Chrome extension · v1.3.3 · Free
yDirect pulls the text you reuse out of the pile and puts it two clicks from wherever you are working — in a panel docked to the edge of Chrome.
Alt+S opens it · Alt+C re-copies your last snippet
The hunt
The sentence you need exists. It is in a thread from March, or a doc, or the last ticket you closed. So you go and get it — again.
Reusing the same one? Alt+C re-copies your last snippet without opening anything at all. That is zero clicks.
What it does
One click on a snippet puts it on your clipboard — that is the whole interaction. Alt+S opens the panel from anywhere, and Alt+C re-copies the snippet you used last without opening anything at all. yDirect counts every copy, so the things you actually reach for rise to the top.
Folder and List views, search across everything as you type, sorting, timestamps, and masked values for anything you would rather not have readable over your shoulder.
Open it from the Chrome toolbar, the keyboard shortcut, or the optional floating shortcut on a supported page. It opens in Chrome's own side panel beside your work — never injected into the page you are reading.
Lossless JSON and Excel exports, plus passphrase-encrypted JSON for anything sensitive going offline. Cloud backup runs manually or on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule — and empty data never overwrites a valid backup.
Share selected folders or snippets with verified yDirect accounts. Super Admins own the workspace, Core Members organize content and manage sharing, and Members see only what was shared with them. Access is checked on the server, not hidden in the interface.
How it works
Paste in the text you keep retyping, give it a name, drop it in a folder. That is the whole setup.
Click the toolbar icon or press the shortcut. yDirect opens in Chrome's own side panel, beside your work — never injected into the page you are on.
Alt+S
One click and it is on your clipboard. Reusing the same snippet all day? The shortcut re-copies it without opening anything.
Alt+C
What it can and cannot see
yDirect asks for the narrowest permissions that let it do its job, and is direct about the ones it does use.
yDirect holds no standing permission for the websites you visit. It gets temporary access to the current tab only after you invoke it, and its only network destination is yDirect's own backend.
It does not collect the pages you open, what is on them, your keystrokes, advertising identifiers, or your location. Nothing is sold, and snippet content is never used for advertising.
Your working copy sits in Chrome's storage on your machine. Cloud backup and shared workspaces are opt-in: they do nothing until you sign in and turn them on.
Export everything to JSON, passphrase-encrypted JSON or Excel at any time. Delete your account from settings and your cloud data, owned workspaces and backups go with it.
Please do not store passwords, payment card data, private keys, recovery codes, government identifiers or regulated records in it. Masking hides a value on screen to stop someone reading over your shoulder — it is not encryption, and it is not a substitute for a purpose-built credential vault. yDirect is for the ordinary text you reuse: replies, sign-offs, addresses, boilerplate, references.
In the browser
Before you install
No. yDirect does not request access to every website — it holds no standing permission for any site you browse, and does not collect browsing history, page contents or keystrokes.
It uses Chrome's activeTab permission, which grants temporary access to the current tab only after you click yDirect or press its shortcut. The only server it talks to is yDirect's own backend, and only for account, backup, sharing and feedback requests you initiate.
No, and it should not be used as one. Do not store passwords, payment card data, private keys, recovery codes, government identifiers or regulated records in yDirect.
Masking blurs a value on screen so someone nearby cannot read it. That is a shoulder-surfing measure, not encryption. Credentials belong in a purpose-built vault.
Locally, first. Your active snippets live in Chrome extension storage on your own machine, with account-separated local profiles.
Optional cloud backup stores two recovery points — your latest backup and the one immediately before it — in yDirect's Firebase project. Shared workspace content is stored there too, so authorised accounts can reach it. Both are off until you sign in and enable them.
Not for the core job. Saving, organising, searching and copying snippets all work without one.
An account — email or Google sign-in — is only required for the optional pieces: cloud backup, and verified-account workspaces with role-based sharing.
Any time. Export to JSON, passphrase-encrypted JSON, or Excel, and import the same formats back in.
One caution: an unencrypted export exposes every snippet it contains to anyone who gets the file. Use the encrypted option if the export is going anywhere but your own machine.
Nothing. Version 1.3.3 is free, with no subscriptions, no payments and no paid tiers. If a paid feature is ever introduced, its price and terms will be shown before any purchase — using this release creates no payment obligation.
Install yDirect, save the five things you retype most, and get the rest of the week back.
Add to Chrome — freeAlt+S · Chrome 116+ · v1.3.3
