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Chrome extension

A side panel that rewrites the thing you are already writing. Gmail and LinkedIn composers can be read and replaced in place.

The extension is a thin client of POST /api/humanize. It holds your API key and nothing else.

Install​

The extension is built from this repo rather than the Chrome Web Store.

npm run extension:build

Then in chrome://extensions: turn on Developer mode, Load unpacked, choose the extension/ directory.

Set up​

Open the extension's Options and set two things:

  • API base URL — https://rewr.it, or http://localhost:3000 against a dev server.
  • API key — an hn_ key from rewr.it/account.

Open the side panel from the toolbar icon.

Using it​

  • On any page: paste into the panel, pick a register, rewrite.
  • In Gmail or LinkedIn: the content script can grab the composer's contents and write the result back.

The tell checker runs inside the extension, with no network call — the same client-side scoring the web app uses. Only a rewrite goes to the server.

CORS​

An extension's origin is chrome-extension://<id>, and the id changes when you load an unpacked build.

  • Against loopback (localhost, 127.0.0.1, ::1), any chrome-extension:// origin is allowed. Nothing to configure for local dev.
  • Against production, the id must be listed in HUMANIZER_EXTENSION_IDS on the server. There is no wildcard.

If rewrites work locally and 403 against production, this is why.