Installing HermodLens

HermodLens is installed as an unpacked extension. It is not in the Chrome Web Store.

Requirements

• Desktop Chrome with Developer mode and unpacked-extension support. Version 1.0.1 was verified on Chrome for Testing 151.0.7922.34 (Linux x64). Chrome 120 is the declared minimum; Edge, Windows, macOS, other browser versions and organisation-managed policy remain unverified.
• To run the bundled example website: Node.js 22 or later (optional).

Install

1. Unzip HermodLens-1.0.1.zip to a folder you will keep, for example Documents/HermodLens-1.0.1. Chrome loads the extension from this folder every time it starts, so do not delete or move it.
2. Open chrome://extensions (Edge: edge://extensions).
3. Turn on Developer mode (top right).
4. Choose Load unpacked and select the extension folder inside the unzipped folder (the folder that contains manifest.json).
5. HermodLens appears in the list. Pin it: click the puzzle-piece icon in the toolbar, then the pin next to HermodLens: Website Document Scoping.

Chrome may show a banner about developer-mode extensions when it starts. That is expected for unpacked extensions; choose to keep the extension.

Organisation-managed browsers can block unpacked extensions. If Load unpacked is greyed out, ask your IT team to allow it. HermodLens has no server component to whitelist.

Open it

• Click the HermodLens toolbar button, or press Alt+Shift+H. The workspace opens in a new tab.
• If you do this while viewing a web page, the workspace can also collect document links from that page.
• To change the shortcut, go to chrome://extensions/shortcuts.

Update

Export your project as JSON first. Unzip the new version to a stable folder and load its extension folder as a separate unpacked installation. A new folder may have a different extension ID and separate storage. Open your saved JSON in the new installation and inspect the register before removing the old extension. Removing it deletes its stored project.

Remove

On chrome://extensions, click Remove on HermodLens. This deletes the stored project and all site permissions. Your exported files are not affected.

Try the example site (optional)

cd HermodLens-1.0.1
node tools/serve.mjs

The command prints six page URLs on http://127.0.0.1:47321, which you can paste into HermodLens. One document is on http://localhost:47322, so you will see the second-host permission step. Press Ctrl+C to stop the server. To use other ports, run: node tools/serve.mjs 8081 8082.