Smart helper buddy

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  extension Ui

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  summarizer api

Inspiration

while reading paper or articles if i don't understand something i always have to switch to other tab copy and paste or if i just want idea of that paper i still have to read whole paper. it sometimes frustrating if you have multiple tab opens.

What it does

Smart Helper Buddy was created to make browsing smarter and easier. It turns scattered web information into useful help, saves time, and protects your privacy. The goal is to reduce hassle when researching, summarizing, or doing routine web tasks.

How we built it

We created a lightweight Chrome extension using Manifest V3. It captures text from any web page, summarizes it, and answers questions using Chrome’s Prompt API and Summarize API — all within a simple popup interface. The core logic runs through background.js and contentScript.js, built with modular JavaScript for smooth performance.The result is a lightweight, browser-native tool for quick summarization and question answering right inside Chrome.

Challenges we ran into

Handling script injection safely and capturing page content was tricky due to Chrome’s security restrictions. Managing content scripts and service workers under Manifest V3 required careful orchestration. Ensuring smooth communication between the popup, content script, and background while keeping permissions minimal was another challenge.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Built and published the extension showcasing end‑to‑end functionality using modular JavaScript and Manifest V3. Leveraged the browser’s native Prompt API and Summarize API to deliver summarization and Q&A with no external servers required.Achieved a clean UI and smooth user‑flow: selection → capture → summarise / ask question → display results.Kept permissions minimal and implemented robust DOM filtering to work reliably across many types of web pages.

What we learned

We learned how to declare and manage permissions in a Chrome Extensions API context — for example using "activeTab" and "host_permissions" in manifest.json to safely access page content. We also got hands‑on experience with modularizing our code: splitting logic between popup, content script, and background service worker under Manifest V3. we improved our DOM‑handling skills: correctly capturing selected text or full page content, and orchestrating message‑passing between different extension components for robust user interaction.

What's next for Smart helper buddy

We plan to add session‑management so users can pick up where they left off — store the current session’s context (captured text, questions asked, cards created) and restore it when they return. We’ll also build a card view for each summary (so users can browse past summaries) and a download option (to export a summary or card as a file).

Built With

• javascript
• promptapi
• summarizeapi