Native Gmail Send Hook
The HumanAttest extension hooks directly into Gmail's send pipeline at the DOM level β intercepting the send action before any data leaves your browser, without reading a single character of your email.
How the Hook Works
When the extension loads on mail.google.com, it attaches a click event listener to the Gmail Send button using a MutationObserver. This is a standard browser extension technique β the same approach used by Grammarly, Boomerang, and other Gmail extensions.
When the Send button is clicked, the extension calls event.preventDefault() to pause the action, shows the verification overlay, and only calls the original send handler after successful verification.
What the Extension Can and Cannot See
β Can Detect
βSend button click event
βThat a send action was initiated
βCurrent tab URL (mail.google.com)
β Cannot Access
βEmail subject or body
βRecipient addresses
βAttachments or files
βGmail account ID
βAny Google API data
Extension Permissions
You can verify this yourself. Open chrome://extensions, find HumanAttest, and click "Details". The permissions list contains only:
// manifest.json β permissions
"permissions": [
"activeTab",
"storage"
]
// No gmail.readonly. No Gmail API. No OAuth scopes.