Does AI Chat Archive send my data anywhere?

Short answer: No. Your conversation content never leaves your browser.

AI Chat Archive is a client-side Chrome extension. When you click Export, the extension reads your conversation directly from Claude.ai through the same authenticated session your browser is already using, renders it into PDF / HTML / Markdown locally, and writes the file to your Downloads folder. There is no "AI Chat Archive server" in the middle.

What the extension does with your data

Step Where it happens What is sent where
Read conversation Your browser → claude.ai The same API call Claude.ai makes itself when you open a chat. No third parties involved.
Download attachments (paid, optional) Your browser → claude.ai's attachment CDN Binary fetch of files you already uploaded. Goes to your machine only.
Render Markdown / HTML / PDF Your browser, locally Nothing is sent anywhere.
Save the output Browser Downloads API File is written to disk on your machine.

What the extension does talk to over the network

Two things, and only two:

  1. claude.ai — to fetch the conversation and attachments being exported. This is the same origin you're already logged into; the extension reuses your existing cookies.
  2. api.polar.shonly when you activate or renew a paid license. The extension sends your license key to Polar (our payment provider) to verify it. It never sends your conversations.

No analytics, no telemetry, no crash reports, no "phone-home" pings. If you run the extension with your browser's network tab open, you will see exactly these requests and nothing else.

How you can verify this yourself

Why this matters

Most "export your AI conversations" tools route your data through a cloud service, which means:

AI Chat Archive exists specifically so this doesn't happen. The extension is designed around one rule: if the data would have to leave your machine, the feature doesn't ship. PDF rendering, Markdown generation, attachment bundling, ZIP packaging — all implemented client-side so the data path stays local.

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