Krabby

Installation | Configuration | Documentation | Browser compatibility | Contributing

A keyboard interface to the web, heavily inspired by Kakoune.

TL;DR

WebExtension — Keyboard interface — Subject–object–verb order — Multiple selections — Kakoune-inspired

Run the following in your terminal, then follow the onscreen instructions.

git clone https://github.com/alexherbo2/krabby
cd krabby
make install

After installing, try to accomplish the following examples.

Opening links in a paragraph

Navigate to https://tuppervim.org and type:

f{hint}s[alt+a][alt+I][ctrl+enter][alt+x]

Explanation

• f enters hint mode,
• {hint} is a placeholder for you to select a link,
• s creates a selection out of the active element,
• Alt + a expands the region,
• Alt + I selects all links,
• Control + Enter opens selected links in the background.
• Optionally, Alt + x will undo the operation (closing right tabs).

Play videos with mpv

Navigate to https://youtube.com/results?search_query=Berserk+AMV and type:

F{hint}{hint}<page-down>{hint}<escape>m

Explanation

• F enters hint mode (lock),
• {hint} is a placeholder for you to select 2 links,
• Page Down scrolls one page down,
• {hint} is a placeholder for you to select another link,
• Escape leaves hint mode.
• Finally, m opens the selection with mpv.

If you want to play around without installing, a live demo is available here.

Features

• Keyboard layout agnostic. Maps to physical keys, but displays with the US layout.
• Subject–object–verb order
• Multiple selections as a central way of interacting
• Powerful selection manipulation primitives
• Link hints
• Tab search
• Contextual commands
• Contextual help
• Simple interaction with external programs
• Limited scope. Krabby is not Vim, nor Kakoune. Krabby is trying to be a navigation tool and some concepts from code editors don’t translate well. For example, there is no concept of mode in Krabby, but a system of contexts.
• Composability. Composability is better than extensibility. Krabby tries hard to provide features that interact well with each other. For example, f and y are two building blocks to focus a link and yank its URL. Depending on the context, y will yank the page or a link URL.
• Modular (think Emacs). Krabby is divided into multiple small projects. At its core Krabby just holds the configuration and grabs its functionalities from other projects.
• Chrome and Firefox support. It has also been tested on Opera, Vivaldi and Brave.

Demos

Download 3-gatsu no Lion episodes from HorribleSubs

Commands

• f → Focus link
  • Input: o
• s → Select active element
• Alt + a → Select parent elements (2 times)
• Alt + i → Select child elements (2 times)
• Enter → Open link
• Alt + i → Select child elements
• Alt + k → Keep selections that match the given RegExp
  • Input: 720p
• Alt + I → Select links
• Alt + k → Keep selections that match the given RegExp
  • Input: Magnet
• o → Open link in the associated application

Extract from Wikipedia the list of cities and towns in Russia

Commands

• f → Focus link
  • Input: a, l
• s → Select active element
• Alt + a → Select parent elements (3 times)
• S → Select elements that match the specified group of selectors
  • Input: tr td:first-child
• Alt + I → Select links
• Alt + y → Copy link text

Quickly move around a document with no table of contents

Commands

• % → Select document
• S → Select elements that match the specified group of selectors
  • Input: h1, h2, h3
• ( → Focus previous selection

Tab search with dmenu

Commands

• q → Tab search with dmenu

Playing videos in picture-in-picture mode

Commands

• p → Toggle picture-in-picture mode

Opening links in a paragraph

Commands

• f → Focus link
  • Input: e
• s → Select active element
• Alt + a → Select parent elements
• Alt + I → Select links
• Control + Enter → Open link in new tab

Play videos with mpv

Commands

• f → Focus link
  • Input: a, w
• s → Select active element
• Alt + a → Select parent elements (3 times)
• Alt + I → Select links
• Alt + m → Play with mpv in reverse order

Dependencies

• Crystal
• jq
• mpv
• Rofi (dmenu replacement)
• Zip (Zip is used to package the extension)

Extensions

• Commands (Chrome API to perform browser actions)
• Shell (Chrome API to execute external commands)
• dmenu (Tab search with dmenu)

Installation

Run the following in your terminal, then follow the onscreen instructions.

make install

Browser compatibility

Web browser	Support	Engine	Comments
Chrome	✓
Firefox	✓		Only developer or unbranded version
Edge	?
Opera	✓
Safari	✗
Vivaldi	✓
Brave	✓

Credits

• Kakoune (@mawww) for ideas and selection.cc.
• Saka Key (@eejdoowad) was a reference, for implementation and its code quality.
• @ul, for his advice and proofreading, especially in the early stages.
• @GeoGavilanes for the Krabby icon.
• @occivink, for his work on phantom selections, from which the “save and restore selections” feature is inspired.

References

• Create a keyboard interface to the web