• About
• Features
• How It Works
• Tech Stack
• Getting Started
• Project Structure
• Roadmap

At dinner, we kept seeing it happen — our parents repeating shocking "news" from short videos, our siblings citing YouTube Shorts facts like gospel truth. When we looked them up, many were exaggerated, misleading, or fully AI-generated.

It wasn't a matter of intelligence. The content looked real, spread fast, and bypassed critical thinking entirely. We realized the people we loved were vulnerable to something most people don't even recognize as a threat.

So we built TraceX — a tool that acts as a real-time safety layer between users and harmful content online.

• 🛑 Misinformation Detection — Flags videos and posts containing false or misleading claims
• 🤖 AI-Generated Media Detection — Identifies synthetic or deepfake content
• 🧟 Brainrot Pattern Recognition — Detects low-value, addictive content designed to hijack attention
• ⚠️ Triggering Content Warnings — Surfaces warnings before sensitive material plays
• 🌫️ Auto-Blur for High-Risk Content — Blurs flagged videos until the user consciously chooses to continue
• 📋 Context Labels — Provides brief explanations of why content was flagged

User opens a video
       ↓
Chrome Extension captures the video URL
       ↓
URL sent to Node.js Backend
       ↓
Backend queries the Gemini API
       ↓
Gemini returns a risk classification (JSON)
       ↓
Extension displays a warning popup (or blurs video)
       ↓
User decides: continue or exit

Risk Categories returned by Gemini:

• Node.js v18+
• A Gemini API key
• Google Chrome browser

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/tracex.git
cd tracex

2. Install backend dependencies

cd backend
npm install

3. Set up your environment variables

cp .env.example .env

Then open .env and add your Gemini API key:

GEMINI_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

4. Start the backend server

npm start

5. Load the Chrome Extension

• Open Chrome and navigate to chrome://extensions/
• Enable Developer Mode (top right toggle)
• Click Load unpacked
• Select the /extension folder from this repo

6. Test it out Open any YouTube video — TraceX will automatically analyze it and display a warning if risks are detected.

tracex/
├── extension/              # Chrome Extension (Frontend)
│   ├── manifest.json       # Extension config & permissions
│   ├── content.js          # Content script (captures video URL)
│   ├── popup.html          # Warning popup UI
│   ├── popup.js            # Popup logic
│   └── styles.css          # Extension styles
│
├── backend/                # Node.js Server
│   ├── server.js           # Main server entry point
│   ├── gemini.js           # Gemini API integration
│   └── .env.example        # Environment variable template
│
└── README.md

• YouTube video analysis
• Real-time risk classification via Gemini
• Chrome Extension popup with warnings
• Auto-blur for high-risk content
• Support for TikTok, Instagram Reels, Facebook & Twitter/X
• Mobile companion app
• Personalized sensitivity settings (by age / preference)

This project is licensed under the MIT License.