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Extensions — safety & terms

Safelight is built so that most features are extensions: small packages that add panels, tools, themes, processing stages, importers, and more. The core app is a "blind orchestrator" and extensions fill it in.

This document covers what extensions are, the safety model, and the terms that apply when you install one or list one in the store. For how to use extensions, see the Using Extensions guide.

Extensions are third-party software

Except for the small set bundled with the app, extensions are independent third-party software. They are ordinary GitHub repositories (tagged safelight-extension) that install straight from source and run with full access to your photos, metadata, edits, and files — the same access the app itself has.

Safelight does not write, control, host, or guarantee third-party extensions. Their authors are solely responsible for them. Install extensions at your own risk, using the same judgement you'd apply to a browser extension or an IDE plugin.

The trust registry (verified / banned)

To help, Safelight consults a community trust registry:

  • Verified — a maintainer reviewed the repo's code at a point in time and didn't find it doing anything malicious. This is not an endorsement or a guarantee of safety. When the registry pins the reviewed version, Safelight shows a plain green badge only while the published version matches it; once the repo publishes a newer, unreviewed version, that shows an amber badge and prompts before install/update. A verified extension still runs with full access.
  • Banned — a best-effort remote kill-switch: extensions reported and assessed as malicious are refused at install and disabled at load, even if already installed. The ban list cannot be guaranteed complete or current.

You can require verified-only installs in Preferences ▸ Extensions ▸ Only verified extensions. The registry is a best-effort safety aid, provided as-is with no warranty.

Permissions

Extensions can declare the capabilities they need in safelight.json:

{
  "permissions": {
    "network": ["https://api.example.com"],
    "reason": "Uploads selected photos to your gallery."
  }
}
  • network is enforced. Only the HTTPS origins an installed extension declares are added to the app's content-security policy; an extension cannot reach a host it didn't declare — the request is blocked. A new declaration takes effect on the next launch, so installing a network-using extension asks you to restart before it can connect. Declared origins are shown on the extension's store page and after install.
  • Everything else is disclosure, not a sandbox. Because extensions run inside the app, they have ambient access to your catalog, photos, and files no matter what they declare; only network egress is technically confined. Permissions help honest extensions be transparent and let you make an informed choice — they do not stop a determined malicious extension from misusing the in-app access every extension has. Install only extensions you trust.

No warranty

Safelight, its extension store, and the trust registry are provided without warranty of any kind, to the maximum extent permitted by law. To that same extent, the Safelight author is not liable for any damage, data loss, privacy loss, or other harm arising from third-party extensions you choose to install or from your use of the store/registry. See LICENSE and NOTICE.

For extension authors

  • Publish your extension in your own repository, tagged safelight-extension, with a valid safelight.json. It is your work under your own license.
  • To request a Verified badge, or to report or appeal a ban, see the registry README.
  • Listing, verification, and removal are at the maintainer's discretion. The store surfaces public GitHub repos; Safelight may decline or remove a listing, and ban reasons reflect the registry's good-faith assessment of observed behavior.

Reporting a malicious extension

Report it through the registry (open an issue, or a PR to banned.json) or email anthonyreimche@gmail.com. Once assessed, a ban disables the extension everywhere on the next launch — no app update required.