The HooDat extension
HooDat helps you see who the people on a page are, and what they’re tied to, with sources. Here is what it reads, what it sends and what it keeps.
Last updated 28 September 2026.
What it reads on the page
On the pages you visit, the extension looks for people’s names, on your device:
- bylines and author labels
- account names on X and channel names on YouTube
- photo captions and image descriptions
- names in the article text
It skips text you’re typing (text boxes and editors) and text that’s hidden from readers.
What it sends, and where
Everything goes to one address, the HooDat API at api.hoodat.is.
- To identify people: the names it found and any account handles (for example
@jonfavson X). With each name, it sends up to 200 characters of the text right around it, which is how it tells two people with the same name apart. - When you open a card’s evidence or a full profile: that person’s HooDat ID.
Requests carry no cookies and no referrer.
What it never sends
- the address or title of the page you’re on
- the page’s full text
- your browsing history
- anything you type
- screenshots or images
HooDat doesn’t sell or share this data, and doesn’t use it for advertising, credit or anything other than showing you who the people on the page are.
What it keeps
- Settings: whether overlays are on, and card opacity. They’re stored in your browser, on your device.
- Lookup results: kept in memory for up to five minutes, then dropped. Nothing is saved to disk.
- Server logs: the HooDat API records only which kind of request it was, whether it worked, and how long it took. It doesn’t record the names you looked up. There’s no account, no advertising and no analytics.
Requesting a profile
Request a profile opens a page on hoodat.is, but only when you click it. That page gets the name you chose and, if the page showed one, a link to that person’s public account. It never gets the page you were reading.
Your controls
- Turn overlays off: in the HooDat panel’s settings (the menu icon), or with Alt+Shift+H.
- Hide one person: use their switch in the panel.
- Limit where HooDat runs: in
chrome://extensions, open HooDat’s Details and change Site access. - Remove it completely:
chrome://extensions, then Remove.
Questions
Email support@hoodat.is. About the extension.