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Documentation Private Bookmark Manager
Private Bookmark Manager

Proxy parsing and media embeds

Control server-side URL parsing, metadata suggestions, extension capture, and playable third-party media embeds.

Proxy

Proxy Scraping controls site information updates

Proxy Scraping lets WebCull visit saved bookmark URLs to fetch titles, icons, descriptions, and other site details. It is useful when a bookmark was created from only a URL or when its saved details are missing or stale.

Setting location
The setting is controlled from private bookmark manager settings or from the E2EE privacy review.
When it runs
The bookmark detail panel can fetch site information for eligible bookmark URLs when E2EE is off and Proxy Scraping is enabled.
What it reads
WebCull needs the bookmark URL so it can visit the page and read available site details.
What it can return
Fetched details can include title, icon, description, keywords, email, phone, and links, depending on what the page provides and what the user applies.
Turn off
Turn Proxy Scraping off to prevent WebCull from visiting bookmark URLs for site details. With E2EE enabled, Proxy Scraping is forced off.
Suggestions

Fetched site details are suggested before they change an existing bookmark

For existing bookmarks, WebCull can suggest fetched site details instead of immediately applying them. The bookmark detail panel can show separate suggestions for title, icon, and description.

Quality gate
WebCull hides suggestions that are incomplete, low quality, or likely to be generic error-page text.
Apply
Applying a suggestion updates only the selected field. Applying all fetched fields can also update keywords, email, phone, and links.
Dismiss
Dismissing all pending suggestions stops the same bookmark from immediately showing the same suggestion again.
URL changes
When a bookmark URL changes, the detail panel can offer a Fetch site info for this URL? action before requesting fresh site details.
Extension

Browser extension capture is different from proxy parsing

The browser extension can collect information from the page already open in the user's browser. This is separate from server-side proxy parsing, because the capture starts from the local browser context instead of a WebCull server visiting the URL.

Captured fields
The extension save flow can send title, URL, page text, favicon data, meta description, and meta keywords.
Icon selection
The extension icon picker can use icons from the current page, icons the browser can reach, or WebCull fallback icons when a page does not provide a clear option.
With E2EE
When E2EE is on, extension-captured title, URL, text, icon, description, and keywords are encrypted before they are sent to WebCull.
Permissions
Capture behavior depends on the installed extension, the current browser, the active page, and available extension permissions.
Embeds

Media Embeds render playable third-party content

Media Embeds shows playable media in the bookmark detail panel when the saved bookmark URL matches a supported provider.

Supported providers
The current provider registry includes YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, Reddit, Spotify, Twitch, Streamable, Dailymotion, CodePen, SoundCloud, Twitter, and TikTok.
Turn on
Open private bookmark manager settings, find Media, then turn Media Embeds on. During E2EE setup, the media embed toggle defaults off.
Turn off
Turn the same Media Embeds setting off. When off, the bookmark detail panel does not render provider embeds.
When it loads
Embeds are checked only when a bookmark detail panel is rendered. They are not shown from browser extension popup views.
Facade behavior
Providers with thumbnail support can show a preview facade first and load the actual iframe after interaction. Providers without a thumbnail facade can load the iframe when the detail panel opens.
Provider options
Where supported, WebCull uses privacy-oriented embed URLs such as YouTube's nocookie domain and provider Do Not Track parameters.
E2EE

E2EE changes proxy and embed behavior

E2EE prevents WebCull servers from reading bookmark URLs, but it does not prevent the user's browser from contacting third-party providers when a user chooses to load an embed.

Proxy Scraping
Forced off. The E2EE privacy review labels proxy scraping as always off because server-side URL fetching cannot work without server-readable bookmark URLs.
Extension capture
Still available when the extension can read the active page. Captured fields are encrypted before upload.
Media Embeds
Optional. E2EE setup defaults media embeds off. If an E2EE user later turns media embeds on, WebCull shows a privacy warning before saving the setting.
Bookmark data
Stored bookmark data remains encrypted even if an embed loads. The embed request is a separate browser-to-provider network request.
Privacy

Privacy boundaries

Proxy parsing, extension capture, and media embeds share different information in different ways. Review each setting separately when deciding what to enable.

Proxy parsing
WebCull receives and visits the bookmark URL to fetch site details. Turn it off if you do not want WebCull to visit saved URLs for this purpose.
Extension capture
The local browser extension reads the active page and submits captured fields through the normal bookmark save flow.
Media embeds
Third-party providers can receive network metadata when their iframe or thumbnail is loaded, including IP address, browser user agent, referrer, and provider cookies already present in the browser.
Public URLs
This page describes private bookmark manager parsing and embed behavior. Public URL presentation settings are documented separately under Public URLs.