Last updated: 2026-08-05 · For administrators and network filtering teams.
What Bonsai is
A free citation generator built by a high school student as a public service. Students use it two ways:
- a Chrome extension that cites the page a student is reading, and
- a web tool at bonsaicitations.com/tool that builds a citation from details a student types or from a link, ISBN, or DOI they paste.
Both produce Works Cited / references and in-text citations in MLA, APA, Chicago, and IEEE. There is nothing to buy and no upsell.
Security posture, in plain bullets
- No accounts. There is no sign-up and no login — for students or teachers.
- No ads and no trackers. No advertising, no analytics, no third-party tracking scripts.
- No cookies. The site sets no cookies. It needs no cookie banner because it uses none.
- No personal information collected. Bonsai asks for no names, no emails, and no student records.
- Runs in the browser. Citations are generated on the student's own device.
- The one thing that leaves the browser: when a student pastes a link, ISBN, or DOI into the web tool, that single value is sent to Wikimedia's public Citoid API (the same lookup service behind Wikipedia's citation tool) to fetch the source's details. Nothing else is transmitted. Typing details in by hand sends nothing at all.
- The Chrome extension makes zero network requests. It reads the current tab's citation details only when the student clicks, and everything stays on the device.
- Storage is local. A student's saved bibliography lives in their own browser (localStorage / extension storage) and can be cleared at any time. It never reaches a server.
What to allowlist
One line for your filter: categorize bonsaicitations.com as Education / Reference and allow it. If your filter also governs API endpoints, the web tool's paste-to-cite lookup contacts Wikimedia's Citoid service at en.wikipedia.org; allowing it is optional — students can always type details in by hand without it.
Data and policies
Full details are in our Privacy policy and Terms. In short: no data is collected or sold, and the only outbound request is the optional Citoid lookup described above.
Note on certifications: Bonsai is a free tool that collects no personal information; we make no formal regulatory-certification claims. If your district needs specific documentation to approve it, email us and we'll help however we can.
Contact
A person reads this inbox: vishnumovva@icloud.com. Questions, allowlist requests, and documentation needs all welcome.