Workers

A worker is a Tide browser extension instance inside your pool. Workers extract data from pages they visit using funnels and forward it to the pool. Multiple workers can feed into a single pool simultaneously.

Joining a pool

Workers must be invited by a pool owner. From the Workers tab, click Add worker to generate an invite.

To connect the extension:

1. Download the latest unpacked extension from the Tide releases page.
2. In Chrome, go to chrome://extensions, enable Developer mode, and click Load unpacked. Select the downloaded folder.
3. Open the Tide extension popup and go to the Pool tab.
4. Paste the invite link into the field and confirm. Once the extension connects, the worker appears in the list and begins forwarding data.

Each invite is single-use. If a worker needs to reconnect after being removed, generate a new invite.

Online status

A worker shows as online when it has sent a heartbeat within the last 30 seconds. Going offline does not remove the worker from the pool — it will resume sending data the next time its browser session is active.

Passive vs active mode

In passive mode (the default), a worker only forwards data the user produces naturally: pages visited, requests made.

In active mode, the pool can assign specific URLs for a worker to scrape. The worker opens these in the background and submits the results as jobs. Active mode must be explicitly enabled by the worker themselves and can't be forced by the pool owner. Active mode is currently WIP

Quotas

Each pool has a maximum number of workers. Pending invites count toward the quota until they are used or revoked.