🧩 Why I built HashPal Labs

As a developer, I often needed quick tools: a JSON formatter, a voice recorder, a to-do list, or a metadata inspector. But most of the tools I found were either:

  • Bloated with ads or trackers

  • Hidden behind paywalls

  • Required logins for simple tasks

I thought: What if these tools were lightweight, offline-first, and just worked?
So, I started building them β€” one by one.


🧰 What's inside HashPal Labs?

Here are some of the extensions currently available:

  • πŸ” Web Detective – View a site’s tech stack, meta tags, headers, and more

  • πŸ“‚ JSON Formatter – Cleanly format and collapse JSON for easier reading

  • βœ… Email Validator – Instantly check if an email address is valid

  • πŸ“ Scribbler – A simple, offline-friendly note-taker

  • πŸ”Š Voice Recorder – Record voice and save it locally

  • β˜‘οΈ To-Do List – A lightweight task manager with no sync, no login

  • πŸ“§ Email Capture – Extract all visible emails from the current page

  • πŸ“Š Spreadsheet Viewer – Load and view spreadsheet files right in the browser

…and more are in the pipeline!


πŸ’‘ Core values

  • Zero Tracking: I don’t log anything. All tools run locally in the browser.

  • Open Source: Every tool is on GitHub. PRs welcome!

  • No Ads. No BS. Just simple tools that do their job well.


πŸš€ Where to check it out


πŸ™Œ What’s next?

I plan to keep growing HashPal Labs with community input. Got an idea for a simple browser tool? Drop it in the comments! πŸ’‘

Thanks for reading β€” and if any of these tools help streamline your dev workflow or daily browsing, I’d love to hear about it.

Cheers,
Arun

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arun vm
arun vm