Side Eye

Chrome extension · On-device & local models

Privately Chat, Research, and Command your local LLM in the Chrome Sidebar.

Side Eye lives in Chrome’s side panel — beside the tab you’re on. Chat with LiteRT-LM (Gemma 4 on-device via WebGPU), or stream from LM Studio or Ollama on your machine. Page context stays optional. Your chats never go to our servers.

Add to Chrome See what it does

Features

Built for browsing with a local LLM

On-device in the browser by default — or point Side Eye at models you already run on your machine.

On-device Gemma 4

Chat with Gemma 4 (E2B or E4B) via LiteRT-LM and WebGPU — no local server required. Download the model once; inference stays in Chrome.

Side panel chat

Open Side Eye beside any tab. Multiple chat tabs, streaming markdown replies, and a profile picker for LiteRT-LM, LM Studio, or Ollama.

Page context

Toggle the eye to include URL, selection, and readable page text — only when your message needs it. Ignore sensitive domains entirely.

LM Studio & Ollama

Prefer your own stack? Connect LM Studio or Ollama for vision models, larger contexts, and MCP tools — still on your machine, not our cloud.

Vision & images

Attach up to eight images per message with capable models through LM Studio or Ollama. Image attach is disabled for text-only LiteRT-LM.

Quick actions

Summarize, find related sites, or run custom prompts from the context bar. Starter chips adapt to articles, docs, social, and more.

On-device voice

Optional read-aloud with Supertonic TTS. Models download once; synthesis runs in the browser with a reactive orb control.

MCP tools via LM Studio

Give local models real capabilities through LM Studio’s MCP support — plug in tools like Brave Search for live internet access, so your LLM can reach beyond its training data.

How it works

Three steps to a side glance

  1. 1

    Install the extension

    Add Side Eye from the Chrome Web Store and open the side panel from the toolbar. Chrome with WebGPU is recommended for on-device chat.

  2. 2

    Load a model

    LiteRT-LM is on by default — in Options, click Load model once to download Gemma 4. Or connect LM Studio / Ollama (enable CORS / OLLAMA_ORIGINS) and pick that profile in the footer.

  3. 3

    Chat with context

    Turn on page context when you want the current tab included. Ask naturally — “summarize this page”, “explain this selection”, or attach images with LM Studio / Ollama vision models.

Privacy

Your data stays yours

  • Chat history lives in chrome.storage.local on your device.
  • With LiteRT-LM, prompts and replies stay in the browser (WebGPU). With LM Studio or Ollama, page and chat content go only to the server URL you configure — usually localhost.
  • Ignored domains are never read — banking, mail, or anything you block in settings.
  • Gemma 4 (LiteRT-LM) and optional Supertonic TTS models download from Hugging Face once; inference and speech run on-device.

Install

Get Side Eye in Chrome

Side Eye requires Chrome 114+ for the Side Panel API. Install from the Chrome Web Store or read the docs on GitHub.

Docs on GitHub

Feature overview, LiteRT-LM / Gemma 4, LM Studio and Ollama setup, MCP tools, voice options, and troubleshooting — all in the public README.

  1. Open the side-eye-docs repository on GitHub.
  2. Read setup notes for LiteRT-LM, LM Studio CORS, Ollama OLLAMA_ORIGINS, and MCP tools.
  3. Follow the Chrome Web Store steps on the right to install the extension.
View docs on GitHub

Chrome Web Store

The fastest way to install — no build step, no developer mode. Free from the Chrome Web Store.

  1. Click Add to Chrome on the Chrome Web Store listing.
  2. Confirm the install when Chrome prompts you.
  3. Pin Side Eye from the extensions menu, then load LiteRT-LM (or connect LM Studio / Ollama) in Options.
Add to Chrome — Free