Signal to Noise Ratio

Signal to Noise Ratio is a local-first Chrome extension for tracking whether browser time is Signal or Noise.

It is built for people who want a clear daily read on whether their web time is moving the work forward or leaking into distraction.

The idea is inspired by Kevin O'Leary's story about Steve Jobs and focus: keep the few priorities that matter, cut the rest, and ask how high you can keep your own Signal to Noise Ratio.

What It Does

• Tracks the active, visible Chrome tab while the user is actually engaging with it.
• Keeps active video/audio playback counting as engagement so watching YouTube or other media does not silently stop after the idle timeout.
• Stops counting stale tabs after inactivity, so a site left open does not keep running forever.
• Uses Chrome idle state to stop website tracking when the computer is idle or locked.
• Classifies domains as Signal or Noise through built-in rules and user overrides.
• Prompts once for new or unclassified websites so the user can label them quickly.
• Supports permanent rules with Remember always and date-scoped rules with Remember today.
• Shows daily and seven-day Website Signal Ratios in the extension popup.
• Shows today's Website Signal Ratio on the extension icon by default.
• Lets users edit minutes, flip Signal/Noise status, or split one site's time between both.
• Provides configurable goals, status tiers, and goal-crossing effects in the popup and active page.
• Exports local tracking data to CSV from Settings.
• Exports a temporary local tracking debug log from Settings for troubleshooting session starts/stops and duration writes.
• Keeps tracking data local in Chrome storage.

Install for Development

1. Open chrome://extensions.
2. Enable Developer mode.
3. Click Load unpacked.
4. Select this project folder.
5. Pin Signal to Noise Ratio.
6. After local code changes, reload the unpacked extension before testing.

Core Features

Active Website Tracking

Signal to Noise Ratio tracks only the current active tab in the focused Chrome window. By default, focused active-tab time counts even during passive reading or reviewing while Chrome reports the computer as active. Once Chrome reports the computer idle or locked, the session stops at the configured idle threshold so a site left open cannot accrue hours of false time.

Users who want stricter abandoned-tab protection can enable strict activity tracking in Settings. In strict mode, the tab needs recent mouse, keyboard, scroll, wheel, touch, tab activation/navigation, or active media-playback activity before time counts. The strict activity timeout defaults to 120 seconds.

Signal and Noise Classification

The extension classifies domains using:

• built-in Signal defaults such as Gmail, Google Docs, GitHub, Slack, Zoom, Notion, and Linear
• built-in Noise defaults such as YouTube, X, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, Netflix, and Twitch
• user-saved permanent rules
• user-saved today-only rules

Saved domain rules apply across paths and subpages. For example, labeling mail.proton.me should cover inboxes, messages, folders, and other routes under that domain.

Local development hosts are supported too. A rule for localhost covers URLs such as http://localhost:3000/, and loopback hosts like 127.0.0.1 or ::1 can also be saved.

Quick Classification Prompt

When visiting a new or unclassified website, a small page prompt can appear with Signal and Noise buttons.

The default selection behavior is:

• Remember always is checked by default.
• Remember today is optional and mutually exclusive with Remember always.
• Once a domain has a saved rule, the prompt should not keep reappearing for every route on that same site.

Settings can switch prompt behavior between every unclassified website and the older default-Noise-only mode.

Popup Dashboard

The extension popup shows:

• today's Website Signal Ratio
• seven-day average Website Signal Ratio
• optional toolbar badge with today's Website Signal Ratio
• the current site and its classification
• goal progress
• top Noise source
• current session state
• combined website list
• pause/resume tracking
• reset-today shortcut
• link to Settings
• Buy the creator a coffee link

The ratio shown in the popup is based on visible website rows, including split Signal/Noise segments, so the percentage matches the list math.

The seven-day average can be filtered in Settings by weekday. Users can also start the average fresh from today without deleting stored history.

Website List Editing

The Websites list supports three separate actions:

• click the time to edit the number of minutes
• click the pencil icon to flip that row between Signal and Noise
• click the divider icon to split one site's time between Signal and Noise

When a row is split, the extension creates separate Signal and Noise portions under the same domain. Each segment can be edited again afterward.

Status Bar and Goals

The popup includes a configurable status bar. The default tiers are:

• 70% -> Goal
• 80% -> Jobs
• 100% -> Musk

Settings let the user change the status bar name, tier names, and tier percentages.

Goal effects can also be enabled or disabled:

• confetti popup when the daily website Signal ratio crosses up through the goal
• below-goal popup when the ratio drops back below the goal

Settings

The Settings page includes:

• day start hour
• target Signal ratio
• optional strict active-tab activity requirement
• strict inactivity timeout
• quick prompt behavior
• toolbar ratio badge toggle
• weekly average weekday filters
• start-average-fresh control that keeps stored history
• goal-crossing effect toggles
• status bar tier editor
• manual site rules
• CSV export
• temporary tracking debug log export and clear controls
• reset today's data
• local storage summary and tracking-history trash action
• Support Open Source Devs section with a Buy Me a Coffee link

Permissions

Signal to Noise Ratio uses a small set of Chrome extension permissions:

• tabs: detect the active tab, active window, and current domain
• storage: store settings, rules, daily totals, and session state locally
• alarms: run periodic tracking checkpoints and day rollover cleanup
• idle: avoid counting website time while the computer is idle or locked
• <all_urls> content script match: run the local prompt and activity/media listener on visited pages

Privacy

Signal to Noise Ratio is local-first.

• No external server is used for tracking.
• Data is stored in Chrome extension storage.
• The extension stores normalized domains, not full URLs, paths, query strings, page titles, or page contents.
• CSV export is user-triggered from Settings.
• Debug-log export is user-triggered from Settings and contains local troubleshooting metadata only.

See PRIVACY.md for the full privacy policy.

Local Data Model

Main storage keys:

• settings: user preferences, goals, weekly average filters, prompt mode, toolbar badge, status tiers, and tracking toggles
• siteRules: permanent domain-level Signal/Noise overrides
• todaySiteRules: date-scoped domain overrides
• dailyData: daily domain activity, totals, and split Signal/Noise durations
• goalEffectState: per-date/per-goal state for crossing effects
• currentSession: active tracking session in chrome.storage.session
• tabActivity: recent per-tab activity source/timestamps in chrome.storage.session
• trackingDebugLog: temporary recent tracking events in chrome.storage.session, exportable from Settings for troubleshooting

Project Files

• manifest.json: Manifest V3 extension definition
• background.js: service worker, session tracking, classification updates, edits, splits, and alarms
• content.js: quick classifier prompt, user-activity pings, and media-playback engagement detection
• popup/: extension popup dashboard
• options/: settings page, weekly-average controls, rules editor, storage summary, reset, and CSV export
• utils/: classification, storage, and time helpers
• CHANGELOG.md: local change history
• spec.md: original product and implementation spec
• AGENTS.md: project operating notes

Development Checks

There is no build step. Run the deterministic regression suite and syntax checks:

npm run verify

Run the bounded real-browser smoke test when Brave or Chromium is installed:

npm run test:chrome

The smoke test launches a temporary browser profile, loads the extension unpacked, switches between two real local pages, verifies both durations were persisted, and then shuts the browser down. Before committing, also run:

git diff --check

Known Notes

• Existing local Chrome storage can contain stale data from earlier builds. Use Reset Today's Data in Settings for cleaner manual testing.
• Media playback engagement is detected from the top-level page content script. Normal YouTube/Facebook/social video pages should count while playing; embedded iframe-only video players may need a future all_frames: true manifest change.
• If minute counting feels wrong, export Tracking Debug Log from Settings before clearing data; it shows recent activity sources, session starts/stops, and persisted duration writes.
• Icons use the simple Signal/Noise mark in icons/.
• Chrome Web Store packages are generated under dist/ when needed.

License

Signal to Noise Ratio is open source under the MIT License. See LICENSE.