Last updated: June 25, 2026

## The short version

Portage does not collect, transmit, store, sell, or share any of your data. It has no analytics, no telemetry, no remote servers, and no third-party services. Everything happens locally in your browser. The export file Portage produces is saved to your local downloads folder; what you do with it from there is up to you.

## What Portage reads from your browser

When you ask Portage to export your data, it reads the categories you select from your browser:

- Bookmarks — your full bookmark tree, including folders.
- History — pages you've visited, with timestamps.
- Cookies — site cookies, including authentication cookies, so you stay signed in after migrating.
- Open tabs — URLs of tabs open at the time of export.
- Sessions — recently closed tabs and windows.
- Reading list — pages saved to read later (Chrome only).
- Installed extensions — names and IDs only, used to generate a reinstall checklist. Portage does not read the data or behavior of other extensions.

This data is read only when you click an export action, only for the categories you check, and only for as long as it takes to write the export file. Portage does not background-scan or passively monitor any of it.

## What Portage does with that data

Portage assembles the selected data into a single `.portage.json` file. If you enable the optional encryption toggle, the file is encrypted with AES-256-GCM using a passphrase you provide. Portage never stores, transmits, or has access to that passphrase in any form — it exists only in memory during the export operation and is discarded immediately after.

The resulting file is saved to your browser's local downloads folder via the standard download API. Portage has no ability to upload, sync, share, or otherwise move the file anywhere on its own. Any further movement of that file — copying to a USB drive, sending it to yourself, uploading to cloud storage — is an action you take outside of Portage.

## What Portage does on import

When you import a `.portage.json` file, Portage decrypts it (if encrypted) and writes the contents back into the destination browser using each browser's native APIs. The file you provide is read from your local disk only; nothing about the file or its contents is transmitted. After import, the in-memory copy of the bundle is wiped.

## Network activity

Portage makes no network requests of any kind. There is no analytics endpoint, no telemetry, no update check, no remote logging, no third-party SDK, and no embedded tracker. You can verify this by inspecting the source code, by inspecting the extension files, or by watching network activity in your browser's developer tools while using Portage.

## Why each permission is requested

- bookmarks, history, cookies, tabs, sessions, readingList — to read each category during export and write it back on import.
- management — to list installed extensions so Portage can generate a reinstall checklist. Portage does not enable, disable, install, or uninstall extensions.
- Access your data for all websites (`<all_urls>`) — required by the browser cookies API to read cookies across sites during export. Portage does not read page content or inject scripts.

## Children's privacy

Portage is not directed at children and does not knowingly collect any information from anyone, including children. Because Portage collects no information at all, there is nothing to disclose, delete, or restrict.

## Changes to this policy

If this policy is ever updated, the revised version will be posted at this URL and the "Last updated" date above will change. Because Portage has no telemetry, there is no in-app notification system; substantive changes will be noted in the GitHub release notes for the version that introduces them.

## Open source

Portage is MIT-licensed and the complete source code is available at github.com/pvrzz/Portage. Every claim in this policy can be verified against the source.

## Google Privacy Statement

Portage's use of any data complies with the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Specifically: data is used only to fulfill Portage's single purpose of browser data migration, is processed entirely on the user's device, and is never transferred to any third party.

## Contact

Questions about this policy can be filed as an issue on the GitHub repository, or sent to the email address listed on the GitHub profile of pvrzz.