Privacy Policy

Effective date: 19 May 2026 · Last updated: 3 October 2026

This page explains what Console Hopper (the "extension") does and does not do with your data. The short version: the extension does not collect, transmit, or share any data. Everything stays in your browser.

What the extension does

Console Hopper enhances the AWS Identity Federation (SAML) sign-in page and decorates AWS console tabs in your browser. It runs only on:

https://signin.aws.amazon.com/saml (and its regional subdomains)
https://console.aws.amazon.com/* (and its regional subdomains)

It does not run on any other web page.

Data the extension stores locally

Console Hopper stores the following information only on your own device, using Chrome's chrome.storage.local API:

Theme preference (light / dark / auto)
Compact-mode toggle
Favourite role ARNs (the AWS role identifiers you starred)
Recently signed-in role ARNs (an auto-managed list, length you set)
A user-defined ordering of role rows (drag-and-drop result)
Your custom search shortcuts, organisations, environments, account types, role-name filters, and AWS service deep-links
A per-role memory of the last service dropdown you picked
Your AWS region preference, optional homepage link, maximum page width, and which role-name keywords / account-type IDs should trigger the sensitive-sign-in confirmation modal
A one-time flag indicating you've dismissed the first-run welcome screen
An optional "tab group tag" you typed into the toolbar for the current session
Your tags: free-text labels you attach to an AWS account id + role name
The order you dragged each filter row's chips into
Your Launch Sets: a name, a tab-group name, whether you archived it, and for each tab the role ARN, AWS region and console page (service path) to open

When you click Save open tabs, the extension reads the addresses and tab-group names of your open AWS console tabs (and no other tabs) to show them to you; only the tabs you keep are saved, as above. When you sign a console session out from the sessions panel, the extension closes that session's AWS console tabs, matched by the session id in their address.

To notice an AWS session that has ended while its tabs are still open, the extension compares the session id in your open AWS console tabs' addresses with the list of sessions AWS reports (see below) — when the role picker refreshes its count, or when you switch tabs while a grouped AWS console tab is open — and turns a tab group it made grey, with "Ended" in front of its name. In Chrome's in-memory chrome.storage.session store it keeps the ids of the tab groups it made and the original name and colour of any it marked, all discarded when the browser closes. When you open a role you're already signed in to, it opens a console tab in that session instead of signing in again.

None of this data is transmitted to the extension's authors, to Google, to Amazon, or to any other third party. It is readable only by the extension itself, in your own browser profile, and is cleared when you uninstall the extension.

Authentication information (Launch Sets only)

Since version 1.7.0 the extension handles one piece of authentication information, and only when you use Launch Sets. It is declared as "Authentication information" in the Chrome Web Store listing.

What: the SAML response your identity provider placed on the AWS sign-in page (signin.aws.amazon.com/saml). It is the proof AWS accepts to sign you into the role you pick. The extension never sees your password, MFA codes or AWS access keys.
When: only when you click Open on a Launch Set. Browsing the role picker, signing in with a single Sign In button, and every other feature leave it untouched.
Why: Chrome lets one click open one new window, so the sign-in page can't post itself into several new tabs. To open every tab of a set at once, each new tab that signs in needs its own copy of the response to post to AWS. Since version 1.8.0, a tab for a role you're already signed in to, and a role's second and later tabs, open in the existing session and are given no copy at all.
How it's handled: the response is passed to the extension's background worker and held in Chrome's in-memory chrome.storage.session store — one single-use copy per tab, readable only by the extension (not by web pages or other extensions). Each new tab takes its copy once and posts it to AWS's sign-in endpoint, exactly as the page's own Sign In button would. A copy nobody takes is discarded after five minutes, which is also as long as AWS accepts it.
Where it goes: only to https://signin.aws.amazon.com/saml (or your region's AWS sign-in endpoint). It is never written to disk, never put in a URL, never logged, and never sent to the extension's authors, to Google, or to anyone else.

Data the extension does NOT collect

The extension does not:

Send any HTTP requests, WebSocket messages, or telemetry to servers controlled by the authors, or to any third party. The extension talks only to AWS itself, and only for two things: reading the list of AWS console sessions open in your browser (so it can show you how many of AWS's five slots are in use, and notice one that has ended), and signing a session out when you ask it to. Both are ordinary AWS endpoints, sent from your browser with your existing AWS cookies, exactly as the AWS console itself would
Use cookies, fingerprinting, analytics, error reporting, or any third-party SDK
Read or transmit your AWS credentials, SAML assertions, session tokens, or any authentication material — with the one exception described under "Authentication information (Launch Sets only)" above, where the sign-in page's own SAML response is posted to AWS's sign-in endpoint and nowhere else. (The optional Clear AWS Sessions button deletes AWS session cookies on your device when you click it — to sign you out — but never reads or transmits them. The session list described above returns only metadata — account id, role name, when the session started and when it expires — never credentials or cookie contents.)
Read content from pages outside the AWS sign-in and AWS console domains listed above
Collect personally identifiable information, health, financial, payment, location, communications, web history, user activity, or website content

Permissions and why they're used

Permission	Why it's requested
`storage`	To persist your settings (themes, favourites, filters …) locally in `chrome.storage.local`.
`tabs`	To place a newly opened AWS console tab into the correct Chrome tab group; to open a Launch Set's tabs next to the role picker; to open a console tab in a session you're already signed in to; to list your open AWS console tabs when you click Save open tabs; to notice a tab group whose AWS session has ended; to tell, when AWS lists no sessions, whether your console tabs' addresses carry a session id (if none do, AWS multi-session support is off and the role picker says how to turn it on); and to close a console session's tabs when you sign that session out. Only AWS console tab addresses are read, and never transmitted.
`tabGroups`	To create and update Chrome tab groups that visually cluster AWS console tabs by account, role, or organisation, and to grey out (and put "Ended" in front of the name of) a group it made whose AWS session has ended.
`cookies`	To delete AWS authentication cookies when you click Clear AWS Sessions, signing you out of all AWS consoles at once. The extension only deletes these cookies — it never reads their contents or sends them anywhere.
Host access to `*.aws.amazon.com` (sign-in + console)	To inject the enhanced UI on the SAML sign-in page, set the per-tab favicon/title on console pages, clear AWS session cookies, and call AWS's own session endpoints on `signin.aws.amazon.com` — one to list the console sessions open in your browser (and notice ones that have ended), one to sign a session out when you ask. Requests go only to AWS, from your browser, with the cookies you already have.

Sharing

The extension does not share your data because it does not have any of your data to share.

If you choose to use the Export Settings feature, the extension will format your locally-stored configuration as a JSON string in a text box for you to copy. Whether you share that string with anyone is entirely your own decision. The extension itself does not transmit the exported JSON.

Children's privacy

Console Hopper is a workplace developer-tooling extension and is not directed at children under 13. It does not knowingly collect data from anyone, including children.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes, the updated version will be published in the project's GitHub repository (https://github.com/tomekklas/console-hopper) and the "Last updated" date at the top of this document will change. Material changes will also be noted in the extension's Chrome Web Store listing.

Contact

Questions or concerns about this policy, or anything the extension does or does not do, can be raised at:

GitHub issues: https://github.com/tomekklas/console-hopper/issues