Meet in the side panel: the InterMIND Chrome extension is live
The InterMIND Chrome extension is published: InterMIND — Meet in the side panel in the Chrome Web Store.
It does one thing. It puts the meeting in Chrome's side panel, beside the tab you are presenting, instead of in a window that competes with it. The tab keeps focus and full width — you type in it, you edit it, you share it — while the call, the chat and the participants stay readable next to it.
The long version of why that matters is a separate post: How do you see the room while you're presenting? — the trade every existing fix makes (an overlay covers your content; a second monitor still drops the roster when slides go full screen), and the structural reason a browser side panel is not in that trade. This one is the short version: what shipped, and how to use it.
What it is
A Manifest V3 extension that renders the InterMIND web app inside Chrome's side panel. Chrome documents the Side Panel API as a way for an extension to "host content in the browser's side panel alongside the main content of a webpage" (checked August 2026). The panel belongs to the browser frame rather than to the tab, so switching tabs does not close it and typing into the page does not push it behind anything.
What the package asks for, and why:
| Permission | What it is for |
|---|---|
sidePanel | The product surface itself — the app renders in the panel |
storage | Panel preferences, stored locally; nothing is transmitted |
scripting | The sign-in handoff below, scoped to the login tab the extension opens itself |
Host access to intermind.com | The panel embeds the InterMIND web app and uses your existing session there |
The extension executes only packaged code — no remote code. What it renders is the intermind.com website in an iframe, which is ordinary web content, not extension code. The extension itself collects nothing; account and meeting data is handled by intermind.com under its privacy policy.
Three steps
- Add it from the store — the listing. One click, no build, no configuration.
- Click the InterMIND icon. The panel opens on your meetings. If you are already signed in at intermind.com, you are in.
- Start or join a meeting, then share the tab you are working in. Chrome's normal share picker appears; you pick the tab.
If you are not signed in, the extension opens the intermind.com login tab itself, hands the panel a one-time key for the session you just created, and closes that tab. The key never travels through a page-controlled channel like a URL — a crafted link cannot make your browser deposit your session under someone else's key.
What your participants see
Sharing a tab: we measured that the side panel does not appear in the captured stream — participants see the tab you picked, not the panel beside it. Treat that as our measurement rather than a documented guarantee: Chrome's screen-capture documentation does not state the behavior of browser UI either way, and the W3C Screen Capture specification explicitly leaves the boundary of browser UI implementation-dependent (checked August 2026).
Sharing your entire screen: everything visible on that screen is captured, panel included. The property above is share-mode specific, and the mode this workflow uses is the tab share.
What it does not do
- It does not remove the share picker. There is no one-click "share the tab I'm on" from a side panel: Chrome does not grant extensions tab capture from the panel context, and the request to add that capability was closed as won't-fix by the Chromium team (checked August 2026).
- It is not a second product. Same account, same meetings, same app — a different place to put it. It needs an InterMIND account; the Basic plan is free.
- Your participants install nothing. They join by link in an ordinary tab, as they do today. The extension is for the person who is presenting.
- It is a Chromium surface. The side panel exists in Chromium-based browsers; the Chrome Web Store listing above is the only listing today.
- It does not make a small screen bigger. A narrow panel holds the call, the chat and the participants — not a wall of video tiles.
FAQ
Does the InterMIND side panel show up in my screen share?
Not when you share a tab — we tested this and the panel does not appear in the captured stream. Neither Chrome's documentation nor the W3C Screen Capture specification states the behavior of browser UI in a capture (the spec leaves it implementation-dependent), so this is a measured result, not a documented guarantee (checked August 2026). If you share your entire screen instead, everything on that screen is captured, including the panel.
Do I need an InterMIND account to use the extension?
Yes. The panel is the InterMIND app, and it uses your intermind.com session. The Basic plan is free, and if you are not signed in when you open the panel, the extension walks you through signing in and returns you to the panel.
Do the people I invite have to install it?
No. Participants join by link in a normal browser tab and need no account and no extension. The extension changes what the presenter's screen looks like, not what joining takes.
Does the panel stay open when I switch tabs?
Yes. The extension declares one panel for every tab, and the panel lives in the browser frame rather than inside a page, so switching tabs neither closes it nor swaps its contents.
What does the extension collect?
Nothing of its own. storage keeps panel preferences on your machine; everything else is the intermind.com session you already have, under the privacy policy.
Which browsers does this work in?
The side panel is a Chromium feature, so this is a Chrome scenario; the Chrome Web Store listing is the only listing today. On browsers without a side panel you are back to arranging windows — the trade described in the long version.
Try it
- Add InterMIND to Chrome — the store listing.
- Read why presenting goes blind — the long version, with what each platform documents.
- Try the live demo — see a translated call before installing anything.
- See the other apps — desktop and mobile, if the browser is not where you meet.
Sources: Chrome Web Store — InterMIND — Meet in the side panel, Chrome for Developers — chrome.sidePanel API, Chrome for Developers — chrome.tabCapture API, W3C — Screen Capture, Chromium issue 40926394 — chrome.tabCapture from side panel. Browsers change their APIs and documentation over time; check those pages for the current state. All facts checked August 2026.