No. The Safeguard Chrome extension opens Safeguard search in a side panel next to the page you are on. It does not run or schedule scans itself. Recurring checks live elsewhere: continuous scanning in the platform, recurring tasks in the desktop app (beta), and scheduled jobs in your CI. This post shows which to use.
We checked this against the Safeguard documentation on 18 October 2026, so the steps below describe what exists, not what we wish existed.
What does the Chrome extension actually do?
Click the toolbar icon and a side panel opens with the same search you get at app.safeguard.sh. You sign in inside the panel, the way you would in a browser tab, and the panel carries that session. The documentation describes the extension as intentionally thin: it embeds the search page and nothing else, requests only the side panel permission, and makes no API calls of its own.
That makes it a good place to ask questions while you read an advisory, a package page or a pull request. It is not a scheduler, and it does not run in the background when the browser is closed.
There is a second extension, Gold Open Source, for package lookups. It is also a lookup tool, not a scanner.
Where do scheduled and recurring scans live?
Continuous scanning in the platform. The docs describe Safeguard re-evaluating assets when new vulnerability data arrives and when an asset changes, for example a new commit or a new image tag. You do not set a timer for this. The platform watches for the trigger.
Recurring tasks in the desktop app (beta). The desktop app has a Tasks tab where you can submit a task in plain language and schedule it on a fixed interval. Intervals are a number plus a unit: 30s, 5m, 1h or 24h. The documentation gives this example: a task described as "Re-scan the granted project folders and flag any new critical findings" with an interval of 24h runs once a day. Each scheduled task can be enabled, disabled or deleted from the Tasks tab. The desktop app is early access, so treat it as beta.
Your CI scheduler. The Safeguard CLI can run in a pipeline, and your CI system's own cron trigger decides when. This is the most portable option if you already run nightly builds.
How do the extension and a schedule fit together?
Use the schedule to find things and the extension to understand them. A recurring task or continuous scan raises a finding. You open the extension on the advisory page, ask what the finding means for your stack, and decide what to do.
Some teams also use the panel to check a package they are about to adopt, before it ever reaches a manifest.
What to do
- Install the Safeguard extension from the Chrome Web Store and pin the icon.
- Click it and sign in inside the panel.
- Decide how you want recurring checks: platform continuous scanning, a desktop recurring task, or a CI cron job.
- For a desktop recurring task, open the Tasks tab, describe the check in plain language and set an interval such as 24h.
- Route alerts to the channel your team reads, so a finding does not wait for someone to open the panel.
- Review the schedule once a month and delete tasks nobody reads.
Quick check
Does the extension scan while the browser is closed?
No. The extension is a side panel over Safeguard search. Anything that must run unattended belongs in the platform, the desktop app or your CI.
What interval format does the desktop app accept?
A whole number followed by s, m, h or d, for example 30s, 5m, 1h or 24h. Other formats are rejected with an invalid interval message.
Sources
- Safeguard docs: Browser Extension
- Safeguard docs: Desktop Application
- Safeguard docs: Continuous Scanning
- Safeguard on the Chrome Web Store
- Gold Open Source on the Chrome Web Store
Last reviewed: 18 October 2026.
