How to use BookGlints

1.Getting started

BookGlints uses your own API key from an AI provider — there's no BookGlints account, and nothing routes through our servers.

1. Install BookGlints from the Chrome Web Store or Firefox Add-ons.
2. Open the extension popup — you'll see a prompt to add your API key.
3. Click Add your API key, or open Settings directly (right-click the icon → Options).
4. Pick a provider from the dropdown: Gemini, Groq, and OpenRouter all have free tiers with no card required; OpenAI is paid-only. Click "Get a free API key" to go straight to that provider's key page.
5. Paste your key into the field and click Save Settings.

2.My Flags vs. Auto-Scan

The popup has a toggle at the top with two modes:

• My Flags (free) — you tell BookGlints exactly what you're checking for, in your own words. It scans reviews and shows you the ones that genuinely match.
• Auto-Scan (one-time $9.99 unlock) — no flags needed. BookGlints reads the reviews and surfaces the recurring themes and patterns on its own, whether you know what to look for or not.

Both modes share the same Search Depth setting and work on both Goodreads and StoryGraph.

3.Writing good flags

Add flags in Settings — one per line. BookGlints checks reviews semantically, not just for exact keyword matches, so you don't need to guess the exact wording reviewers might use.

• "Self-insert protagonist" also catches reviews that say "annoyingly perfect" or "everyone loves her for no reason"
• "Forced romance subplot" catches "the romance felt tacked on" or "didn't need the love triangle"
• Flags can be tropes, content warnings, pacing complaints, or just a vibe — "grimdark only," "no happy ending," "drags in the middle" all work

4.Scan depths explained

Search Depth controls how thoroughly reviews are gathered — but it means different things on each platform:

• Fast — Goodreads: the default view only (~10 reviews, skews positive since it's sorted by likes). StoryGraph: 2 pages (~10 reviews).
• Thorough — Extremes — Goodreads: automatically checks the 1★, 3★, and 5★ filters to surface buried complaints (~30 unique reviews). StoryGraph: 5 pages (~25 reviews).
• Thorough — All Stars — Goodreads: checks all 5 star ratings (~50 unique reviews) for maximum coverage. StoryGraph: 10 pages (~50 reviews).

Thorough modes take longer but surface complaints that the default "sorted by likes" view tends to bury.

5.Batch scan & shelf import

Have a long to-read list? Open Batch Scan from the popup's header links.

• Paste book titles, one per line, and click Scan All — each is searched and scanned automatically.
• Or click Import from Goodreads shelf tab / Import from StoryGraph to-read tab — open your shelf page in another tab first, then import reads whatever's already loaded there.
• Batch mode always uses Fast depth and Auto-Scan mode for each book — quick and consistent, no setup needed per book. Use the main popup for Thorough scans or flag-based checks on books you're seriously considering.
• Each book is a separate API call to your own provider — a large batch means many calls back to back, so keep your provider's rate limits in mind.

6.Scanning by title (no page needed)

Don't want to open the book's page first? In the main popup, use the 🔍 Remote Scan section — pick Goodreads or StoryGraph, type a title, and search. Pick the right match from the results and it scans directly, without you needing to navigate anywhere.

7.History

Every scan — single or batch — is logged automatically. Open History from the popup's header to browse past scans, tagged with whether you used My Flags or Auto-Scan. It's a read-only log, kept to the most recent 200 scans, stored locally in your browser.

8.Understanding your results

• Prevalence signal — each match shows how many reviews mention it out of how many were scanned, so you can tell if it's a real pattern or a single reviewer's opinion.
• Verified excerpts — every quote shown is checked against the actual review text before it's displayed. If it can't be verified as a genuine excerpt, it's dropped rather than shown — nothing you see is AI-generated summary, only real reviewer words.
• Auto-Scan themes — grouped by category (Characters, Plot & Tropes, Pacing, Writing Style, Content & Warnings, Ending, Other) with a sentiment label (positive, negative, or mixed).

9.Multi-language support

BookGlints scans reviews in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, and Russian — your flags can be written in English even if the reviews being matched are in another language, since matching is semantic, not literal.