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Extension Development Guide

Note

Extension and client share some code and best practices. Please read both documentations.

The HiveCache browser extension allows users to quickly capture and bookmark web pages directly from their browser.

Technical Stack

  • Language: TypeScript
  • Build Tool: esbuild
  • Package Manager: Yarn
  • Browser APIs: Chrome Extension Manifest V3

Requirements

You will need:

  • Node.js (v16 or higher)
  • Yarn

Project Structure

This project uses TypeScript, all source files are in the src/ directory:

  • Edit .ts files in src/
  • Run yarn build to compile to .js files
  • The compiled .js files are what the browser extension uses

Installation

Install dependencies:

castor extension:install

Building the Extension

Build the extension:

castor extension:build

Development Workflow

  • Build once: castor extension:build
  • Watch mode (auto-rebuild on changes): castor extension:watch
  • Clean compiled files: castor extension:clean

Loading the Extension in Your Browser

Chrome/Chromium

  1. Go to chrome://extensions/
  2. Enable "Developer mode" (toggle in the top right)
  3. Click "Load unpacked"
  4. Select the extension/ directory

Firefox

  1. Go to about:debugging
  2. Click "This Firefox" in the left sidebar
  3. Click "Load Temporary Add-on"
  4. Select manifest.json from the extension/ directory

Shared Code Architecture

This extension shares code with the web client through the shared/ directory at the workspace root. The shared package contains:

  • Unified API client (shared/src/api/client.ts) - Single API client used by both extension and client
  • Type definitions (shared/src/types/) - Types matching the OpenAPI specification exactly
  • Storage adapters (shared/src/storage/) - Abstracted storage for browser.storage (extension) and localStorage (client)
  • Tag transformations (shared/src/tag/transform.ts) - Functions to transform tags between API and internal formats
  • Utilities (shared/src/utils/) - Shared utility functions

Storage Adapter Pattern

The extension uses the browserStorage adapter which wraps chrome.storage.local for token and configuration storage. The API client is configured with this adapter in src/api.ts:

const adapter = createBrowserStorageAdapter();
const apiClient = createApiClient({
  baseUrl: apiHost,
  storage: adapter,
  enableCache: true,
});

Build Process

The build process uses esbuild to bundle TypeScript files. TypeScript path aliases (@shared/*) are configured in tsconfig.json to import from the shared package. Esbuild resolves these imports automatically when bundling.

Extension Components

  • Popup (popup.html, src/popup.ts) - The main UI when clicking the extension icon
  • Options (options.html, src/options.ts) - Configuration page for instance URL and authentication
  • Background (background.js, src/background.ts) - Background service worker
  • Content Script (content.js, src/content.ts) - Injected into web pages to extract metadata and archive pages

Manifest

The extension uses Manifest V3. Key features:

  • activeTab permission for accessing current tab
  • storage permission for saving configuration
  • tabs permission for communicating with content scripts
  • Content scripts run on all pages (<all_urls>)