The spec, with receipts
Every requirement from the annotated.com bounty and from Jason’s announcement on This Week in Startups (timestamps are from that clip). The right-hand column is live: it’s computed from everything stored on this site right now.
The three non-negotiables
| Requirement | How | Live proof |
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| ✓ Ships as a Chrome sidebar extension; the sidebar is the primary surface · Bounty page | Clipping, commentary, sign-in and publishing all happen in Chrome’s side panel. The website shows what was published. | Get the sidebar |
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| ✓ A clearly visible “File a claim” button on every annotation page · Bounty page | It sits in the row of actions on every annotation page and again under the discussion; every feed card links to it too. | 2 claims filed, 2 decided |
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| ✓ All clipped content links back to its original source URL · Bounty page | Every annotation is stored against its source. Audio and video link to the exact moment. | 26 of 26 annotations linked (enforced by the database) |
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The spec checklist
| Requirement | How | Live proof |
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| ✓ Max clip size: 90 seconds · Bounty page · 1:30 | Checked in the sidebar, again by the server, and by a database constraint. Recordings stop a little short of the end. | Longest clip ever stored: 90 seconds |
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| ✓ Video downgraded to 240p (under 480p) · Bounty page · 1:36 | A video post plays its range from YouTube. The copy the sidebar records for it is 240p: the server reads the real frame size from the uploaded file and rejects anything taller, and the database refuses it too. | Tallest video ever stored: 240p |
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| ✓ Account creation via X or Google only · Bounty page · 0:39 | Production sign-in offers exactly those two. There is no email or password flow in production. A secret-gated test login can run on local development and Vercel preview deployments; the server returns 404 for it in production. | Sign-in page |
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| ✓ Public social feed with follow and comment · Bounty page · 2:46 | Hot, New, Top and Following feeds; follow people from their profiles and topics from their pages; threaded comments on every annotation. | 2 follows, 3 comments (1 reply) |
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| ✓ Commentary as text or recorded audio · Bounty page · 2:00 | Type a take, or record one out loud (up to 3 minutes) right in the sidebar. | 1 recorded take |
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| ✓ YouTube videos, news articles and podcasts · Bounty page · 0:53 | Video and audio moments are marked from the page’s own player; passages are captured from the selection. A post plays only the clipped range, from YouTube or from the podcast’s original file. | 2 240p excerpts stored |
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Said on the show
| Requirement | How | Live proof |
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| ✓ Use the page you’re on, or paste a URL · 0:44 | The sidebar reads the current tab. A “paste a link” field opens any page to clip. | — |
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| ✓ Ask where the clip starts and ends · 1:04 | Mark start and end from the playhead, or type times, then preview the range in the page. | — |
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| ✓ Pull the transcript · 1:09 | YouTube captions for the clipped range are attached to the annotation when the video has them. | 8 transcripts |
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| ✓ A landing page at annotated.com/<user>/<intelligent-title> · 1:13 | Pages live at /@handle/<headline>. Claude writes a short headline for each take, which becomes the page title and the address. | — |
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| ✓ Commentary has to be a certain length · 1:57 | At least 15 words, or a recorded take: the clip has to be part of your commentary. | Shortest written take: 15 words |
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| ✓ A fair-use claim button, then “we make a determination” · 2:05 | A person reviews each claim against the four fair-use factors. The decision is published on the claim’s status page; upheld claims hide or remove the annotation. | How claims work |
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| ✓ Articles: highlight, clip, comment; credit and link the source · 2:17 | Highlight and click, or right-click “Clip with Annotated”. The byline, publication and link travel with the clip. | — |
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| ✓ A live service · 2:40 | You’re on it. | — |
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| ✓ Anonymous annotations · 2:55 | Post anonymously and your name appears nowhere public. It’s still kept privately so claims can be handled. | 1 anonymous annotation |
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| ✓ A stream of everything you’ve done (like Delicious) · 3:11 | Every profile is the person’s full annotation stream, newest first. | — |
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| ✓ Homepage: download the sidebar, plus a feed of whoever posted last · 3:20 | That’s the home page. | Home |
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| ✓ Vote annotations up and down · 3:34 | Up and down votes on every annotation; Top ranks by them. | 6 votes cast |
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| ✓ Threaded comments under an annotation · 3:56 | Replies nest under the comment they answer, two levels deep, and a thread can be folded away. | — |
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| ✓ A leaderboard: the 10 most annotated pieces of media · 4:01 | Today, this week, this month and all time, plus the top annotators. | Leaderboard |
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| ✓ Text clips of 100 words or less · 5:20 | Enforced by the sidebar and the server. | Longest passage ever stored: 100 words |
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| ✓ Clip the next 100 and thread it with the previous one · 5:30 | Longer selections are split; publishing one part moves straight to the next, threaded to it. | 0 threaded clips |
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