Docs

Install, permissions, self-hosting, shortcuts

Install

alcoia isn't on the Chrome Web Store yet. Until it is, install it as an unpacked extension:

git clone https://github.com/alcoia-group/alcoia.git
cd alcoia
npm install          # tooling only; the extension itself ships unbundled

Then load the alcoia/ folder as an unpacked extension at chrome://extensions with Developer mode on. This page will switch to a direct Chrome Web Store link once the listing is live.

Permissions, and why each one is requested

Permission	Why
`<all_urls>` host access	Reading detection has to work on arbitrary pages you visit.
`file:///*`	So PDFs opened from disk can be read. If you ask for a summary of a local file, its contents are sent for that request the same way a web page's would be.
`storage`	Settings, baselines, saved sessions and notes. kept locally.
`scripting`	Injects the camera-detection script, only relevant on the optional webcam path.
`activeTab`, `tabs`	Popup-to-page messaging and opening extension pages. Reading a tab's URL is why this is disclosed as web-history-adjacent on the Chrome Web Store listing.
`webNavigation`	Detects in-page navigation on single-page apps so a reading session doesn't bleed across two different articles.

Self-hosting the backend

Question generation, explanations and receipt signing run through a small server, not through the extension directly. Institution plans can run it on their own infrastructure. In brief: it's a Node/Express service in front of an LLM provider, configured with its own API key and a signing secret for receipts. Point the extension's backend-URL setting at your instance once it's running. Full setup steps live in the repository's server documentation. start at the repo and ask via the pilot form if you're evaluating this for an institution.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`Alt+S`	Summarise the paragraph at the centre of the viewport
`Alt+I`	Build a reading receipt
`Alt+T`	Toggle read-aloud (text-to-speech)
`Alt+F`	Toggle the focus ruler
`Alt+M`	Toggle the reading map sidebar
`Alt+N`	Open saved notes
`Alt+G`	Open the session report
`Ctrl`+hover a word	Look up that word and its sentence

All shortcuts are also listed in the Session tab of the extension popup.