Your bookmarks, on a decision clock
Saving is easy — deciding is the part that never happens, so the backlog only grows. Bookmarks Lifecycle is a local MCP server that puts every saved bookmark on a clock: 24 hours to decide, 30 days to keep watching, or keep it for good. Nothing is ever deleted, and every decision can be undone.
Install — Claude Code
claude mcp add bookmarks-lifecycle -- npx -y bookmarks-lifecycleClaude Desktop / Cursor
{
"mcpServers": {
"bookmarks-lifecycle": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "bookmarks-lifecycle"]
}
}
}That's the whole setup: no account, no token, no API key, no environment variables. It works the moment it's installed.
Three layers, one honest question
Every bookmark ends up in exactly one place, and the only question is always the same: is this still worth your attention?
The decision layer
A small batch of bookmarks becomes today's to-do list. For each one you make one honest call: read it now, give it more time, keep it for good, or let it go. No decision in 24 hours means it quietly lapses — recoverable, never deleted.
The watching layer
“Give it more time” parks an item here for 30 days. If it earns a keep, it graduates. If a month passes and you never came back to it, that is itself the answer — it lapses on its own.
The kept layer
The bookmarks that survived a real decision. This is the list worth searching — everything in it is here because you chose it, not because you once clicked save.
A backlog of thousands doesn't flood you: old bookmarks drip into the 24-hour layer at a daily rate (15 a day by default, oldest first), so an eight-year pile becomes a few real decisions a day. Nothing runs in the background — the clock only advances when you ask.
What you can ask
- “Scan my bookmarks and start the clock.”
- “What's due today?”
- “Show me everything I let lapse this month.”
- “Restore that pricing article I let go of last week.”
- “Undo the last change.”
- “How many of my bookmarks have I actually decided about?”
Seven tools under the hood: a guided first run, a daily review that proposes before it acts, plus decide, restore, undo, per-layer lists, and stats.
Guarantees
- Never deletes. Architecturally. It never writes to your browser — reading is delegated to a read-only layer, and the lifecycle only writes its own local state file. A timed-out bookmark leaves the queue, not your disk.
- Zero network, zero telemetry. No accounts, no cloud, not a byte sent anywhere. Search the source for
fetchorhttp— you won't find a call. - Everything can be undone. Every change is journaled — including changes an AI made — and
undorolls any of them back. - Open source, MIT. bookmarks-lifecycle is on GitHub — verify every claim above in the code.
It reads bookmarks other tools miss
Chrome keeps account-synced bookmarks in a separate file (AccountBookmarks) that most tools never open — which is why so many bookmark utilities show signed-in users an empty list. This one reads both files, across Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Vivaldi, Firefox, and Safari on macOS including the Reading List.
Bookmark reading comes from Bookmarks MCP, our read-only server for letting AI assistants search and triage bookmarks. If you only want reading and search — no clocks — start there.
FAQ
Does it ever delete my bookmarks?
No, and it can't. It never writes to your browser at all — bookmark reading is delegated to a strictly read-only layer, and the lifecycle itself only writes its own local state file. When a bookmark times out, it moves to a 'lapsed' list inside that state file. Your browser bookmark is untouched, and the lapsed item can be restored at any time.
What happens when the 24 hours run out?
The item leaves your attention, not your disk. It moves to the lapsed list, where it stays fully recoverable — restore it and the clock starts fresh. The point of the deadline is to force a small honest decision, not to punish you for missing one.
Do I need an account, a token, or an API key?
No. Install it and it works. There is nothing to sign up for, nothing to configure, and no environment variables. It also makes zero network calls — you can verify that by searching the source code for 'fetch' or 'http'; there are none.
I have thousands of old bookmarks. Will they all expire at once?
No. Old bookmarks drip into the 24-hour queue at a daily rate (15 per day by default, oldest first), so a one-time import of 3,000 bookmarks becomes a few honest decisions a day, not one impossible cleanup session. Nothing runs in the background — the clock is computed when you ask.
Which bookmarks can it see?
Everything the underlying reader covers: Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Vivaldi, Firefox (every profile), and Safari on macOS including the Reading List. It also reads Chrome's account-synced bookmarks, which live in a separate file most tools never open — if another tool showed you 0 bookmarks while signed into Chrome, that's why.
What if the AI makes a decision I didn't want?
Every change is journaled and every change can be undone — including changes an AI assistant made. The daily-review tool is also designed to propose first and only act after you confirm.
Want this to happen on its own, everywhere you save?
With this server, the clock advances when you ask. Burn 451 is the version that runs by itself: every article you save gets a 24-hour countdown on your phone — read it, keep it, or let it burn.
Get Burn 451