WillHint

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WillHint is a Chrome extension that quietly explains confusing words and phrases as you browse — delivered as a native browser notification, with zero interruption to your reading flow.

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Why WillHint?

Most tools that help you understand unfamiliar terms require you to stop, copy the word, switch tabs, paste it into a search engine or AI chat, wait for a response, then switch back. That is five steps before you get an answer.

WillHint reduces that to zero steps for auto-scan, or one right-click for on-demand explanation. The answer arrives as a native OS notification — no new window, no popup, no context switch.

What makes it different

	WillHint	Google Search	AI Chat
Steps to get an explanation	0–1	5+	4+
Interrupts your reading	No	Yes	Yes
Works automatically while you read	Yes	No	No
Customisable modes	Yes	No	No
Configure by natural language	Yes	—	—

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Features

Browser notification delivery

Explanations arrive as native OS notifications — the same quiet pop-up you get for email or messages. No new tab, no modal, no disruption. You glance, you understand, you keep reading.

Auto-scan — passive learning while you browse

When enabled, WillHint watches what is visible on screen using the browser’s Intersection Observer API. When it detects a confusing technical term in the content you are actually reading, it sends you a hint automatically. You do not have to do anything.

Custom modes — your own shortcut library

Beyond Explain and Simplify, you can define any mode you want:

• Translate — translate the selection to your language
• Summarise — compress a long paragraph to one sentence
• Define acronym — expand an abbreviation (e.g. “API”, “RLHF”, “SLA”)
• Convert unit — transform values (e.g. Fahrenheit to Celsius, miles to km)
• Formal / Casual rewrite — adjust tone

Each mode is a prompt template. You write the instruction once; after that it is one right-click away on any page.

Natural language settings

You do not need to edit JSON or navigate settings panels to change how the extension behaves. Open the Chat tab in the popup and describe what you want in plain English:

“Change the scan prompt to look for medical jargon” “Add a mode called Translate that translates to Traditional Chinese” “Turn off auto-scan”

The chatbot updates settings for you.

Select to explain

Highlight any text of two or more words and WillHint automatically triggers your first custom mode — no right-click needed.

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Supported AI providers

Provider	Notes
Anthropic	Claude models (Haiku, Sonnet, Opus)
Google Gemini	Flash and Pro variants
OpenRouter	Access to many models including free-tier options
OpenAI-compatible	Any endpoint that follows the OpenAI /chat/completions format

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Installation

WillHint is a developer extension (not yet published to the Chrome Web Store). Load it manually:

1. Clone or download this repository

   git clone https://github.com/yezuochen/WillHint.git
   

2. Open Chrome and go to chrome://extensions
3. Enable Developer mode (toggle in the top-right corner)
4. Click Load unpacked
5. Select the extension/ folder inside the downloaded repository

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Setup

On first launch, a setup form will appear:

1. Select your AI provider — Anthropic, Gemini, OpenRouter, or OpenAI-compatible
2. Choose a model — pick from the list or enter a custom model name
3. Paste your API key — stored locally on your device only, never synced to any server
4. Click Save

Your API key is stored in chrome.storage.local and never uploaded to Google’s sync servers.

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Usage

Right-click to explain

1. Select any text on a page
2. Right-click → choose a mode (e.g. Explain, Simplify, or any custom mode you added)
3. A notification appears with the key term as the title and the explanation as the body

Select to auto-explain

1. Highlight two or more words on any page
2. WillHint automatically runs your first custom mode after a short pause
3. A notification appears — no click required

Auto-scan

1. Open the extension popup → Settings tab
2. Enable Auto-scan
3. Browse normally — WillHint watches what appears on screen and sends a notification if it finds a confusing technical term

Add a custom mode

1. Open the extension popup → Settings tab
2. Scroll to Custom Modes → click + Add Mode
3. Give the mode a name (e.g. “Translate”)
4. Write a prompt template using {selected} (the selected text) and {content} (page context)
   • The prompt must instruct the AI to output exactly: [keyword]&[explanation]
   • Example: Translate '{selected}' to Traditional Chinese. Output ONLY: [original]&[translation]
5. Click Save Settings
6. The new mode appears immediately in the right-click context menu

Configure with natural language

1. Open the extension popup → Chat tab
2. Describe what you want to change:
   • “Add a mode called Convert that converts units to metric”
   • “Set the scan prompt to focus on legal jargon”
   • “Remove the Simplify mode”
3. The assistant updates your settings and confirms the change

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Prompt format

All custom mode prompts must instruct the AI to return output in this exact format:

[keyword]&[explanation]

• keyword — the key term (1–3 words), shown as the bold notification title
• explanation — the body text of the notification

Example AI output: [API]&[A set of rules for software to communicate]

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Privacy

• Your API key is stored in chrome.storage.local — local to your device, never synced
• Page text is sent to your chosen AI provider to generate explanations — the same data you would send if you copied and pasted it yourself
• No data is collected by WillHint itself

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Project structure

WillHint/
├── extension/              ← load this folder in Chrome
│   ├── manifest.json
│   ├── background/
│   │   └── service-worker.js
│   ├── content-scripts/
│   │   └── content.js
│   ├── popup/
│   │   ├── popup.html
│   │   ├── popup.js
│   │   └── popup.css
│   ├── settings/
│   │   └── defaults.json
│   └── assets/
│       └── icons/
└── .gitignore

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License

MIT