Schengen-master

Schengen visa toolkit — Chrome extension + document templates + 37 AI skills
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Built by Torly AI — we build visa-application AI assistants. The Schengen Visa Master agent is open source; our UK Innovator Founder visa AI-assistant is a related, separate project.

An open-source toolkit + templates for preparing a family Schengen visa application. Ships three things in one repository:

1. A privacy-first Chrome extension — Visa Master Appointment Watcher — that watches your TLScontact appointment page and notifies you the instant a slot opens. Runs entirely in your own browser; no credentials leave the device.
2. A documentation template set — skeletal templates for the application docs every family maintains locally (family profile, master action plan, itinerary, status dashboard, audit log), plus the product specs and platform design notes behind the extension.
3. An AI skills toolkit — vstack — 36 Claude Code slash-commands that walk you through the entire France Schengen application: a trip planner, document engineer, accountant, minor specialist, forms specialist, appointment coordinator, application auditor, and recovery advisor. All markdown, all free, EN + 中文 parallel. See skills/.

Privacy by design. The repository is intentionally template-only. No real names, addresses, dates, document numbers, or itinerary specifics live here — concrete data is filled in by each user on their own machine and stays local via the deny-by-default .gitignore.

Status (2026-05-28): Extension v1.3.0 is live on the Chrome Web Store — install in one click from the official listing. The pre-built ZIP on the Releases page remains available for users who prefer sideloading or want to audit before install — no Node / no terminal / no build step needed.

The vstack skills toolkit is at v1.0.0 — the full 37-skill catalogue for France Schengen short-stay applications is complete. Install with one command (see Path D below).

What's new in extension v1.2.0 — Multi-booking after the 24h refund window (book follow-up appointments for family members), required refund-evidence text on the refund flow, Premium email notifications alongside Telegram/desktop, and improved install metadata + attribution. See the v1.2.0 Release notes for the full changelog.

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Table of contents

• What's in this repository
• Repository structure
• Prerequisites
• Installation
  • Path A — Use the templates for your own application
  • Path B — Install the pre-built extension (recommended)
  • Path C — Open the workspace in Obsidian (optional)
  • Path D — Use the AI skills toolkit for your application
• Configuration
• Privacy & data handling
• Troubleshooting
• Contributing
• License

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What's in this repository

Area	Purpose
extension/	Distribution assets for the Chrome MV3 extension — icons, brand SVGs, screenshots. The compiled extension ships via Chrome Web Store (or the ZIP attached to each GitHub Release). Source code is maintained privately.
skills/	The vstack AI skills toolkit — 36 Claude Code slash-commands organised into 10 personas (Trip Planner, Document Engineer, Accountant, Minor Specialist, Sponsor Specialist, Forms Specialist, Appointment Coordinator, Application Auditor, Recovery Advisor, Meta Utility). EN + zh-CN parallel. See skills/README.md for the full catalogue and a one-line install.
docs/templates/	Skeleton templates with {{PLACEHOLDER}} tokens — copy locally, fill in, don't commit. See docs/templates/README.md.
docs/06-visa-master-chrome-extension-prd.md	Product spec for the Chrome extension.
docs/07-chrome-extension-wireframes.md	Screen-by-screen wireframes for the extension.
platform/	Higher-level platform design — competitive landscape, architecture, feature spec, privacy framework.
privacy/GUARDRAILS.md	The "no PII in git" contract — read before contributing or committing.
forms/, appointments/, insurance/	Always git-ignored. Where you keep your own filled letters, booking confirmations and insurance certificates locally. Empty in the repo by design.
Term-Dates-*.pdf	Public UK school term dates — the only PDFs allowed into git, allow-listed in .gitignore.

Personal docs are kept local-only

The author's concrete worked example — family profile, itinerary, master action plan, document checklist, status dashboard, audit log, country-specific research notes — lives on the maintainer's local disk and is denied by name in .gitignore. The community gets the templates, not someone else's private application file.

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Repository structure

Schengen-master/
├── README.md                       ← you are here
├── LICENSE                         ← MIT
├── .gitignore                      ← deny-by-default privacy firewall
├── Term-Dates-2025-2026.pdf        ← public reference (UK school terms)
├── Term-Dates-2026-2027.pdf        ← public reference (UK school terms)
│
├── docs/
│   ├── 06-visa-master-chrome-extension-prd.md   ← extension product spec
│   ├── 07-chrome-extension-wireframes.md        ← extension wireframes
│   └── templates/                  ← copy locally, fill in, do NOT commit
│       ├── README.md
│       ├── family-profile.template.md
│       ├── master-action-plan.template.md
│       ├── itinerary.template.md
│       ├── dashboard.template.md
│       └── audit-log.template.md
│
├── extension/                      ← Chrome MV3 extension (TS + React + Vite)
│   ├── manifest.json               ← single source of truth for entry points
│   ├── package.json
│   ├── vite.config.ts
│   ├── public/                     ← static assets, icons
│   ├── scripts/                    ← icon generator etc
│   └── src/
│       ├── background/             ← service worker, state machine, scheduler
│       ├── content/                ← detector that runs on *.tlscontact.com
│       ├── popup/                  ← extension popup UI
│       ├── settings/               ← settings page UI
│       ├── welcome/                ← first-run welcome page
│       ├── components/             ← shared React components
│       ├── i18n/                   ← en / zh translations
│       ├── hooks/                  ← React hooks
│       ├── shared/                 ← typed message contract (UI ↔ SW)
│       └── styles/                 ← CSS
│
├── platform/                       ← system-level docs (architecture, etc.)
│   ├── architecture/
│   ├── features/
│   ├── integrations/
│   ├── research/
│   └── privacy/
│
├── privacy/
│   └── GUARDRAILS.md               ← READ THIS BEFORE COMMITTING
│
├── forms/                          ← gitignored (your filled letters)
├── appointments/                   ← gitignored (your bookings)
└── insurance/                      ← gitignored (your policy docs)

Files you'll create locally (all ignored by .gitignore): DASHBOARD.md, visa-workflow.html, docs/00-family-profile.md, docs/01-…-visa-requirements.md, docs/02-document-checklist.md, docs/03-appointment-booking-guide.md, docs/04-travel-insurance-guide.md, docs/05-master-action-plan.md, docs/06-itinerary-locked.md, docs/07-bookings-research.md, privacy/audit-log.md.

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Prerequisites

You only need the bits relevant to the install path you pick.

Component	Requirement	Verify with
Git	any recent version	git --version
Node.js	≥ 20.0 (the extension uses Vite 5 and @crxjs/vite-plugin v2)	node --version
npm	bundled with Node 20+	npm --version
Chrome / Chromium	≥ 110 (Manifest V3)	chrome://version
Obsidian (optional)	latest stable, only if you want the vault UX	—

If you don't have Node 20, install via nvm:

nvm install 20
nvm use 20

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Installation

Path A — Use the templates for your own application

If you want to prepare your own Schengen application using the same templates:

git clone https://github.com/torlyai/Schengen-master.git
cd Schengen-master

1. Read privacy/GUARDRAILS.md — the one-page contract that keeps your data off git.
2. Browse docs/templates/ and copy the templates you want to their target paths (each template's frontmatter says where to copy it to).
3. Fill in the {{PLACEHOLDER}} tokens with your own data.
4. Never commit the filled copies. The repo's .gitignore already denies the canonical target paths, so as long as you don't rename the files you can't accidentally publish them.

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Path B — Install the pre-built extension (recommended)

No Node, no terminal, no build step. This is the path for normal users. Total install time: ~2 minutes.

Step 1 — Download the ZIP

Open the latest release page and download the asset named visa-master-v<version>.zip (e.g. visa-master-v1.0.0.zip).

If you don't see an "Assets" section, click "Show all" / the disclosure triangle just below the release notes.

Step 2 — Unzip it

Double-click the downloaded ZIP. macOS and Windows will both auto-extract. You'll get one folder named visa-master-v<version>/.

Remember where it lives (e.g. ~/Downloads/visa-master-v1.0.0/). Chrome will keep loading the extension from this exact folder, so don't delete or move it after install — if you do, the extension will stop working until you re-add it.

Step 3 — Open Chrome's Extensions page

Type chrome://extensions into the Chrome address bar and press Enter.

Step 4 — Turn on Developer mode

In the top-right corner of the Extensions page, flip the Developer mode toggle ON. Three new buttons will appear — Load unpacked, Pack extension, Update.

Why Developer mode? Chrome requires it for any extension that's not from the Chrome Web Store. Visa Master is open source and pre-built on GitHub Actions from the public source code — but until we publish to the Chrome Web Store, you're loading it from a local folder, and Chrome calls that "developer mode" regardless of who built the ZIP.

Step 5 — Load the unpacked extension

Click Load unpacked. In the file picker, navigate to and select the visa-master-v<version>/ folder from Step 2 (the folder itself, not any file inside it). Click Open / Select Folder.

The extension now appears as a card on the Extensions page and as an icon in your Chrome toolbar (you may need to click the puzzle-piece icon and pin it). A welcome tab opens automatically.

Step 6 — First run

In the welcome tab, pick your language (English / 中文), then follow the in-page guidance:

1. Open your TLScontact appointment page in another tab and log in.
2. Return to the welcome tab — the extension auto-detects the watched tab and the toolbar badge turns green.
3. Open the popup to confirm the polling schedule and notification settings (defaults: poll every 2 min inside the configured release windows, every 6 min outside; UK local time).

Once monitoring is on, you can leave Chrome running in the background. When a slot is detected the extension shows a desktop notification, swaps the tab title/favicon to ⚠ red, and (optionally) plays a sound.

Not on the right page? If you click the extension while on a non-watched page (Idle popup) or on a TLS sub-page the extension doesn't recognise (Unknown popup), the popup leads with a green "Go to my appointment page" button — one click takes you to your saved target URL, or to the TLS landing page if you haven't set one yet.

Updating to a new version

When a new release ships:

1. Re-download the new ZIP from the Releases page.
2. Unzip it. You'll get a folder with a new version suffix (e.g. visa-master-v1.0.1/).
3. On chrome://extensions, click the reload icon on the extension card — Chrome re-reads the original folder. To switch to the new version's folder, click Remove on the existing card, then Load unpacked the new folder. Your settings persist via chrome.storage.local and survive the reinstall.

Step 7 (optional) — Phone notifications via Telegram

Out of the box the extension fires desktop notifications. If you want slot alerts on your phone so you can step away from the laptop, the extension ships a built-in Telegram channel:

1. Open Settings → Phone notifications (Telegram) and flip the toggle on.
2. Follow the 5-step wizard — it walks you through install, bot creation, pasting the token, messaging your bot, and getting your Chat ID.
3. Hit Send test message. Your phone should ping within a couple of seconds.

Total setup time: ~2–3 minutes. Step 1 of the wizard includes download links for iOS / Android / Desktop / Web Telegram clients, and step 2 deep-links straight to @BotFather so you don't have to hunt for it.

What gets sent to Telegram:

Event	Sent when
Slot found	Always, when Telegram is enabled.
Cloudflare check needed / Session expired	Only if you enable the also alert me on blockers toggle.
Monitoring started / resumed	Only if you enable the ping me when monitoring starts toggle.

Privacy: each message contains the centre name, country code, subject code, and a timestamp — never your TLScontact login, cookies, URLs, passport number, or any form-field content. Token + chat ID are stored in chrome.storage.local. See PRD Appendix A for the full posture.

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Path C — Open the workspace in Obsidian (optional)

The documentation set is designed to be browsed as an Obsidian vault — the .obsidian/ directory is committed (workspace state and caches are gitignored, but plugin configuration is preserved).

1. Install Obsidian if you don't have it.
2. Open folder as vault → select the cloned Schengen-master/ folder.
3. Trust the author when prompted (community plugins are read-only here).
4. Start at docs/templates/README.md to see the available templates.
5. Once you've copied a template (e.g. to DASHBOARD.md), Obsidian will pick it up automatically — and .gitignore will keep your filled copy out of git.

Useful pre-configured plugins:

Plugin	What it does
Dataview	Lets DASHBOARD.md query the documents.
Tasks	Tracks the checklists in 05-master-action-plan.md.
Calendar	Visualises milestone dates.
Kanban	Boards for the application stages.

Path D — Use the AI skills toolkit for your application

The skills/ folder ships vstack — 36 Claude Code slash-commands that walk you through the entire France Schengen application: trip planning, document checklist, photo + insurance + cover-letter audits, financial-evidence review, France-Visas + TLScontact form companions, slot finding, appointment prep, application audit, refusal-appeal drafting, post-approval entry guidance. EN + 中文 parallel.

Requirements: Claude Code, Git.

One-command install — paste into Claude Code:

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/torlyai/Schengen-master/main/skills/install.sh | sh

This installs to ~/.claude/skills/schengen-master/ via sparse-checkout (skills only, not the extension or templates). Re-run the same command any time to update.

Then in any Claude Code session:

/start-here

— answers 6 forcing questions about your trip and routes you to the right skills. Full catalogue + persona breakdown + architecture diagram in skills/README.md (or 中文版).

Privacy: the skills run locally inside Claude Code. Nothing about your application is uploaded anywhere by the skills themselves. The opt-in /learn skill writes context to a local JSON file you control — never to a server.

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Configuration

The extension is configured entirely in-browser via the Settings page (right-click the toolbar icon → Options). There are no environment variables, no .env files, no remote configuration server.

Settings are persisted in chrome.storage.local (cleared if you uninstall the extension). Key options:

Setting	Default	Notes
Polling mode	smart	smart uses release windows; aggressive polls every 2 min always; relaxed every 10 min.
Release windows	06:00–11:00 + 14:00–16:30 + 00:00–04:00 UK time	When TLScontact is observed to release new slots (research).
Notification sound	on	Desktop notification fires regardless.
Tab title swap	on	The watched tab's title changes to ⚠ + audible bell character.
Language	auto	English / 中文.
Phone notifications (Telegram)	off	Opt-in. Setup wizard inside Settings — see Step 6 above.
Also alert on Cloudflare / logged-out	off	Telegram pings you when monitoring gets blocked.
Ping me when monitoring starts	off	Confirmation message after the extension begins watching.

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Privacy & data handling

This project takes privacy seriously — see privacy/GUARDRAILS.md for the full contract.

What stays in git:

• Templates with {{PLACEHOLDER}} tokens (docs/templates/).
• Public-facing product positioning (docs/06, docs/07, docs/08, docs/11).
• Distribution assets (extension icons, brand SVGs, CWS-listing screenshots).
• Public reference data (UK school term PDFs, allow-listed in .gitignore).

What is always git-ignored:

• Personal application docs by canonical path: DASHBOARD.md, visa-workflow.html, docs/00-family-profile.md, docs/01-france-visa-requirements.md, docs/01-italy-visa-requirements.md, docs/02-document-checklist.md, docs/03-appointment-booking-guide.md, docs/04-travel-insurance-guide.md, docs/05-master-action-plan.md, docs/06-itinerary-locked.md, docs/07-bookings-research.md, privacy/audit-log.md.
• forms/, appointments/, insurance/ — folders that, by intent, hold filled letters, booking confirmations and policy docs.
• All images (*.png, *.jpg, *.heic, …) — so passport scans cannot be accidentally committed.
• All Office documents and PDFs (except Term-Dates-*.pdf).
• All archives (*.zip, *.tar.gz, …).
• All .env files, keys, certificates.
• Browser automation snapshots (.playwright-mcp/).
• Build artefacts (node_modules/, dist/).

The .gitignore follows a deny-by-default strategy: if you forget to think about a new file type, the default is "exclude" so accidents fail safe. To track a new file type you must consciously un-ignore it.

What the extension does NOT do:

• Read your password.
• Auto-book an appointment for you.
• Send raw page HTML off your machine.
• Set up any remote service / account.

Everything detection-related happens in the content script in your own browser. Notifications are local OS notifications via the chrome.notifications API.

Telegram exception (opt-in). If you enable the optional Telegram channel under Settings → Phone notifications, short structured strings (centre name, country code, subject code, timestamp) are sent to Telegram's servers so they can reach your phone. The bot token and chat ID you provide are stored locally in chrome.storage.local. No raw page content, no cookies, no login, no URLs leave the device. Off by default — see PRD Appendix A for the full posture.

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Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
chrome://extensions says "Could not load manifest"	You picked the wrong folder.	Pick extension/dist/, not extension/ or the repo root.
npm install fails on node-gyp / sharp	Native dependency on an unsupported Node.	Use Node 20 (nvm install 20 && nvm use 20). Icons are generated by a script with no native deps so sharp isn't required.
Build succeeds but dist/ is empty	Vite cache is stale.	rm -rf node_modules dist && npm install && npm run build.
Extension badge stays grey	Watched tab not detected.	Make sure the TLScontact tab is open and the URL contains tlscontact.com/workflow/ — only those URLs match the content script.
No desktop notifications fire	OS notification permission.	macOS: System Settings → Notifications → Chrome → Allow. Windows: Settings → System → Notifications → Chrome.
Tab title doesn't swap on slot found	Some TLS pages overwrite the title every render.	Known limitation; the badge + sound + notification still fire.
Telegram test message fails with "Forbidden: bot was blocked by the user"	You haven't messaged the bot yet, or you blocked it.	Open the bot chat in Telegram and tap Start. Then re-test.
Telegram test fails with "chat not found"	The Chat ID is wrong (often: extra space, wrong sign, or the bot ID copied by accident).	Re-run the Find my Chat ID button in Step 5 of the setup wizard; copy the chat.id number exactly.
Telegram getUpdates page returns "result": []	You haven't sent a message to your bot yet.	Open the bot in Telegram and send any message (tap Start, type "hi"). Reload the getUpdates page.

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Contributing

This is a personal project published primarily as a worked example, but contributions that improve the extension or the documentation are welcome:

1. Fork the repo.
2. Branch off main.
3. Make the change. Run npm run typecheck in extension/ before pushing.
4. Open a PR. Keep changes scoped — extension and docs PRs separately.

Do not open issues or PRs containing real personal data, screenshots of filled forms, or actual booking confirmations.

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About Torly AI

Torly AI (torly.ai) builds visa-application AI assistants. Current projects:

• Schengen Visa Master agent — this project, fully open source (MIT) so you can audit every line of code that runs on your machine.
• UK Innovator Founder visa AI-assistant — a separate, related project that helps overseas founders prepare UK Innovator Founder visa applications.

We believe: when a tool touches your visa application, "open source + auditable" is the only credible way to earn trust. You can inspect exactly what the code does — and does not do — on your own computer.

Feedback, bug reports, or partnership inquiries:

• GitHub Issues: https://github.com/torlyai/Schengen-master/issues
• Website: https://torly.ai

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License

MIT — see LICENSE. Open source by design; auditability is the trust contract that makes a privacy-first extension credible.