PauseBuy is a Chrome extension that helps users resist impulse purchases by introducing intelligent friction at the moment of checkout. When the extension detects a purchase attempt on supported e-commerce sites — Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Etsy, and Shopify stores — it intercepts the action and presents a modal overlay with AI-generated reflection questions.
The detection system uses a multi-stage confidence scoring pipeline that evaluates URL patterns, button text, and DOM structure to determine if a user is about to make a purchase. When the confidence score crosses the threshold, a content script intercepts the click and the background service worker calls a Vercel Edge Function proxy.
The proxy generates tailored reflection questions via OpenAI’s GPT-4o-mini. The questions consider the product context, time of day, recent purchase frequency, and the user’s stated financial goals to calculate a risk level and estimate goal impact — for example, “This purchase delays your House Down Payment goal by 3 days.”
Privacy is built into the architecture. All user data — purchase history, financial goals, savings stats, and preferences — lives entirely in Chrome’s local storage via Zustand. Only anonymized product context is sent to the backend proxy; no URLs, personal data, or financial amounts leave the device.
The extension includes a 48-hour cooling-off list for saved items, a dashboard tracking total savings and streaks, and a configurable friction level from 1 to 5 that controls how many questions are presented.