EXTENSIONS

Phosphor Share

A browser extension for Chrome and Firefox. Share the page you're reading as a new topic here, and see your unread alerts as a badge on the toolbar icon.

Version 1.1.0 · desktop browsers · free and open source (MIT)

Download for Chrome Download for Firefox

Then follow the steps for Chrome or Firefox below.

Also works in Edge, Brave, Vivaldi and other Chromium browsers: use the Chrome download. Release notes and checksums · source on GitHub

1 · Get your token

The extension signs in with a personal token instead of your password. You make one on the Settings page; it's shown once, so keep the tab open until you've pasted it.

Using both Chrome and Firefox? Paste the same token into both before you leave Settings. Each account has one token, so generating a new one signs the other browser out.

2 · Install in Chrome

Download phosphor-share-chrome.zip and unzip it. You get a folder called phosphor-share. Put it somewhere permanent: Chrome loads the extension from that folder every time it starts.
Open chrome://extensions in the address bar (Edge: edge://extensions, Brave: brave://extensions). Browsers don't let web pages link there, so type or paste it.
Turn on Developer mode (switch at the top right).
Click Load unpacked and choose the phosphor-share folder.
Pin it: click the puzzle-piece icon in the toolbar, then the pin next to Phosphor Share.

Why developer mode? The extension isn't in the Chrome Web Store, and this is how Chrome installs an extension from a file. Chrome may remind you about developer-mode extensions now and then; that's expected.

Updating: download the new zip, replace the folder's contents, then press the reload arrow on the extension's card in chrome://extensions. Your token is kept.

2 · Or install in Firefox

In Firefox 140 or newer, click Install Phosphor Share (the Download for Firefox button above does the same).
Firefox asks whether to let Phosphor install add-ons. Choose Continue to installation.
Review the permissions and press Add. Firefox also lists the data the extension shares: the address of a page you choose to share (see Privacy).
Pin it: click the puzzle-piece icon in the toolbar, then Pin to toolbar on Phosphor Share.

The Firefox build is signed by Mozilla, so it stays installed across restarts and updates itself when a new version comes out. It isn't listed on Mozilla's add-on site; this page is where it lives.

3 · Connect it

Click the Phosphor Share icon in your toolbar, then SET in the popup.
Paste your token and press Save & verify.

Once it says Token verified, your alert and mail counts appear and sharing is ready.

Using it

Share a page: On any web page, click the icon. The topic title is filled in from the page; change it if you like, pick a category (it remembers your last one), add an optional comment, and press Share to Phosphor. You get a link to the new topic. Shares follow the same rules as posting here: slow mode for new accounts, word filters, and categories you're allowed to post in.
The badge: A number is your unread alerts: replies, mentions and watched topics. It checks every 5 minutes and whenever you load a Phosphor page, so it clears soon after you read them here. No badge means you're all caught up.
A red ! badge: Your token stopped working: it was revoked, you generated a new one, or you changed your password. Generate a fresh token in Settings and paste it in again.
Mail: Unread netmail shows in the popup next to alerts. Click either count to open it.
Pages it won't share: Phosphor itself, and browser pages like settings or new-tab pages.

Privacy

The extension talks only to Phosphor, and only to:

fetch your unread alert and mail counts and the categories you can post in;
send the page address, title, category and comment when you press Share.

It doesn't read page contents or your browsing history, and it has no analytics. Your token is kept in the browser's local extension storage and never synced. Revoke it any time in Settings; changing your password revokes it too.