tridactyl/tridactyl
Tridactyl
Tridactyl is a Vim-like Firefox extension that provides a comprehensive keyboard-driven interface for browsing, tab management, and page interaction. It replaces traditional mouse-based navigation with Vim-style keybindings, an ex-mode command line, and a hint overlay system for selecting and interacting with page elements. The extension is built around a core infrastructure that includes a modal command parser, a keybinding configuration system, and a content-script command bridge for executing commands in page context.
The extension distinguishes itself through its deep integration with Firefox's container system, allowing users to route tabs to specific containers, manage container lifecycles, and assign domains to containers automatically. It offers extensive customization through user-defined key mappings, per-URL and per-site key sequence bindings, and the ability to run JavaScript in both page and background contexts. Tridactyl also provides advanced tab management capabilities including tab grouping, sorting, queueing, and audio-playing tab switching, along with URL manipulation tools for modifying path segments, query parameters, and numeric values.
Beyond its core browsing features, Tridactyl includes a hint overlay engine that supports directional navigation, rapid multi-element selection, and custom CSS selector hinting. It offers clipboard operations for yanking URLs in various formats, page content tools for hiding elements and scribbling, and scroll position management with named marks. The extension also provides automation primitives for simulating keypresses and executing JavaScript on selected elements, along with debugging support through configurable autocommand logging.
The extension is configured through a JSON-based settings file and supports exporting and importing configurations across installations. It includes a built-in help page and provides shell command execution, remote theme loading, and system theme following for visual customization.
Features
- Vim-Like Navigation Tools - Provides Vim-style modal keyboard navigation for browsing, tab management, and page interaction in Firefox.
- Keyboard-Driven Browsers - Controls Firefox entirely through keyboard shortcuts and ex-style command lines for navigation, tab management, and page interaction.
- Command-Line URL Navigators - Opens URLs, searches with a default engine, or loads clipboard content via command-line prompts.
- Quickmark Workflows - Provides single-key quickmarks for instant keyboard-driven navigation to frequently visited URLs.
- Likely Link Navigators - Implements heuristic next/previous link following with URL increment fallback for pagination.
- Next Page URL Resolvers - Provides keyboard commands to navigate to the likely next or previous link on the current page.
- Keyboard-Activated Find Bars - Ships a keyboard-activated find bar for searching text on the current page and navigating results.
- Keybinding Exporters and Importers - Binds any extension command to custom keyboard shortcuts and exports/imports configurations across installations.
- Ex Command Parsers - Ships a modal command-line parser for Vim-style ex commands with argument validation.
- Ex-Mode Command Lines - Provides a Vim-style ex-mode command line for accessing all extension features.
- Page Context Executions - Runs arbitrary JavaScript in the current webpage context for automation and customization.
- Key Sequence Patterns - Binds sequences of keys to execute commands, optionally scoped to a specific mode or URL pattern.
- Keybinding Configurations - Personalizes the browser interface by binding ex-commands to custom keyboard shortcuts.
- Keyboard Shortcut Mappers - Assigns any command to a normal-mode keybinding to personalize the control scheme.
- Custom Key Action Bindings - Binds any extension command to custom keyboard shortcuts in normal mode.
- Keyboard URL Openers - Opens URLs or performs searches in the current tab, new tab, or new window via keyboard commands.
- Path Segment Replacements - Enables replacing specific path segments in URLs to navigate to related resources.
- Vim-Style Application Keybindings - Implements Vim-inspired modal keybindings for scrolling, link following, and page content navigation.
- Tab Grouping - Provides keyboard commands to create named groups of tabs for organization.
- Group Closure Operations - Provides a keyboard command to close all tabs belonging to a named group.
- Group Operation Cancellations - Provides a keyboard command to cancel a pending tab group creation or switch operation.
- Group Renaming Operations - Provides a keyboard command to change the name of an existing tab group.
- Group Switching Operations - Switches the current window to display only the tabs in a named group.
- Last Group Recall - Provides a keyboard command to switch to the most recently used tab group.
- Tab-to-Group Moves - Moves the current tab into a specified named tab group.
- Configurable Key-to-Command Mappings - Stores user-defined normal-mode key mappings as a JSON configuration mapping key sequences to commands.
- Browser History Navigations - Provides keyboard-driven forward navigation through browser session history.
- History Item Openers - Offers a keyboard command to open a specific URL from the browser's browsing history.
- Keyboard-Driven Navigation - Enables full keyboard-driven control of Firefox for scrolling, tab management, and page navigation.
- Keyboard Navigation Shortcuts - Ships comprehensive keyboard shortcuts for scrolling, tab switching, link following, and history navigation.
- Cache-Bypassing Page Reloads - Ships a keyboard command to refresh the current tab while bypassing the browser cache.
- Full Page Reload Commands - Provides a keyboard command to refresh the current browser tab.
- Container Routing Rules - Provides domain-based and explicit routing of tabs to Firefox containers for organized browsing.
- Homepage Navigation Commands - Provides keyboard commands to open configured homepage URLs in current or new tabs.
- URL Component Manipulators - Provides commands to modify, increment, and navigate URL components for pagination and resource access.
- Element Hint Overlays - Generates transient overlays on interactive elements for keyboard-driven selection and interaction.
- Hint-Based Link Followers - Displays numbered labels on clickable elements and follows the selected link.
- Tab Openers - Provides commands to open new tabs with optional URLs.
- Background - Ships a command to open URLs in new tabs without switching focus.
- Tab Closers - Closes the currently active browser tab.
- Individual Tab Closures - Provides a command to close the current or a specified tab.
- Positional Tab Closures - Closes all tabs to the left or right of the current tab.
- Selective Tab Closures - Closes every tab except the currently active one.
- Tab Managers - Provides Vim-style keybindings for opening, closing, switching, grouping, and organizing browser tabs.
- Last Tab Reopeners - Restores the most recently closed tab.
- Sequential Tab Switchers - Moves focus to the next tab in the current window.
- Sequential Tab Switches - Provides keyboard shortcuts for cycling through open tabs in sequence.
- Content Script Injection Architectures - Implements a content script injection architecture with background script message passing for command execution.
- Page Load Stop Commands - Provides a keyboard command to halt the loading process for the current browser tab.
- Query Parameter Manipulators - Provides utilities for adding, removing, and replacing query parameters on URLs.
- Scroll Position Marks - Persists named scroll positions per page using a key-value store for viewport coordinates.
- Quickmark Page Saving - Saves the current page as a bookmark or assigns a quickmark key for instant navigation.
- Bookmark Removals - Removes a bookmark for the current page or a specified URL.
- Bookmark Launchers - Opens bookmarks from the browser's bookmark list via keyboard commands.
- Bookmark Toggling - Creates or removes a bookmark for the current page with a single command.
- Quickmark Additions - Stores the current page's URL under a single key for quick access.
- URL Resolvers - Converts relative URLs to absolute ones using the current page's address as the base.
- URL Clipboard Copies - Copies the current page's URL, canonical URL, shortlink, or title to the system clipboard.
- Configuration Exporters and Importers - Exports and imports user settings as JSON files for configuration portability.
- Background Script Executors - Executes JavaScript in the extension's background page with full web-extension API access.
- Quickmark Key Binding - Binds a key to a quickmark for instant access to a URL.
- Browser-Wide Key Bindings - Assigns key sequences that work even when the browser's address bar or other UI elements are focused.
- Search Query Utilities - Inserts a user query into a URL pattern at a placeholder or appends it for search functionality.
- Bookmark-Filtered URL Openers - Opens a URL or performs a search with completions filtered to bookmarks.
- New Browser Window Openers - Provides a keyboard command to open a new browser window.
- Group State Machines - Manages named tab collections through a state machine tracking group membership and window association.
- Tab Detachments - Provides a command to detach the current tab into a new window.
- Adjacent Tab Moves - Provides commands to nudge the current tab one position left or right.
- Tabbed Window Groupers - Provides a command to merge all tabs from all open windows into a single window.
- Tab Grabs from Other Windows - Provides a command to grab a tab from another window into the current window.
- Tab Moves Between Windows - Provides a command to move a tab from one window to another.
- Tab Pushes to Recent Windows - Provides a command to push the current tab to the most recently used window.
- Browsing Container Creations - Creates new browsing containers with custom names, colors, and icons.
- Container in New Window Openings - Opens URLs in new windows assigned to specific browsing containers.
- Container URL Openers - Provides a command to open a URL in a tab assigned to a specific Firefox container.
- Additions - Saves bookmarks for the current page or a specified URL with optional title.
- Automatic Domain Container Assignments - Automatically opens pages from specified domains in designated browsing containers.
- Detachable Browser Windows - Provides a command to detach the current tab into a new browser window.
- Browsing Container Listings - Displays a list of all existing browsing containers.
- Browsing Container Deletions - Removes browsing containers and closes all their associated tabs.
- Hint Mode Key Bindings - Assigns custom hint modes with specific CSS selectors to keyboard shortcuts for quick access.
- Window Closing - Ships a command to close the current browser window via keyboard shortcut.
- Reader Views - Provides a command to open the current page in the browser's built-in reader view.
- CSS Selector Jump Commands - Allows scrolling the page to the first element matching a given CSS selector using keyboard commands.
- CSS Selector Hint Filters - Restricts hintable elements to those matching a custom CSS selector for precise targeting.
- Named Scroll Position Marks - Enables placing named marks at specific scroll positions and jumping back to them with keyboard shortcuts.
- Interface Element Hiding - Provides a command to reversibly hide hinted page elements, which can be restored later.
- Coordinate-Based Scroll Commands - Supports scrolling the viewport to a specific horizontal and vertical pixel coordinate via keyboard commands.
- Line-Based Scroll Commands - Provides line-based keyboard scrolling commands to move the viewport by a specified number of lines.
- Page-Based Scroll Commands - Supports scrolling the page viewport by a specified number of lines or pages via keyboard commands.
- Pixel-Based Scroll Commands - Supports pixel-based scroll commands for precise viewport movement by a specified number of pixels.
- Animated Page-Top Scrolls - Provides keyboard commands to scroll the page to the top or bottom.
- Named Scroll Position Jumps - Supports jumping the viewport forward to a previously saved named scroll position.
- Container Tab Closures - Provides a command to close all tabs in a specified Firefox container across all windows.
- Tab Recontainers - Provides a command to move the current tab to a different Firefox container.
- Container-Aware - Ships commands to open URLs in new tabs assigned to a specific Firefox container.
- Quickmark Openers - Provides single-key quick access to frequently visited URLs via quickmarks.
- Name-Based Tab Switches - Provides a command to switch to a tab whose title or URL matches a given string.
- Tab Discard Operations - Provides a command to unload a tab from memory while keeping it visible.
- Tab Duplication Operations - Provides a command to duplicate the current tab with the same URL.
- Tab Pinning Operations - Provides a command to toggle the pinned state of the current tab.
- Tab Queuing Operations - Provides a command to store a list of URLs for later opening.
- Tab Reordering Operations - Provides a command to move the current tab to a specified position.
- Tab Sorting Operations - Provides commands to sort all open tabs by title, URL, or container name.
- Tab Sorters - Provides a command to sort all open tabs alphabetically by their URL.
- Clipboard URL Openers - Opens a URL or performs a search using the current system clipboard contents.
- URL Component Replacements - Replaces a part of the current page's URL with a new string via keyboard commands.
- URL Transformation Pipelines - Applies configurable regex or JavaScript transformations to URLs for navigation and pagination.
- Root URL Navigators - Navigates to the root domain of the current page via keyboard command.
- URL Path Navigators - Navigates one level up in the current page's URL path via keyboard command.
- URL Yankers - Copies the current page's URL to the system clipboard with a keyboard command.
- Standalone Applications - Vim-inspired browser control mechanism for Firefox.
