Introducing RefineIQ: refine prompts, privately

We've all sent a half-baked prompt. You know the shape of it: three thoughts mashed into one sentence, the actual question buried at the end, no hint of the format you want back. The model answers the prompt you wrote instead of the one you meant — and you spend the next two messages cleaning up.

RefineIQ fixes that before you hit send. It's a free Chrome extension that rewrites a rough draft into a single, clearer, better-structured prompt. It is built to preserve your intent, add no facts or requirements you didn't state, and keep the result plain text under 500 characters. It is deliberately not a chatbot — it rewrites prompts, it doesn't answer them.

Where it lives

Everywhere you type. Select text in any field — on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or any site with a text box — and a small Refine pill glides in next to your selection. Click it, review the rewrite, hit Replace. Prefer the keyboard? Alt+Shift+R refines your selection, or the whole field when nothing is selected. And when a site's editor fights automatic replacement, the scratchpad in the toolbar popup always works: type, refine, copy.

You can also skip typing entirely. Voice Draft (Alt+Shift+V) lets you speak your rough draft into any prompt field — the transcript lands at your cursor, pre-selected so Refine is one tap away.

Private by architecture, not by promise

Most prompt tools send your text to their server. RefineIQ has no server to send it to. By default, a small language model runs entirely in your browser — WebGPU when available, WebAssembly as a fallback. After a one-time, consented model download (~380 MB), it works fully offline. No account, no analytics, no telemetry: the developer never sees your prompts, your keys, or even that you use the extension.

Voice is held to the same standard. Speech is transcribed on your device by a small open model; audio is never stored and never uploaded. RefineIQ deliberately avoids the browser's built-in speech recognition because Chrome implements it with a server-side service.

Bring your own key, if you want

Want a larger model? Connect your own OpenRouter or Hugging Face API key. Your prompt then goes over HTTPS directly to that provider, with your key — never through a middleman. Cloud mode stays off until you select it and grant explicit consent.

Free, and funded honestly

There are no paid plans, no subscriptions, and no ads. If RefineIQ saves you time, an optional support link in the popup funds new models and features. That's the only monetization — no paywall, no premium tier.

Install it, select your messiest draft, and see what comes back — the two-minute guide covers setup through voice dictation. The whole point is that you'll stop noticing it's there.