---
title: "Chrome 'history' permission vs 'tabs': can an AI extension read your past browsing log?"
description: "Learn the exact technical difference between Chrome's 'history' permission (which reads your past chrome://history database) and the 'tabs' permission—and how to audit AI extensions."
canonical_url: "https://vezz.me/permissions/history/"
type: "pseo-permissions"
category: "permissions"
topic: "Chrome Permission Audit"
intent: "Best for privacy-focused users who want to ensure an AI extension cannot read their historical browsing log."
---

# Chrome 'history' permission vs 'tabs': can an AI extension read your past browsing log?

Learn the exact technical difference between Chrome's 'history' permission (which reads your past chrome://history database) and the 'tabs' permission—and how to audit AI extensions.

> **Best fit:** Best for privacy-focused users who want to ensure an AI extension cannot read their historical browsing log.

## Technical Permission Audit

- **Manifest Key:** `history`
- **Chrome Install Warning:** "Read and change your browsing history on all your signed-in devices"
- **Risk Level:** Higher

```json
{
  "manifest_version": 3,
  "permissions": ["history"]
}
```

### Legitimate Uses
- Dedicated history-replacement extensions or local bookmark/history search launchers

### Red Flags to Watch For
- An AI webpage summarizer or sidebar requesting `history`—allowing it to query `chrome.history.search()` for every URL you visited over the past 90 days

**How Vezz me handles this:** Vezz me does NOT request the `history` permission and never collects a browsing-history log. Its own conversation history feature only saves the questions and answers you explicitly triggered.

## Step-by-step workflow

1. **Look for the phrase 'on all your signed-in devices'**: Chrome's warning for `tabs` says 'Read your browsing history', while the warning for `history` says 'Read and change your browsing history on all your signed-in devices'.
2. **Verify in manifest.json**: Check that `"history"` is not in the extension's `permissions` array.
3. **Separate conversation history from browser history**: Vezz me's Conversation History stores only your past AI Q&A threads in local storage—never the URLs you browse.

## Why an AI reading assistant never needs `chrome.history`

To explain the webpage you are currently reading, an extension only needs the text you selected right now—not where you browsed last Tuesday.

- `chrome.history` exposes `search()`, `getVisits()`, and `deleteAll()` across your synced Chrome history
- Vezz me never requests `history` and has zero access to your past browsing log

## Frequently asked questions

### What is 'Conversation history' in Vezz me if it doesn't use the history permission?

Vezz me's Conversation History is a local log of the specific AI questions and answers you asked inside the extension (stored in `chrome.storage`), so you can revisit an explanation you generated earlier.

## Related guides

- [Chrome tabs permission](https://vezz.me/permissions/tabs/): Why the tabs permission triggers a history warning string.
- [Vezz me Privacy Policy](https://vezz.me/privacy/): Full data collection and retention policy.