Copy Link

Project Overview

Copy Link exists because copying a link should not take a click into the address bar, a select-all and a copy, and because a tool that small has no reason to read the pages you visit. It asks for nothing it does not use: no telemetry, no analytics, no network requests, no storage. It works on every tab, chrome:// pages included, and a keyboard shortcut can be assigned in Chrome's own settings.

Challenges

• Manifest V3 service workers have no clipboard access and no DOM, so the obvious navigator.clipboard call is not available where the click is handled.
• Service workers cannot run matchMedia either, so the extension has no direct way to know whether Chrome is in light or dark mode and pick a readable toolbar icon.
• Staying useful without the broad host permissions that copy-link extensions usually request, which is what makes users distrust them.

Solutions

• A hidden offscreen document performs the clipboard write with execCommand('copy'), because an offscreen document is never focused and the async Clipboard API refuses to work there.
• The same offscreen document watches prefers-color-scheme and reports theme changes back, so the service worker swaps between light and dark icon sets as Chrome's theme changes.
• The URL is read from the clicked tab through activeTab alone, which grants access to that one tab for that one click and nothing more.
• Success and failure are shown as a badge on the button (a check mark or an exclamation mark for about a second) instead of a notification or popup.

Key Features

• One click - no popup, no menus, the link is on the clipboard.
• Visual confirmation - a short check mark on the toolbar button, or an exclamation mark if the copy failed.
• Theme-aware icon - light and dark variants that follow Chrome's theme.
• Works on every tab, including chrome:// pages.
• Private by construction - no telemetry, no analytics, no network requests, no storage, no access to page content.
• Keyboard shortcut - assignable at chrome://extensions/shortcuts.
• Open source - MIT licensed, with a published privacy policy and the Chrome Web Store listing copy in the repository.