ShadowLog

Firefox extension for selective browsing history cleanup. Define regex rules to automatically delete history entries (and optionally cookies, cache, site data) for matching URLs.

Install

1. Open about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox in Firefox (115+)
2. Click Load Temporary Add-on
3. Select manifest.json from this directory

How It Works

• Rules match URLs via regex patterns (with optional exclude patterns)
• Actions per rule: delete history, cookies, cache, or site data
• Timing: ASAP on visit, on tab close, on browser close, or periodic sweep
• Retry buffer persists failed deletions and retries on next startup

Usage

Popup — pause/resume, forget current tab, view recent deletions

Options page — create/edit rules, test URLs against rules, import/export

Permissions

Permission	Why
history	Delete matching history entries
browsingData	Clear cookies/cache/site data by hostname
webNavigation	Track navigations for ASAP deletion
tabs	Detect tab close events
storage	Persist rules and retry buffer
alarms	Periodic cleanup sweeps

Known Limitations

• On-close is best-effort — browser crashes bypass it; startup sweep compensates
• Cache clearing is global — Firefox has no per-host cache deletion API
• Cookies/site data are origin-scoped, not URL-precise
• History sync conflicts — disable sync if using ShadowLog for sensitive URLs