DEV Community

Cover image for I Built a Chrome Extension to Save ChatGPT Chats — Here’s How and Why
Pratibha Mehta
Pratibha Mehta

Posted on

I Built a Chrome Extension to Save ChatGPT Chats — Here’s How and Why

👋 Introduction:

Ever lost an important ChatGPT conversation due to a refresh or message limit?

I did — way too many times.

That’s why I built ChatBridge, a lightweight Chrome extension that lets you save and resume your ChatGPT chats any time.

No servers. No logins. Just simple, offline chat memory.

💡 The Problem:

ChatGPT is powerful, but one frustrating limitation is the lack of persistent memory in the free version.

Once you refresh the page or hit your message limit — poof 💨, your chat is gone. If you’re using it for research, writing, or learning, it’s a huge productivity loss.

🛠️ The Solution — ChatBridge

ChatBridge gives users the ability to:

Paste a chat into the popup

Title it for easy recall

Save it to local storage

Reopen anytime — even offline

It’s a simple way to give ChatGPT a “manual memory.”

⚙️ How I Built It:

Stack:

HTML5 / CSS3

JavaScript (ES6+)

Chrome Extension APIs

localStorage for persistence

The extension runs entirely in your browser. Nothing leaves your device. I used manifest v3 and added a user-friendly popup UI with auto-updated saved chat history.
**
🧪 Challenges I Faced:
**
Understanding how Chrome’s storage APIs and permissions work

Handling edge cases like refreshes and repeated saves

Designing a minimal yet functional UI

📦 Try It Out:

👉 GitHub Repository - https://github.com/pratibha131/chatbridge-extension

It’s open-source and easy to install via chrome://extensions → "Load Unpacked".

🙌 What’s Next?

Auto-save directly from ChatGPT pages (in progress!)

Sync between browsers (optional feature)

Launching on the Chrome Web Store (soon!)

💬 Feedback Welcome!

This was a weekend project that turned into something I genuinely needed — and maybe you do too.

If you have thoughts, ideas, or bugs to report, feel free to open an issue or drop a message! 👇

ChatGPT #ChromeExtension #JavaScript #DevTools #BuildInPublic #OpenSource

Top comments (0)