ExplainThis is a free, open-source Chrome Extension that lets you highlight any code snippet on any webpage and get an instant, AI-powered plain-English explanation — right in your browser.

No API keys. No sign-up. No credit card. Just install and go.

Whether you're reading Stack Overflow, browsing GitHub, studying documentation, or learning from blog posts — ExplainThis is your always-available coding tutor.

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/yasirjama/ExplainThis.git

2. Open Chrome Extensions: Navigate to chrome://extensions/

3. Enable Developer Mode: Toggle the switch in the top-right corner

4. Load the extension: Click "Load unpacked" and select the ExplainThis folder

5. Done! Visit any page with code, highlight it, and click ✦ Explain.

No API key needed! The extension works immediately with free AI models.

Click the ExplainThis icon (✦) in your Chrome toolbar to configure:

For power users, you can also use your own API keys with:

1. Visit any webpage with code (Stack Overflow, GitHub, docs, blogs...)
2. Select/highlight a code snippet
3. Click the glowing ✦ Explain button that appears
4. Read the explanation in the slide-in panel
5. Adjust the difficulty level if needed
6. Copy or Save for later

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+E (or Cmd+Shift+E on Mac)

Right-click: Select code → right-click → "ExplainThis: Explain selected code"

ExplainThis/
├── manifest.json          # Chrome Extension manifest (V3)
├── background.js          # Service worker — API streaming, fallback logic
├── content/
│   ├── content.js         # Content script — selection, UI, throttled rendering
│   └── content.css        # Glassmorphism styles (Shadow DOM isolated)
├── popup/
│   ├── popup.html         # Settings popup
│   ├── popup.js           # Settings logic, provider switching
│   └── popup.css          # Premium dark theme styles
├── icons/                 # Extension icons (16, 48, 128px)
├── LICENSE                # MIT License
└── README.md

ExplainThis is privacy-first:

• ✅ No account required — works instantly after install
• ✅ Code snippets are sent only to the AI provider (Pollinations.ai by default)
• ✅ No analytics, no tracking, no telemetry
• ✅ No backend server — runs entirely in your browser
• ✅ Open source — audit every line of code yourself

The default free mode uses Pollinations.ai, an open-source AI API that requires no authentication. Your code is sent to their servers for processing — nothing is stored or logged.

If you prefer to use your own API key (Gemini, OpenAI, or Anthropic), you can switch providers in settings. Keys are stored locally in Chrome and never touch our code.

Contributions are welcome! Here's how to help:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feat/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feat/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

• Firefox & Safari support
• Syntax highlighting in explanations
• Export saved explanations as Markdown/PDF
• I18n / multi-language support
• Chrome Web Store listing
• Ollama / local model support
• Explanation history search
• Code diff highlighting

This project is licensed under the MIT License.