Bookmarks Saved My Links, but Not My Research — So I Built a Chrome Extension

Hugo Murillo Caparrós — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 16:53:04 +0000

I recently finished my studies in Multiplatform Application Development in Spain.

While working on my final project, I kept running into a problem that had nothing to do with writing code: I could not keep my research organized.

The problem

A normal research session would begin with three useful tabs.

A few hours later, I would have twenty tabs spread across several windows:

Documentation
Articles
Similar projects
Technical discussions
Tutorials I wanted to revisit
Sources I might need to cite

Bookmarks preserved the URLs, but they did not preserve the context.

Why did I save this page? Which project was it related to? Had I already read it? Which other sources belonged to the same investigation?

I tried tab groups, bookmark folders and notes, but the research still ended up scattered across different places.

So I started building my own solution.

Building Research Packs

Research Packs is a Chrome extension that turns selected tabs into reusable research sessions.

Instead of saving every page separately, you create a pack containing the sources that belong together.

A pack can include:

Selected browser tabs
Notes and tags
A research project
Source-specific notes
Saved metadata
The context needed to return later

When I need the research again, I can search for the pack and restore the complete session.

Why I chose a local-first approach

Research can contain sensitive or unfinished information.

I did not want users to create another account or upload their saved sources to an unknown server just to organize some tabs.

Research Packs therefore stores its packs and notes locally in Chrome.

This approach has limitations—particularly when thinking about synchronization and collaboration—but it makes the first version simpler and more private.

It also forced me to think carefully about what the extension actually needed to store.

Features that grew from real use

As I continued using the extension, saving tabs was no longer enough.

I added features that solved problems I encountered during my own research:

Projects

Related packs can be grouped into a larger project instead of becoming another flat list.

Search and duplicate detection

Saved sources can be found through their titles, URLs, tags and notes. Duplicate links are detected before they create unnecessary clutter.

Session restoration

A complete pack can be reopened when I want to continue the research.

Citation exports

Saved sources can be converted into APA, MLA, BibTeX or RIS references.

Combined summaries

Several sources can be brought together into a focused summary, making it easier to understand what the collection is actually about.

What I learned

The hardest part was not building the first working version.

The difficult part was turning a tool that made sense to me into something another person could understand without an explanation.

That meant spending a surprising amount of time on:

Onboarding
Empty states
Translations
Accessibility
Dark mode
Clear permission explanations
Store screenshots
Privacy documentation
Free and paid feature boundaries

Publishing a browser extension also made me realize that development is only one part of launching a product.

A finished application with no users provides very little information. Real feedback is what reveals whether the problem, onboarding and value proposition actually make sense.

Research Packs is now public

Research Packs is now available on the Chrome Web Store.

The core save-and-organize workflow is free. There are optional Pro features for more advanced research workflows, but no purchase is required to create and use research packs.

You can try it here:

Research Packs on the Chrome Web Store

This is my first public launch, and I would genuinely appreciate feedback from other developers.

I am particularly interested in two questions:

What do you currently

DEV Community: Hugo Murillo Caparrós