Web Extensions without the Pain

Stop manually reloading your browser.

2025-11-29

Developing browser extensions usually involves a special kind of hell. You change a line of code, switch windows, open the extension manager, and click reload. Repeat until you die.

Stop doing that.

“Manual reloading is a waste of life.”

The Solution

web-ext is a command-line tool by Mozilla that automates the tedious stuff. It watches your files and reloads the extension automatically.

The Setup

Install it as a dev dependency:

npm install --save-dev web-ext

Add this script to your package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "web-ext run --target=firefox-desktop --start-url about:newtab"
  }
}

Run npm run dev. A clean browser instance opens with your extension loaded. Save a file, see the changes instantly.

Now go build something useful.