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Browser Extension: End-User Guide

This page is for end users of the Control Zero browser extension — the people whose ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and other browser AI traffic runs through the extension every day. If you are an admin looking to deploy the extension across a fleet, see Browser Extension Deployment instead.

What the extension does​

The extension watches the AI sites you visit and enforces the DLP rules your organization has set. It can:

  • Alert — show a banner and let you continue.
  • Redact — rewrite your message before it leaves the browser.
  • Block — prevent the message from being sent.

Everything runs locally in the browser. Message contents never leave the page unless a rule explicitly captures them.

The badge​

The extension adds a small badge to the toolbar. The color tells you the current state:

  • Green — the extension is active and healthy.
  • Yellow — paused or degraded (policy stale, waiting to sync).
  • Red — blocked state. Something is wrong; click for details.

Click the badge to open the popup.

The popup is your day-to-day interface:

  • Status — current state, last policy sync, which org you are enrolled into.
  • Pause for 10 minutes — temporarily suspend enforcement. Useful for quick testing. After 10 minutes the extension snaps back on its own; you cannot pause longer without an admin-granted exemption.
  • Recent activity — the last few rule events (what fired, what action was taken). Click an entry to see details.
  • Help / report issue — opens a pre-filled mail or form to your admin.

What you see when a rule fires​

Depending on the action configured by your admin:

Alert​

A dismissible banner appears at the top of the AI site with a short message explaining which rule fired. You can continue sending the message. The event is logged.

Redact​

The message you typed is rewritten inline before it reaches the AI site. The redacted fragments show up as [redacted:<category>]. You can see a diff of what was changed in the popup's recent-activity log.

Block​

A modal stops the submit. The modal explains which rule blocked the message and, if your admin configured one, shows a "request exception" link. The message is not sent.

Keyboard shortcut​

  • Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Z opens the popup from any tab.
  • Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P toggles the 10-minute pause.

(Both are configurable in the extension's options page.)

Privacy​

  • The extension only operates on the domains your admin enrolled it for. It does not read arbitrary pages.
  • Captured events are signed and sent to the governance backend your admin chose. The content that leaves the browser is controlled by the rule action: alerts send a short event summary; redacts send a diff record; blocks send only the rule ID and decision.

Troubleshooting​

  • Badge stays yellow. Policy sync is failing. Click the badge and hit Sync now. If it keeps failing, your enrollment may have been revoked. Contact your admin.
  • Badge is red on a site you use daily. The site is on your org's blocked list. Ask your admin.
  • Popup says "not enrolled". Your extension was installed without an enrollment key. Your admin can redeploy with the right key from the browser-extension deployment page.