debait — outsmart clickbait

Reads the article behind a link and shows an honest title, summary, and clickbait score — before you click.

See what is behind a headline before spending time on the article. debait uses AI to suggest a plain headline, summarize the extracted content, and assess sensational framing. SETUP REQUIRED Use your own AI-provider API key, or a configured local model. Hosted provider usage charges may apply. Open Settings, select a provider, enter your key if needed, and save. WHAT YOU GET • An honest-title suggestion that describes the article without the hype. • A short summary and key points. • A 0–100 clickbait score and an explanation of the techniques detected. • A content assessment: substantial, thin, or empty, plus a suggestion about whether the full article offers more to read. TWO WAYS TO USE IT On an article: click the toolbar icon and choose “Analyze this page,” or right-click and choose “debait this page.” Before opening a link: hold Alt and hover over it. debait fetches the target page in the background and shows a preview in a tooltip. LANGUAGE AND PREFERENCES Choose the summary’s output language and add custom instructions in Settings. Interface-language choices include English, Traditional Chinese, and a draft Taiwanese Hokkien mixed-script translation awaiting native-speaker review. Interface and summary languages are separate settings. USAGE CONTROLS Hover previews have an adjustable delay, minimum request interval, and daily cap. They also pause after provider quota errors. These controls reduce requests but do not guarantee that you will stay within your provider’s quota. Manual page analysis is not covered by the preview cap or throttle. LIMITATIONS Analysis uses the first 12,000 characters of extracted page text, not necessarily the whole article. Preview fetches do not run the target page’s JavaScript; dynamically loaded or paywalled content may be unavailable. If too little text is extracted, the preview shows the target’s meta description or title instead of an AI assessment. Failed requests show an error. Results take time and depend on the provider. Scores and summaries are AI-generated assessments—not fact-checks, medical advice, or guarantees of accuracy. Check the original sources when accuracy matters. PRIVACY The selected page’s URL, title, meta description, and extracted text, together with your custom instructions, are sent to your configured AI endpoint. Your key is used to authenticate with that endpoint. There is no developer-operated server processing your analyses. Keys and preferences use chrome.storage.sync and may synchronize through Chrome Sync when enabled. Preview counts are stored on your device. The developer does not receive your analysis requests. Code, user guides, support, and privacy policy: https://github.com/smailzhu/outsmarting-clickbait