How does this compare to WXT[0]? I recently built a new tab extension[1] which uses quite a few permissions and browser APIs and building for Chrome and Firefox was a non-thought with how seamless compilation and distribution was.
It even separates the built extension code and the source and packages it nicely for firefox's review process.
There is a faq entry about that on tfa. The main differences are use of rsbuild (not a big diff down the line I expect, since vite uses rolldown now), and design to accommodate llm agentic development.
Yes, the overall framework design is different. This isn't just a superficial Vibe coding project (although AI was used in its development), but rather the result of my long-term experience developing browser plugins. Incidentally, I'm also the author of the browser extension Video Roll (https://videoroll.app). The main differences are as follows: 1. First, it's based on Rsbuild. If you install it via `pnpm create addfox-app`, you can quickly integrate unit tests (Rstest) and analytics reports (Rsdoctor), and use it simply with `addfox test` and `addfox dev --report`. 2. The extension supports three paradigms for entry point identification: first, automatic file-based identification (which needs to follow AddFox rules); second, it supports directly writing the source file address in various fields of the manifest (e.g., `background.service_worker: 'myBackground.ts'`); and third, it supports custom entries.
3. For automatic browser startup, a default address is set for most Chromium-based browsers (if no custom address was selected during browser installation), so you don't need to configure it to start automatically (supports Vivaldi, Opera, Arc, Yandex, etc.).
4. Using the Rsbuild plugin, if --debug is enabled, error monitoring code will be injected in dev mode, which will output errors such as content_script and background to the terminal, making it easy to directly copy and tell the AI without having to open the browser's devtools.
5. llms.txt/meta.md/error.md were generated, containing basic source information for the project, including the entry file, version used, framework, etc. These files will be useful if you are using Agent in conjunction with Skills for development.
I agree that Vite and Rsbuild are just choices of build tools, and the difference in development experience may not be significant.
AddFox is not a perfect framework and is still in a very early stage. WXT and Plasmo are both excellent; you just need to find the one that suits your needs. Thank you very much for trying it and providing feedback.
I remember seeing this one guy who infiltrated some gh org, and then started adding his own packages to their dependencies or something to pad up his resume/star count.
If all you need is basic splits, sessions, and some simple templates/layouts (and like the convenience of knowing that tmux is widely available, and often installed by default) then you're fine to stay on tmux.
Zellij can do things like floating windows, contextual keybinding guidance (helps learn everything that can be done), and a more complex layout schema. You can disable all the UI eye-candy and switch to tmux-style bindings too.
It's worth trying out. I use both so that I can still function on systems without it.
If you are comparing raw features, there is probably little to differentiate vs a legacy tool. However, the out of the box experience is fantastic, and the author has clearly put a lot of effort in their take without being locked into legacy decisions.
If you watch some of the screencasts and are not impressed, there is nothing more I can do to pitch the idea. My only complaint is that I feel like I am only ever scratching the surface of what the tool can offer.
I wasn't alive at the time NeXTSTEP was a thing, but I did look at a demo[0] to figure out what you were talking about (i love building/tinkering with window managers); it just looks like a regular old window manager?
Is there something I'm missing/something specific you're talking about?
NeXTSTEP was everything from the OS to the user experience and everything inbetween.
I'd say there were 3 distinct abstractions within NextSTEP:
- The microkernel / OS (Mach / BSD) (for the hardware)
- The Objective C based SDK
- The User experience (not just window manager, but largely the window manager)
The SDK is what is still arguably the most highly regarded part of NeXTSTEP even today. That aside, at the time nothing else was so well polished and integrated on almost every level.
I used to inject a prefers-reduced-motion: true to most websites a few years back when this trend really picked up; and generally have all animations turned off at the OS level and at least on mac that injects reduced motion preference to the browser.
So for example on claude's website I get no animations, pretty good QoL improvement. Now webdevs HONORING prefers-reduced motion, that can vary.
This rubbish also exists disproportionately for recipe pages/cooking websites as well.
You have 20 ads scattered around, an autoplaying video of some random recipe/ad, 2-3 popups to subscribe, buy some affiliated product and then the author's life story and then a story ABOUT the recipe before I am able to see the detailed recipe in the proper format.
It's second nature to open all these websites in reader mode for me atp.
Also here's a discussion I always like reading: Why Go? https://github.com/microsoft/typescript-go/discussions/411
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