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.
