Show HN: Skimlane – A local-first, customizable, AI reading assistant for Chrome

Private AI reader for Chrome

AI-enhanced content needs AI-enhanced reading.

Skimlane automatically processes new pages as you browse and turns each one into the exact structured view you want—using ready-made recipes or recipes you create.

Auto Skim with rules and site exclusions Build, import, export, and share recipes Local-first storage with no tracking

Get Chrome extension See reading recipes

Chrome browser Current page

Article Long read

A dense post about AI agents, product risk, and adoption

Broad introduction

As the AI landscape continues to evolve, teams are navigating an unprecedented shift in how work gets imagined, discussed, and delivered.

More context, same point

Leaders must balance innovation, trust, governance, alignment, and a growing list of familiar concerns.

The useful point is buried here.

Reliability—not novelty—decides whether teams adopt the agent.

Generic implications

Moving forward, thoughtful collaboration and a holistic approach will be essential for long-term success.

The conclusion, again

Skimlane

Deep Scan

Auto Chat Skim

Gemini Nano Ready

💡 Core Idea

Reliability—not novelty—decides whether agents get adopted.

📌 Main Takeaways

Trust grows from repeatable results.

Evidence matters more than claims.

🧾 Claims & Support

Claim Support

Reliability drives adoption Strong

Autonomy lowers risk Mixed

💬 Custom Sections

Private Offline BYOK

Features

Your reading sidekick works beside you.

Skimlane stays active in the side panel while you browse: it processes each page, applies your chosen recipe, and keeps the result ready to question or save.

01 / AUTOMATIC

Always on. Still under your control.

Auto Skim runs on new pages with your default recipe and source. Turn it off anytime or exclude any website permanently.

02 / EXACT

See exactly what you care about.

Choose the sections, order, prompts, model, and level of detail around your interests, taste, and intended outcome.

03 / REUSABLE

Question it. Save the useful part.

Ask follow-up questions, reopen the page from History, and copy the complete reading artifact as portable Markdown.

Reading recipes

A customizable way to read anything.

Start with a ready-made recipe, change every section and prompt, or build one for your own purpose. Export the recipe file to share it; import it wherever you use Skimlane.

Worth Reading? What matters, what to skip, and whether the page deserves more time.

PM Brief User impact, product implications, risks, roadmap relevance, and open questions.

Signal Cleaner Unsupported claims, repeated fluff, generic AI signal, and the actual bottom line.

Recipe builder Customizable

Current recipe My Product Intelligence Brief ▾

Sections in this recipe

01Bottom linefast model

02User impactstandard

03Weak evidence and assumptionsthinking

04Roadmap implicationsstandard

05What I should ask nextcustom prompt

Recipe files include the structure and custom sections needed to recreate the workflow.

Export Import

Private by design

No sign-up required.

Skimlane runs in your browser. Settings, recipes, API keys, history, saved skims, and chats stay in Chrome storage, with controls to clear or reset them. If you choose a hosted model, your browser sends the requested content directly to that provider.

Local-first by default No Skimlane account, backend, tracking, or cloud knowledge base sits between you and what you read.

Free and local options Use Chrome Gemini Nano on-device when available, a free local model through Ollama, or Groq's free cloud tier.

Your model, your key Connect a private or self-hosted OpenAI-compatible endpoint, or choose leading models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, and OpenRouter.

Delete what is stored Clear history, saved skims, snapshots, and chats; reset settings, recipes, prompts, and API keys from Data & Privacy.

Turn browsing into your own reading workflow.

Install Skimlane and let Auto Skim shape each page into the brief, note, or skim you need.

Get Chrome extension