At Operand, we focused on discovery. We tried to surface information proactively rather than making you search for it. I built the Chrome Extension to bring Operand into the browser where people spend most of their time.
The extension had two goals: automatically capture knowledge as you browsed and surface relevant information when you needed it.
Automatic indexing: As you browsed, the extension automatically sent pages to your Operand index. Every article or doc you visited became searchable later. Users who wanted more control could disable auto-indexing and manually add pages instead.
Google search injection: When you searched Google, the extension injected relevant results from your personal Operand index directly into the results page.
AI-powered sidebar: An AI chat interface appeared in Google's sidebar, letting you ask questions against your indexed content without leaving the page.
New tab override: Optionally replace Chrome's new tab page with an Operand search interface.
Omnibox integration: Type directly into Chrome's address bar to search your Operand index.
Check out the source code to see how it was built.
Note: While I've put together a demo of Operand Drive, the extension's functionality has not been restored.