🎓

Install the Collector Extension

Turn your browser into a UTM alumni data collection node

5 minutes Chrome / Edge / Brave

1 What You're Installing

The UTM Alumni Tracer — Collector is a browser extension that runs in the background and helps the alumni tracer system collect anonymised LinkedIn profile data. It works autonomously — once installed and activated, it does its job silently while you browse normally.

🤖
Autonomous
Runs itself in the background
🔒
Anonymised
No personal data stored locally
📊
Tracked
See your stats on the fleet dashboard

✦ What's New in v2.5.0

  • ✓ Auto-naming — Your node is now named after your LinkedIn profile (e.g. via-sharulhafiz) so you can easily identify who's running it on the fleet dashboard.
  • ✓ Better WebSocket recovery — Improved error handling for extension-backend connection.
  • ✓ Profile scraping fix — More reliable data extraction from LinkedIn profile pages.

2 Prerequisites

  • A computer running Windows, macOS, or Linux.
  • Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Brave browser installed.
  • Download the extension below — everything you need is in one zip file.

3 Installation Steps

1

Download the Extension

Download the extension zip file and extract it somewhere permanent on your computer (like your Desktop or Documents folder).

Download distributed-extension.zip (32 KB · v2.5.3 · unzip anywhere)

Important: After downloading, right-click → Extract All (Windows) or double-click the zip to unzip it. Keep the extracted distributed-extension folder in a permanent location — don't delete it after installing.

2

Open Extensions Page

Open your browser's extensions management page by typing one of these into the address bar:

🧭
Chrome
chrome://extensions
🌐
Edge
edge://extensions
🦁
Brave
brave://extensions
3

Enable Developer Mode

Toggle Developer mode on (usually a switch in the top-right corner of the extensions page).

⚙️
Look for this toggle:
☰  Extensions → 🟢 Developer mode
4

Load Unpacked Extension

Click the "Load unpacked" button (top-left) and select the distributed-extension folder you extracted earlier.

📂 Select the distributed-extension folder → Click "Select Folder"
✅ The extension should now appear in your list as "UTM Alumni Tracer — Collector".
5

Pin the Extension (Optional but Recommended)

Click the puzzle piece icon 🧩 in your browser toolbar, find "UTM Alumni Tracer — Collector", and click the pin icon 📌 so it stays visible.

✓ Verify It's Working

  • 1 Click the extension icon 🎓 in your toolbar.
  • 2 You should see the Alumni Tracer popup with node status and stats.
  • 3 The status should show "Idle" or "Active" — it will pick up jobs automatically.
  • 4 Your node will appear on the Extension Fleet dashboard once it starts reporting.

! Troubleshooting

"No such file or directory" or "Could not load extension"
Make sure you extracted the zip file and selected the extracted folder (distributed-extension), not the zip file itself. The folder should contain manifest.json, popup/, icons/, and lib/ inside.
"Manifest version 3 is not supported" or similar
Make sure you're using a modern version of Chrome (v88+) / Edge (v88+) / Brave (v1.20+). Older browsers don't support Manifest V3. Update your browser and try again.
The extension doesn't appear in my toolbar after loading
Click the puzzle piece 🧩 icon (extensions menu) in the toolbar, find "UTM Alumni Tracer — Collector", and click the pin 📌 icon. On Chrome, you might also need to click "Extensions" (puzzle icon) → the three dots next to the extension → "Pin".
The extension stops working after a browser restart
This can happen if you moved the folder after loading it, or if you extracted the zip to your Downloads or Temp folder (browsers clean those out). Keep the distributed-extension folder in a permanent location like your Desktop or Documents folder. If the issue persists, remove the extension and re-load it from its permanent location.
💬

Need Help?

If you run into any issues during installation, contact the admin or post in the volunteers group chat. Include a screenshot of any error messages you see.