The manual install

Want one click and automatic updates instead? Add FanoutFox from the Chrome Web Store. Same build; it just trails this page by however long Google's review takes after a format change.

What v2.0.3 is

FanoutFox reads ChatGPT and nothing else from v2.0.0 onward. Perplexity capture is retired and Gemini isn't planned, because one engine that changes this often is already a full job and this is a free tool with nobody behind it but me. Old Perplexity captures still open in your Library.

The rest of the release is the new look across every surface, Reddit intel, local packs with the data feed named per business, backup and restore from Settings, and workspace configs that follow you across Chrome profiles. v2.0.1 fixed a signed-out session being reported as a broken format, v2.0.2 gave the dashboard a focus ring you can see, and v2.0.3 makes sure a capture saved in an odd shape can no longer take the dashboard down with it. The changelog has the full story.

Install, step by step

It takes about two minutes and you don't need any tools. If you've never installed an extension outside the store, follow this exactly and you'll be fine.

1. Download the zip with the button above. Chrome saves it to your Downloads folder.
2. Unzip it. On a Mac, double-click the file in Finder. On Windows, right-click it and choose Extract All, then Extract. Either way you end up with a folder called fanoutfox-v2.0.3. Move that folder somewhere permanent, Documents is a good home. Chrome runs the extension straight from it, so binning the folder uninstalls the extension.
3. Open the extensions page. Type chrome://extensions into the address bar and press Enter. Chrome doesn't allow web pages to link there, so it's a copy-and-paste job.
4. Switch on Developer mode, the toggle in the top right corner of that page. A new row of buttons appears.
5. Click Load unpacked and choose the fanoutfox-v2.0.3 folder itself, the one with manifest.json directly inside it, not the zip.
6. Pin the fox. Click the puzzle-piece icon next to the address bar, then the pin beside FanoutFox.
7. Open ChatGPT and test it. Reload any chatgpt.com tab you already had open, ask a question that makes it search the web, then click the fox.

If something looks wrong

• There's no Load unpacked button. Developer mode is off. It's the toggle in the top right corner of chrome://extensions.
• "Manifest file is missing or unreadable." You picked the zip or a folder one level too high. Choose the fanoutfox-v2.0.3 folder with manifest.json directly inside it.
• The fox captures nothing on ChatGPT. Reload the ChatGPT tab first; FanoutFox only hooks a page as it loads. And if the Web Store copy is still switched on, turn it off so two copies don't read the same session.
• Chrome complains about developer-mode extensions when it starts. Normal for any manual install. Dismiss it, nothing's wrong.

Worth knowing

• Manual copies don't update themselves. When a newer build is worth having, it appears here and on the changelog. To update without losing your captures, replace the files inside the same folder with the new build's files, then press the reload arrow on chrome://extensions. Loading a fresh folder instead gives Chrome a brand new copy of the extension with none of your data in it.
• Don't run two foxes at once. If the Web Store copy is also installed, both will read the same ChatGPT pages and each keeps its own separate library. Switch one off with the toggle on chrome://extensions. Nothing is lost by toggling.
• Chrome will occasionally remind you that a developer-mode extension is running. That's the cost of skipping the queue.
• The privacy rules don't change. Everything stays in your browser, same as the store build. The privacy page has the full wording.