Funding Application Decoder

About

Funding Application Decoder is a side-panel Chrome extension for researchers preparing applications to research funders. When you open a supported funder's application portal, the side panel activates with a structured view that replaces about thirty minutes of scattered reading.

All processing happens in your browser. Your profile, your saved application sections, your tracker entries, and your notes never leave your device. The only network call this extension ever makes is the optional product-updates sign-up — and only when you tick the box and click Subscribe.

★ WHAT YOU SEE ON EVERY FUNDER PAGE
1. Eligibility check for you — per-criterion verdicts (pass, pass-with-note, inconclusive, fail-non-blocking, fail-blocking) computed against the profile you set up once during onboarding.
2. Required sections — current word and page limits, format, and which sections count toward the page total.
3. Evaluation criteria — the criteria reviewers actually use, with the sub-questions they consider for each one.
4. Cultural conventions — what successful applications look like, with every insight labelled by source (official funder guide, research-administration literature, successful-applicant narrative, or editor expertise). No AI inference. No unsourced tips.
5. Content mapping from your local library — past sections matched to the current funder's requirements with an overlap estimate. Adapt in a side-by-side workspace with word-level diff highlighting.

★ PRIVATE BY DESIGN
- No account, no sign-up, no subscription, no payment.
- No AI runtime — no LLM calls, no autocomplete, no inference, no remote scripts.
- No document content sent anywhere, ever.
- Permissions are enumerated to a small, fixed list of funder application domains. No broad-host (<all_urls>) permission.
- The "tabs" permission is not requested, so on non-funder pages the URL of the active tab is not even visible to the extension.
- The optional product-updates email is off by default. Only the email plus a source tag are sent to the sign-up service when you click Subscribe.

★ FREE
Free, no paid tier, no usage caps. The funder database is bundled inside the extension package and matched locally — there is no live API integration with funders, no remote data fetch at runtime, and no remote code.

★ WHAT THIS IS NOT
- It is not an AI writing assistant. It never drafts, edits, or autocompletes your application.
- It does not predict outcomes (no "your chances are X%").
- It does not auto-fill forms on funder portals.
- It does not read or modify the content of any page you visit. No content scripts.
- Eligibility verdicts are system-generated from your profile and the curated database. Final eligibility determination is always by the funder, and the disclaimer is shown on every verdict.

★ HOW IT WORKS UNDER THE HOOD
- Manifest V3, plain JavaScript ES modules, no bundler, no minification. The source is the shipped code.
- Funder database is bundled as a JSON file, matched locally via URL pattern matching.
- IndexedDB stores your profile, library, tracker, and database cache. chrome.storage.local stores settings.
- chrome.alarms and chrome.notifications power optional local deadline reminders.

For graduate students and postdocs preparing multiple fellowship and grant applications over an extended cycle — designed by a researcher, for the rhythm of fellowship season.