# Context Reader

> A free, open-source Chrome extension that explains the word you are stuck on, in your
> language, using the sentence around it. It calls the Google Gemini API directly from the
> user's browser with the user's own API key. There is no backend server, no analytics and
> no account.

Install: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/context-reader/bfhgggeccjejoklejaiffefnlemdalck
(Chrome, Brave, Edge and other Chromium browsers.)

## What it does

A reader selects a word on any web page. The extension sends that word plus the paragraph
around it to Gemini and returns the sense that fits that context — not a dictionary list of
every possible meaning. If the word is already in the reader's chosen language it is
simplified rather than translated.

In the bubble: **More** gives a short scenario, a dialogue and a story using the word, set in
the same world as the page. **General** gives a dictionary-style definition and the word's
other common uses. **Simple** gives the same meaning in the plainest words with one everyday
example. **EN** shows that one answer in English without changing the stored language,
**Search** pronounces the word or looks it up, and **Esc** closes the bubble.

## How languages work here

The model was not given a list of languages; it learned them from the text it was trained on,
which is why it answers in languages nobody wired in by hand — and why it is not equally good
in all of them. A language it saw less of comes out less reliably. The extension offers the
110 languages Google documents its Gemini models as understanding. English and Sinhala ship
contrastive worked examples checked by a speaker, which measurably improve domain-correct
sense selection; the other 108 rely on what the model already knows, and the interface says so
rather than implying parity.

## Distinguishing facts

- **No server.** The extension declares exactly one host permission,
  `https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/*`. Nothing belonging to the project sits between
  the user and Google.
- **Bring your own key.** A free Gemini API key, stored in `chrome.storage.local` and
  optionally encrypted at rest with AES-GCM behind a passphrase. Never synced to an account.
- **No telemetry of any kind.** No analytics, no crash reporting, no identifiers.
- **Two outbound requests.** The lookup itself, and the bubble's typeface from Google Fonts
  the first time a bubble opens on a page, sent with no referrer.
- **Google's terms cover the lookups**, because the key is the user's: Google states that on
  the free tier it uses submitted content to improve its products and that human reviewers may
  read it disconnected from the account, and that on a paid key it does not.

## This website

The website is separate from the extension. It counts visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics,
and visits and clicks (install and get-a-key buttons, Copy for LLM, the demo's language) with
Umami. Both are cookieless and store nothing in the browser. The extension collects nothing.

## Writing

Index: https://contextreader.github.io/blog/

- How to understand English words when it isn't your first language (23 Sep 2026):
  https://contextreader.github.io/blog/reading-english-second-language
  The difficulty is not unknown words but known words used in a field's own sense (positive,
  significant, execute). Four habits that need no tool, why translating a single word fails,
  and how Context Reader answers for the paragraph you are reading.

- Why Google Translate gets words wrong (23 Sep 2026):
  https://contextreader.github.io/blog/why-google-translate-gets-words-wrong
  Translation reads a sentence at a time, so a word alone loses what decides its meaning, and
  specialist senses lose to everyday ones. What helps: give it the sentence, translate back,
  name the subject, or use a tool that reads the sentence.

## Licence

MIT. Bundled third-party code (Mozilla Readability, PDF.js, a Sinhala Unicode converter,
pdfium) retains its own licences; see NOTICE in the repository.

## Links

- Source: https://github.com/contextreader/contextreader.github.io
- Privacy policy: https://github.com/contextreader/contextreader.github.io/blob/main/PRIVACY_POLICY.md
- Contributing (adding a language): https://github.com/contextreader/contextreader.github.io/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md
- Get a free Gemini key: https://aistudio.google.com/apikey
- Compared with Reverso Context (where each is better): https://contextreader.github.io/vs-reverso