Privacy Policy

Effective date: March 1, 2026

What Gitnotate Does

Gitnotate adds sub-line commenting to Markdown files in GitHub pull request reviews. It lets you select specific words, phrases, or sentences and attach review comments to those selections — going beyond GitHub's built-in line-level commenting.

Gitnotate is available as a Chrome/Edge browser extension and a VSCode extension. The browser extension enhances the GitHub web interface directly. The VSCode extension provides native comment threads, a sidebar, reply & resolve, and live polling — all within your editor.

Comments created by Gitnotate are stored as standard GitHub PR review comments, visible to all participants in the pull request.

Information We Collect

Gitnotate collects only the minimal information needed to function. All data is provided by you explicitly through the extension's settings:

• Repository preferences — A list of repositories you have enabled or disabled Gitnotate for, stored as simple on/off settings.
• Highlight style preference — Your chosen visual style for text selections (e.g., underline, background color).

Gitnotate does not collect browsing history, page content, personal information, usage analytics, or any data beyond what is listed above.

How Information Is Stored

Browser Extension

All data is stored locally in your browser using the chrome.storage.local API. This means:

• Your data never leaves your browser — it is not uploaded to any server
• Data is sandboxed to the extension and cannot be accessed by websites or other extensions
• Data persists until you explicitly clear it or uninstall the extension

VSCode Extension

The VSCode extension stores its settings (enabled repositories, poll interval) in VSCode's standard workspace and user settings. Authentication is handled entirely by VSCode's built-in GitHub authentication provider — Gitnotate never sees or stores your credentials or tokens.

Information Transmitted

Browser Extension

The browser extension does not make any network requests of its own. It operates entirely by reading and modifying the GitHub page you are viewing. It does not:

• Send data to any third-party servers
• Send data to any Gitnotate servers (there are none)
• Use any analytics or tracking services
• Include any telemetry, crash reporting, or usage monitoring
• Make network requests to any domain

VSCode Extension

The VSCode extension communicates with GitHub's API only (api.github.com) to read and post PR review comments. These requests are authenticated through VSCode's built-in GitHub authentication — the same mechanism used by other GitHub-related VSCode extensions. The VSCode extension does not:

• Send data to any Gitnotate servers (there are none)
• Use any analytics, telemetry, or tracking services
• Contact any domain other than GitHub's API

Permissions Explained

Browser Extension

The browser extension requests the minimum permissions necessary to function:

VSCode Extension

The VSCode extension uses standard VSCode extension APIs and requests no special permissions beyond what is declared in its manifest:

• GitHub Authentication — Uses VSCode's built-in GitHub auth provider. You control sign-in/sign-out through VSCode.
• Comment Controller — Creates native VSCode comment threads anchored to text ranges in editors.
• Tree View — Displays a sidebar listing all PR comments for quick navigation.

Data Sharing

Gitnotate does not share any data with third parties. Period.

• No data is sold, rented, or traded
• No data is shared with advertisers or marketing partners
• No data is sent to analytics platforms
• The only external communication is between your browser and GitHub's API, initiated by your actions

Data Retention & Deletion

Your data is stored locally and you have full control over it:

Browser Extension

• Disable repos: Open the Gitnotate extension popup and disable individual repositories
• Clear all extension data: Go to your browser's extension management page, find Gitnotate, and select "Clear data" or "Remove"
• Uninstall the extension: Removing the extension from your browser deletes all associated local storage data

VSCode Extension

• Disable repos: Remove entries from the gitnotate.enabledRepos setting
• Sign out: Revoke GitHub access through VSCode's Accounts menu
• Uninstall: Removing the extension from VSCode clears its settings and cached data

Comments you have already posted to GitHub via Gitnotate are standard GitHub PR comments. They are governed by GitHub's privacy policy and can be managed through GitHub's interface.

Open Source Transparency

Gitnotate is fully open source under the MIT License. You can review every line of code to verify that the extension does exactly what this policy describes — nothing more, nothing less.

Source code: github.com/pedrofuentes/gitnotate

Children's Privacy

Gitnotate is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. The extension is a developer tool designed for use by software developers participating in GitHub code reviews.

Changes to This Policy

If we make changes to this privacy policy, we will update the effective date at the top of this page and include a note in the extension's changelog. For significant changes, we will also post a notice in the GitHub repository.

Since Gitnotate is open source, any changes to the privacy policy will be visible in the repository's commit history.

Contact

If you have questions or concerns about this privacy policy, please open an issue on our GitHub repository:

github.com/pedrofuentes/gitnotate/issues