portaltext — contextualize the open web

2 min read Original article ↗

01 the reading layer

Contextualize
the open web.

portaltext is a small, open-source browser extension. Hover any link, image, or PDF for a context-aware summary. It knows where you are and what you’re about to look at, before you ever click!

02 the live demo

Desktop only.

Come back on desktop to try out the features for yourself before installing!

04 support

Free. For everyone.

portaltext is made by one person, Alaska Hoffman, poet, artist, and solo dev.

In order to keep all of this stuff free and open-source, she pays out-of-pocket for all the hosting and inference being run. If you like portaltext, if it becomes a part of your everyday browsing habits, please consider helping her keep the lights on. Supporters get unlimited access to every feature with no daily limits, as a thank-you for keeping it free for everybody else.

Become a supporter →

Pay what you want · one-time · unlimited access, forever

A polaroid of two cats, captioned: made by alaska!

05 questions

Good questions.

Is it really free?

Yes! No account, no card, no trial. There’s a daily limit to keep hosting costs down, but every feature is available, and that limit goes away for Supporters.

Which browsers?

Anything Chromium: Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Opera. Firefox soon.

How does it work?

portaltext reads the page you’re on, and the page on the other side of the link you’re about to click on. It gives you a summary of the latter, contextualized by the former, so no information is invented or hallucinated. Think of it like a gel connecting the web together.

Is my reading private?

We send only the URL and a small page excerpt. No tracking, no hover history, no ads.

Who made this?

portaltext is made by Alaska Hoffman, a poet, artist, and solo dev. Always online @145k4.

Add it to
every site.

Free for everyone. No account, no setup, no trial, it just works!

Chromium browsers — Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Opera. Firefox soon.

Install on your computer.

portaltext is a browser extension — open this page on desktop to add it to Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, or Opera.