+ 
+ 
+ 
+ Why we built Packrat
++ We believe that browser history and bookmarks are some of the + most un-iterated-upon features shipped in browsers today. In + recent years other companies have stepped in to help fill this + innovation void: +
+-
+
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+
+ Obsidian has released{" "} + + Web Clipper + {" "} + which enables users to extract key text and information from + pages they visit as Markdown to save in their own notes. +
+
+ -
+
+ Webrecorder maintains{" "} + + ArchiveWeb.page + {" "} + which allows users to create focused, curated web archives + of content they care about. ArchiveWeb.page is great, but + like Web Clipper it's ui is focused on the user making + active curatorial decisions about what content they deem + valuable. +
+
+ -
+
+ Other tools like{" "} + ArchiveBox require + users to host a dedicated server to handle extraction and + preservation of content — a much more cohesive record of + what was browsed, but at the added cost that comes with + running infrastructure. +
+
+
+ We think that there is opportunity for a middle ground between + these tools. Building upon Webrecorder's work enabling fully + browser-based capture and replay of web archives, Packrat seeks + to offer the same ease of use afforded by ArchiveWeb.page but + with a new user interface focused less on curation.{" "} + + Chrome's Side Panel API + {" "} + (launched in 2022) allows us to showcase the user's archived + pages directly beside the current page with the same Material 3 + design language adopted by Chrome, enabling a seamless + transition between live web content and navigating archived + pages. +
+Challenges
+
+ Extensions aren't without their limitations, the biggest one we
+ face is our use of the Chrome Developer Tools API which, for
+ well-intentioned security reasons, displays a persistent banner
+ above the current page telling the user that an extension is
+ "debugging the page". While users can hide this by launching
+ their browser with the{" "}
+ --silent-debugger-extension-api command line flag
+ if they are sufficiently motivated to do so, ultimately we are
+ restricted by the browser environment.
+
+ Webtorrent is close to a perfect solution for hosting + decentralized web archives, but it still isn't supported in most + major torrent clients as of publishing. Unlike most other + standard torrent clients, Webtorrent uses WebRTC to communicate + between peers.{" "} + + While WebRTC support was added to libtorrent + {" "} + (a common C++ library used by many torrent clients) in 2020, as + of publishing it is hidden behind a compiler flag and no release + of libtorrent has shipped with it enabled by default. In + practice, most clients follow the defaults of libtorrent and + therefore don't support seeding to Webtorrent peers. While this + doesn't pose a direct problem for Packrat — our peers are always + other Packrat instances using Webtorrent — having this enabled + in libtorrent by default would enable other interesting + decentralized web archive hosting projects. +
++
+ We hope that you find Packrat useful, either as a case study or + as a tool! +
+