Keep Me Alive

A lightweight WXT-powered browser extension that keeps tabs alive by auto-refreshing them on a schedule. Supports continuous refresh, wait-until-load, and limited-run modes with a simple popup UI.

Hosted site: https://grikomsn.github.io/keepmealive/

Features

• Per-tab refresh scheduling with configurable intervals (5s, 10s, 30s, 1m, 5m) or custom values.
• Modes: Continuous, Wait for Load, Limited runs (auto-stop after N refreshes).
• Browser action badge shows live countdown; clears when inactive.
• Context menus: Start, Stop, and Quick Interval shortcuts from the popup.
• Robust per-tab storage cleanup on tab close and error handling around reloads.

Popup

• Shows current tab hostname, status, next refresh countdown, and active timers list.
• Controls: interval dropdown (with custom), mode selector, limited-run count, Start/Stop/Reset.
• Live updates via storage watch and background messaging.

Background behavior

• One alarm per tab (refresh-<tabId>) scheduled from local:refreshConfigs.
• On alarm: reloads the tab, handles limited-run decrement, and reschedules per mode.
• Wait-for-load reschedules after tabs.onUpdated reports complete.
• Badge updates every second with countdown seconds or ellipsis when overdue.
• Message types (popup → background): START_REFRESH, STOP_REFRESH, GET_CONFIG, GET_ALL_CONFIGS (always includes tabId).

Context menus

• Root: "Keep Me Alive" with Start (defaults to 1m), Stop, and Quick Interval entries for the predefined intervals.
• Menu enabled/disabled state follows the active tab’s config; recreated on install/startup.

Types

• RefreshMode: CONTINUOUS | WAIT_FOR_LOAD | LIMITED
• RefreshConfig: { tabId, intervalMs, enabled, nextRefreshAt, mode, remainingRuns? }
• INTERVALS: [5000, 10000, 30000, 60000, 300000]

Permissions

• alarms, tabs, storage, activeTab, contextMenus (see wxt.config.ts).

Development

Built with WXT (Vite-based tooling for web extensions).

• Install: bun install (postinstall regenerates WXT types).
• Dev builds: bun run dev (Chrome), bun run dev:firefox.
• Production builds: bun run build (Chrome MV3), bun run build:firefox (Firefox MV2).
• Packaging: bun run zip, bun run zip:firefox.
• Build outputs: dist/chrome-mv3/, dist/firefox-mv2/, dist/safari-mv2/ (zip commands place archives alongside).
• Type-check only: bun run compile.
• Release (GitHub): tag a release; workflow builds/zips Chrome & Firefox and uploads zips to assets.

Gotchas

• Chrome MV3 alarms are most reliable at ≥1 minute; shorter mostly for dev.
• Background listener returns true when replying asynchronously.
• Storage is per-tab; entries cleared on tab close.
• Always run bun run build after changes to catch manifest/TypeScript issues.

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.