Last Updated: July 7, 2026

Marlint is a browser extension that assesses visited websites for phishing and malicious indicators. This Privacy Policy describes how Marlint collects, uses, stores, and protects data. Marlint is designed to maximize user privacy by running as much analysis locally as possible.

1. Data Collected and Processed

Marlint processes the following information to perform its core security functions:

• Visited Hostnames and URLs: When navigating to websites, Marlint intercepts the URL of top-level pages to assess if the site is a phishing or malicious threat. No page text, cookies, inputs, forms, or network headers are read, collected, or transmitted.
• Extension Settings: Your configuration preferences (protection status, custom whitelist, preferred AI models, and user-provided API keys) are stored locally in your browser.
• Local Assessment Cache: Results of scanned domains (safety scores, threat classifications, reasoning, and timestamps) are cached locally to avoid redundant requests.
• How Data is Shared and Transmitted

Marlint does not use any developer-owned servers, telemetry, or analytics trackers. Outgoing network connections occur under the following strict conditions:

• Tranco Popular Domains List (Safe-List): To prevent unnecessary scanning of highly trusted websites, the extension downloads an updated popular websites list once daily from https://tranco-list.eu/top-1m.csv.zip.
• Local AI Model (LM-Studio Mode): If you select LM-Studio as your provider, the visited domain and URL are sent entirely to your local machine (defaulting to http://localhost:1234/v1). In this mode, no website or browsing data is transmitted over the internet.
• Cloud AI Model (OpenRouter Mode): If you select OpenRouter, the visited domain and URL are sent to https://openrouter.ai along with your self-provided OpenRouter API key to fetch a safety classification. Data transmission to OpenRouter is subject to their respective terms of service and privacy policies.
• Data Storage and Retention

All data processed by Marlint is managed locally:

• Local Storage: All settings, custom whitelists, API keys, and Tranco database buckets are stored securely inside your browser's private extension storage (browser.storage.local).
• Cache Retention: The local database of previous site assessments is kept for a maximum of 24 hours. You can clear this cache at any time using the "Clear Cache" button in the extension popup.
• User Control and Choice

Marlint places complete control in your hands:

• Choose Complete Offline Privacy: By using the LM-Studio provider with a local model, you can run the extension with 100% offline, zero-data-sharing protection.
• Custom Whitelist: Add trusted websites to your local whitelist to exclude them from any classification requests.
• Disable Real-Time Protection: You can temporarily toggle the extension on or off, or disable "Auto-Check" to only scan websites manually.
• Contact

If you have any questions or would like to view the open-source code, please visit our repository: https://github.com/synlace/marlint.