Notes written while doing the work.

Technical posts, product decisions, and honest observations — written while building, not after.

Chrome extensions

Practical guides for Manifest V3, privacy-first browser tools, and extension distribution.

The Web Store review is a product gate — privacy policy, assets, and MV3 compliance matter as much as your code.

Real products need friction by design — ResistGate makes you type before distraction, not just block URLs.

AI scaffolds MV3 fast; permissions, storage, and Web Store policy still need a human who has shipped before.

Scrape in the content script, call Claude from the service worker, stream results to the popup — same pattern for most AI extensions.

Request the minimum permissions upfront—every extra scope costs user trust.

React earns its complexity only when your popup has real dynamic state.

Service workers terminate; your global state disappears with them.

Chrome extensions are more relevant than ever — if you approach them with a real product mindset.

Typed messages between popup, service worker, and content scripts are how MV3 extensions stay coherent instead of fragile.

Vite, CRXJS, and TypeScript turn an empty folder into a working MV3 popup faster than copy-pasting manifest snippets.

Type your messages first — the rest of the architecture falls into place.

Get the mental model right before writing a single line of extension code.

A modern extension starts with a typed build loop.

Notes from the build

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