Early preview · A free Chrome extension for teachers
Click through a website task one time, like turning in an assignment or joining a class Meet. Pathlight writes each step, zooms in on the right button and blurs personal info. You get a guide students can read, practise and print.
Numbered steps with the button name in bold and a zoomed, circled screenshot.
Students try each click on the pictures first, with gentle hints. Nothing real gets clicked.
Name and date lines, checkboxes and a QR code that opens the online version.
Spanish or another home language, plus an early-reader version of the same steps.
One big step per screen for the projector, with keyboard and clicker support.
PDF, Word, Slides, a single web page, SCORM, video or GIF. Made on your computer.
How it works
Open the website you want to teach and press Record. Do the task the way you normally would. Each click becomes a step with a screenshot taken just before you click.
Pathlight has already written “Click Turn in”. Fix a word, drag a step, add a tip or a quick check question. Draw arrows or blur something in the Studio.
Export one web page file and post it wherever your class already looks: Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology or a class site. Print it, or project it as a slideshow.
Feature tour
Every feature below is in the preview you can download today. A few newer ones are marked Experimental while we test them on more computers.
Capture + Smart Blur
Smart Blur is on from the first click. It hides email addresses, phone numbers, long ID numbers and the names on your class roster, and burns the blur into the saved image.
The Studio
Each screenshot is zoomed to the button and circled for you. When you want more, the Studio adds arrows, boxes, text, step numbers, blur and crop. Your original picture is never changed, so you can always undo.
Try it + checkpoints
In Try it mode, students click where they would click on each screenshot. A miss gives a hint, not a red X. Quick checks along the way ask “Which button hands in your work?”, so you know they followed.
Reading levels + translation
Make an early-reader version or a Spanish version for families from the guide you already have. Students switch language and level right in the guide, and the button names stay as they appear on screen.
Print worksheets + QR
Print a full guide, a worksheet with name and date lines and checkboxes, or big station cards for the lab table. Add a QR code so students can open the interactive version on a device.
Exports
Nothing is uploaded to make a file. Choose the one that fits where your students are.
Students open “Help on this page” and Pathlight finds each step on the live site, rings it and moves on when they do it. It copes when the page has changed a little.
Talk while you record. Pathlight cuts the audio into one clip per step and can turn what you said into step text. Clips stay on your computer.
Where Chrome’s built-in AI is available, Pathlight can tidy step text and translate on your own computer, with no key and no cost. Everything also works without AI.
Private by design
Pathlight has no account, no server and no analytics. We never receive your guides, screenshots or anything about you or your students.
Read the privacy summaryGuides, screenshots, rosters and settings are stored in your browser on the device you use. Removing the extension removes them.
Nothing to sign up for. Students open a shared guide like any web page.
Data leaves only when you export a file, or choose an optional feature like your own AI key. AI is off until you turn it on, and sends text only by default.
The maker collects no student data and stores no education records. Student mode turns off AI and sharing and blurs everything, for students who make their own guides.
Pathlight runs on your computer, so there’s no server bill to pass on to you. There’s no paid plan and nothing to upgrade to.
Early preview · Version 0.1.1
Pathlight isn’t in the Chrome Web Store yet, so you add it yourself. It works in Chrome 116 or newer on Windows, Mac, Linux and ChromeOS.
pathlight-extension. Keep it somewhere it won’t be deleted, like Documents.chrome://extensions in the address bar and press Enter. pathlight-extension folder.On a school Chromebook? Many districts turn off Developer mode. Share the IT and deployment guide with your tech team; it lists every permission and policy setting.
Questions
Yes. Every feature in the preview is free, with no caps on guides or steps and no watermark. Pathlight runs on your computer, so there are no servers for us to pay for.
No. Students open a guide like any web page, on a Chromebook, iPad or phone. They only need the extension if you want them to use Guide Me on the real website, or to make guides of their own.
Pathlight is an early preview. Until it’s listed, you install it with Load unpacked (the steps are above). It won’t update by itself, so download a new copy now and then.
Nothing, unless you send it. Exports are made on your device. If you add your own AI key, step text goes straight from your browser to the AI provider, with roster names and ID numbers swapped out first. See privacy in plain language.
No. Steps are written by rules as you click, and you can edit anything. AI is an optional helper for rewording, reading levels, translation, quiz questions and alt text.
Export it as one web page file and attach it to an assignment or post, or upload it to Google Drive and share the link. For Canvas, Schoology or Moodle you can also export SCORM 1.2. PDF and Word work everywhere.
Any website that opens in a normal Chrome tab, including Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology, Clever and Google Docs. Chrome doesn’t let extensions record its own settings pages or the Web Store.
Pathlight is built toward WCAG 2.1 AA. Guides use real headings and lists, every picture has editable alt text, and the student player works with a keyboard and screen readers. Students can enlarge text, switch to a dyslexia-friendly font or have steps read aloud.
The extension itself is in English and Spanish. Guides can be translated into other languages for families, and right-to-left languages like Arabic are supported.