Firefox Assistant

[deanishe]

Like Safari Assistant, but for Firefox.

 

 

Download from GitHub.

 

• Search Firefox bookmarks
• Search Firefox browsing history
• Run bookmarklets
• Activate & close tabs
• Add you own custom scripts

 

The workflow requires you to install a corresponding Firefox extension in order to communicate with Firefox.

 

After installing the workflow, run ffass > Install Firefox Extension to get the extension. Once the extension is installed, everything should just work.

 

 

The workflow is fairly customisable. You can add your own URL actions via scripts, set custom icons, and assign URL & tab actions and bookmarklets to alternate hotkeys.

 

See the documentation for details.

 

Edited January 12, 2020 by deanishe

[kwehner57]

When I run ffass > Install Firefox Extension I get an error message: “alfred-firefox” cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified." and my options are to Move to Trash or Cancel. Suggestions?

[deanishe]

4 minutes ago, kwehner57 said:

Suggestions?

 

https://github.com/deanishe/alfred-firefox/blob/master/doc/setup.md#catalina

[kwehner57]

Thanks! I don't have Developer Tools installed, but allowing individual workflows seems to have fixed the problem. It's great to finally see an Alfred workflow for Firefox! Much appreciated!

[kwehner57]

Anyway to configure it so bookmarks open in the current tab instead of opening in a new tab?

[deanishe]

6 hours ago, kwehner57 said:

Anyway to configure it so bookmarks open in the current tab instead of opening in a new tab?

 

Not unless Firefox has a setting for that. You could add a script that pastes the URL into the current tab, but realistically, that would need to be added to the extension to work reliably.

[vitor]

16 hours ago, deanishe said:

https://github.com/deanishe/alfred-firefox/blob/master/doc/setup.md#catalina

 

I think I’ve commented this before, but I’m pretty sure the “right-click and pick Open” method also works for binaries. It’s way faster and more straightforward than having to tun off Gatekeeper and going into System Preferences, and it’s an official method.

[vitor]

On another note, I haven’t looked at the code but I don’t suppose your extension (or an extension) could bridge the gap with the missing AppleScript functionality to at least return the title and URL of the frontmost tab, could it?

[deanishe]

1 hour ago, vitor said:

On another note, I haven’t looked at the code but I don’t suppose your extension (or an extension) could bridge the gap with the missing AppleScript functionality to at least return the title and URL of the frontmost tab, could it?

 

It's definitely technically possible. I thought about implementing a CLI client (say /usr/local/bin/firefox-cli) to encapsulate the interaction with Firefox, but that would have made installing the workflow more complicated, and that's ultimately what I wanted to build. I'll probably refactor the workflow to make the bits needed to communicate with the extension importable from other code. It's basically just an RPC server + client. As long as the extension and workflow are installed, other programs can communicate with Firefox, too.

 

As far as the general case goes, the native messaging API for extensions runs an external program or script and passes messages back and forth via STDIN/STDOUT. I added an RPC server, which is how the workflow talks to it, but you could add an HTTP server, too, which would allow just about anything to talk to the extension. I didn't do that because I wanted to use a UNIX socket (more secure), and RPC is simpler.

 

I've also been thinking about how other workflows could call into this one to get the frontmost-tab info. Perhaps like URL schemes on iOS, where you call an external trigger with the name of your own external trigger it should call with the info?

Edited January 11, 2020 by deanishe

[deanishe]

On 1/11/2020 at 2:17 PM, vitor said:

I’m pretty sure the “right-click and pick Open” method also works for binaries

 

I've added that to the wiki, too. Thanks.

[joeynotjoe]

I apologize if I'm missing something super obvious... but how do you search for a tab and close it? I can only see how to close tabs to the left/right of the result tab.

[deanishe]

4 hours ago, joeynotjoe said:

I can only see how to close tabs to the left/right of the result tab.

 

That's all there is. The workflow doesn't duplicate actions like "close tab", which already have keyboard shortcuts in Firefox.

Edited January 19, 2020 by deanishe

[deanishe]

Released version 0.2.0 with support for other flavours of Firefox (Nightly, Developer Edition).

 

@vitor I've added a way for other workflows to get the URL & title of the current tab. What do you think?

[Michael_K]

Hi,

 

Would it be possible to add a new command "nf" to open a new firefox window on the current desktop.

 

Each time when I need a new firefox window on another desktop I have to go to firefox (which switches to the last active firefox window) then CMD + N, and then move the window to the desktop where I want it.

 

It would be a great addition for me, since I frequently have to do this.

 

Thanks!

[deanishe]

1 hour ago, Michael_K said:

Each time when I need a new firefox window on another desktop I have to go to firefox (which switches to the last active firefox window) then CMD + N, and then move the window to the desktop where I want it.

Right-click on the Firefox icon in the Dock and choose New Window. That’s a good bit faster. 

[hazephase]

got it, working, I love the workflow...

Edited February 26, 2020 by hazephase

[Michael_K]

On 2/26/2020 at 10:43 AM, deanishe said:

Right-click on the Firefox icon in the Dock and choose New Window. That’s a good bit faster. 

 

Not really to be honest. It requires to take my hand of the keyboard, go with trackpad to side of screen (widescreen) wait for dock to show up (its hidden default) and then do right click etc.

 

CMD + Space + e.g. fn (firefox new) would be a lot faster.

 

[cameronsstone]

Any chance you could make this work for Alfred 3?

[deanishe]

No, afraid not. The workflow uses some Alfred 4-only features that I have no intention of removing.

[marlowe]

This is very helpful. I'm a heavy Alfred user who prefers Firefox, and I am so happy to find this extension.  Thank you for making and sharing it.

[degiz]

Hi @deanishe

 

Thanks a lot for your efforts working on this workflow!

Did you consider either:

• getting the "Recommended" badge from Mozilla for your extension (details here)
• maybe publishing the source code for it

I'd be keen to use this workflow for multiple things, but the paranoid inside is a little worried with an extensions that has "Access your data for all websites" and not curated by Mozilla.

What do you think?

 

 

 

[deanishe]

@degiz: The source code is here. The "Homepage" link on the extension's Firefox AddOns page points to it and there's another link to it in the first line of the extension's description. And another one at the top of this thread.

Edited May 24, 2020 by deanishe

[degiz]

@deanishe Awesome, thanks!

I've missed the "extension" folder on the github 🤦‍♂️

[JimmyTheSaint]

I can't get the Firefox extension to connect. Its status always shows "disconnected." I installed the workflow first, then the extension via the workflow. I got through MacOS's security and privacy checks, no problem, but when I run the workflow, it seems to run correctly, but shows "Cannot connect to extension," which makes sense because the extension is always disconnected. I've tried re-starting Firefox. Any troubleshooting suggestions?

 

EDIT: When doing ffass, under "No Connection to Browser," it says, "dial unix /tmp/alfred-firefox.501.sock: connect: no such file or directory"

Edited July 23, 2020 by JimmyTheSaint
added error info

[deanishe]

3 hours ago, JimmyTheSaint said:

Any troubleshooting suggestions?

 

https://github.com/deanishe/alfred-firefox/blob/master/doc/troubleshooting.md