Patchfox

This is a new client for Secure Scuttlebutt packaged as a Web Extension for Firefox. It is available on the Firefox Add-ons Portal, so if you just want to run it, that's the easiest way. Read on if you want to develop with it.

Requirements

• Firefox Developer Edition or Firefox Nightly (needed so that you can sideload unsigned add-ons)
• Scuttle Shell. This is a soft requirement. You can use your own sbot or even have another client such as Patchwork or Patchbay running and providing a running sbot.

Setup & Building

Patchfox uses Svelte and requires NodeJS for development. After you have NodeJS installed, you can install the dependencies with:

$ npm install

And build the add-on with:

$ npm run clean-build

If you use:

$ npm run clean-dev

It will build the add-on using sourcemaps which makes debugging easier but can't be submit to AMO because they limit bundles to 4mb.

Running

Go to about:debugging on Firefox, select this firefox and click to add a temporary add-on. Select the manifest.json file from the dist/ folder from this repository.

Setup inside Patchfox

Once patchfox is running, it needs to learn your remote and secret, you can just click the "browse" button on the setup screen and select your .ssb/secret file. Patchfox will use the data inside your secret file to derive your remote address. Remember to click save.

After saving Patchfox will then try loading your public feed. You need to have a running sbot for it to work.

Testing the protocol schemas

After installing and configuring patchfox, try browsing to:

ssb://message/sha256/Acm4sCjCDGWADCw773gfQyQ03tVYmxQLhyUWET8wLPc%3D

Commentary, getting help

I'f you're interested in learning more about the technologies behind this add-on, check out:

• MDN Web Docs - WebExtensions.
• Native Messaging API
• Native Messaging setup
• Secure Scuttlebutt Protocol Guide

Don't hesitate to reach out to me at:

• Scuttlebutt: @gaQw6z30GpfsW9k8V5ED4pHrg8zmrqku24zTSAINhRg=.ed25519
• Mastodon: @[email protected]
• Twitter: @soapdog

Sponsorship

Do you want a decentralized internet too? Are you worried about the loss of net neutrality and realized that radical decentralization is the way to fight back? If you want to make a financial contribution to help me fund development of this and other dex focused software, I would love to receive contributions through these channels:

• Patchfox Open Collective

Artwork attribution

Patchfox is using artwork by many artists including:

• Art made by Angelica.

• Some icons made by Eucalyp from www.flaticon.com.

• Artwork for the 2020.2.1 release poster was done by: Photo by Krista Stucchio on Unsplash

Third party vendored libraries

• Keymage 1.1.3: http://github.com/piranha/keymage
• ssb-custom-uri: https://git.sr.ht/~soapdog/ssb-custom-uri
• browser-polyfill: https://github.com/mozilla/webextension-polyfill