Disable URL Tracking

Disable URL Tracking is a small Chrome/Chromium Manifest V3 extension that removes common tracking query parameters from URLs while giving users per-site policy control. In clean mode, it automatically cleans tab URLs after navigation starts; compatibility mode skips automatic rewrites but keeps manual cleaning available. It can also unwrap a small set of common safe redirect URLs when redirect unwrapping is enabled.

Why it exists

Many URL cleaners work well until a stateful site depends on query parameters for navigation or session state. This MVP focuses on a compact cleaning engine plus site-specific modes, so users can keep cleaning enabled broadly while setting sensitive URLs such as Google AI Mode (udm=50) to compatibility.

How it differs from ClearURLs

This is not a ClearURLs fork and does not ship the ClearURLs provider catalog. The architecture is intentionally small: a reusable cleaning module, policy resolution, browser storage, automatic tab URL cleaning, safe redirect unwrapping, popup actions, options editing, and a context menu copy action. The main differentiator is fine-grained per-site policy control.

Load unpacked in Chrome

1. Open chrome://extensions.
2. Enable Developer mode.
3. Click Load unpacked.
4. Select this project directory.
5. Open the extension popup from the toolbar.

Development

Run the lightweight Node test suite:

npm test

No build step is required.

Manual Testing

Use a Google redirect wrapper to test automatic redirect unwrapping. The default Google policy is clean except when the URL contains udm=50:

https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fpage%3Futm_source%3Dnews%26fbclid%3D123%26foo%3Dbar%23section

Expected result:

https://example.com/page?foo=bar#section

To verify the Google AI Mode escape hatch, open a Google URL containing udm=50; it should not be automatically rewritten.

Privacy

Disable URL Tracking does not collect data, make network requests, or include analytics. Settings are stored with chrome.storage.sync, which means they are kept locally by the browser and may sync through the user's browser account depending on Chrome settings.

Known Limitation

This MVP does not yet include the full ClearURLs provider catalog, full-domain blocking, force redirection behavior, remote rule downloads, history API interception, or request-time declarativeNetRequest rewriting. Automatic cleaning happens at the tab URL level after navigation starts.

Future Ideas

• ClearURLs-compatible rule import
• More redirect unwrap patterns
• History API protection
• Import/export settings
• Firefox support