github-refresh

GitHub Auto-Refresh

A free, open-source Chrome extension that auto-refreshes idle GitHub tabs and gently nudges you when an active tab is going stale. Stop hammering Cmd+R to check for new commits, PR comments, review requests, or CI runs — let your browser do it.

A productivity browser extension for developers who live in GitHub. Built with React 18, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, and shadcn/ui, themed to match GitHub’s Primer design system in both light and dark mode.

Why this extension?

If you spend your day on GitHub — reviewing PRs, watching CI, monitoring issues, checking the latest commits on a branch — you already know the muscle memory: tab → Cmd+R → tab → Cmd+R. This extension replaces that loop with two simple rules:

Idle tabs refresh themselves. When a GitHub tab has been in the background for a few minutes, it quietly reloads so it’s already fresh when you switch back.
Active tabs get a polite nudge. If you’ve been staring at a GitHub page for too long without refreshing, a small in-page banner (and an optional desktop notification) reminds you to refresh.

Both thresholds are configurable. URL filters let you scope behavior to whatever you actually care about — your team’s PR list, GitHub Actions runs, a specific repo’s issues page, etc.

Features

Auto-refresh GitHub tabs that have been unfocused for X minutes (default: 5)
Stale-tab reminder with an in-page banner (GitHub-styled, dismissible) and a desktop notification (default: 10 minutes)
URL pattern filtering — wildcards supported (e.g. https://github.com/*/pulls)
Light + dark mode that follows your system preference and matches GitHub’s Primer color tokens
Privacy-first — no telemetry, no remote calls, no tracking. All settings stored in chrome.storage.sync (roams across your devices)
Manifest V3 — modern Chrome extension architecture with a service-worker background
Open source, MIT licensed — read the code, fork it, ship your own version

Install

From source (today)

Clone this repository.

Build the extension:

pnpm install
pnpm icons       # generate icon PNGs (one-time)
pnpm build

Open chrome://extensions in Chrome / Brave / Arc / Edge.
Enable Developer mode (top right).
Click Load unpacked and select the dist/ folder.
Pin the extension to your toolbar — done.

From the Chrome Web Store

Coming soon. ⭐ Star the repo to be notified.

Usage

Click the extension icon in your toolbar to open the popup.

Setting	What it does
Enabled	Master switch. Turn the whole extension off without uninstalling.
Auto-refresh after	Reload a GitHub tab once it has been unfocused for this many minutes.
Remind me after	If the active GitHub tab hasn’t been refreshed in this many minutes, show a banner and (optionally) a desktop notification.
Desktop notifications	Toggle OS-level notifications. Requires Chrome to have notification permission at the system level (macOS: System Settings → Notifications → Google Chrome).
URL patterns	Whitelist of glob-style URL patterns. The extension only acts on tabs whose URL matches at least one pattern. Default: `https://github.com/*` (everything on github.com).

All changes save automatically.

Pattern examples

Pattern	Matches
`https://github.com/*`	every page on github.com (default)
`https://github.com/*/pulls`	only PR list pages
`https://github.com/*/issues`	only issue list pages
`https://github.com//actions/runs/`	individual workflow run pages
`https://github.com/myorg/*`	every page in `myorg`’s repos

* matches any characters (including /). ? matches a single character.

How it works

Architecture

┌─────────────────────┐  alarms (30s tick)   ┌──────────────────┐
│ Service Worker (BG) │──────────────────────▶│ chrome.tabs API  │
│  - tab tracking      │ chrome.tabs.reload    │ chrome.alarms    │
│  - alarm tick loop   │ chrome.notifications  │ chrome.storage   │
└─────────┬───────────┘                       └──────────────────┘
          │ chrome.runtime.sendMessage
          ▼
┌─────────────────────┐
│ Content Script      │  Shadow DOM root injected at top of GitHub page,
│  - Reminder banner  │  isolated Tailwind styles, React-rendered banner
└─────────────────────┘

┌─────────────────────┐
│ Popup (React)       │  GitHub-themed UI for prefs, persisted to
│  - settings UI      │  chrome.storage.sync (roams across devices)
└─────────────────────┘

Background tick loop

Every 30 seconds (chrome.alarms, since service workers can’t keep setInterval alive), the background:

Reconciles per-tab state in chrome.storage.session against chrome.tabs.query({}).
For each GitHub tab that matches a user URL pattern:
- If it has been unfocused for ≥ refresh threshold → chrome.tabs.reload(tabId).
- If it is active and hasn’t been refreshed in ≥ remind threshold → send a message to the content script to show the banner, plus a desktop notification.

State is keyed by tabId and survives service-worker termination because it lives in chrome.storage.session.

Why a service worker (Manifest V3)?

Manifest V2 background pages were deprecated by Google. MV3 service workers can be terminated at any time, which is why this extension:

Registers all listeners synchronously at the top level of the SW script.
Uses chrome.alarms (not setInterval) for periodic work.
Treats chrome.storage.session as the only source of truth for tab state.
Compares timestamps against Date.now() rather than relying on alarm cadence.

Tech stack

Layer	Choice	Why
Build	Vite + @crxjs/vite-plugin	Fast HMR, native MV3 support, manifest from TS
UI	React 18 + TypeScript (strict)	Standard, typed, ergonomic
Styles	Tailwind CSS 3 + shadcn/ui	Themed to match GitHub Primer tokens
State	`chrome.storage.sync` (prefs) + `chrome.storage.session` (tab state)	Roaming prefs, transient state survives SW termination
Lint	ESLint 9 (flat config) + Prettier	Standard
License	MIT	Permissive, clear

Development

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Generate icons (one-time, requires sharp)
pnpm icons

# Dev mode (HMR for popup; MV3 SW reloads on save)
pnpm dev

# Type check
pnpm typecheck

# Lint
pnpm lint

# Production build
pnpm build

After pnpm dev or pnpm build, point Chrome’s Load unpacked at dist/.

File layout

src/
├── background/service-worker.ts   # tab tracking, alarm tick, refresh + remind logic
├── content/
│   ├── banner.tsx                 # content-script entry, mounts shadow DOM
│   ├── ReminderBanner.tsx         # React banner component
│   └── banner.css                 # Tailwind, imported as ?inline into shadow root
├── popup/
│   ├── App.tsx                    # popup UI
│   ├── main.tsx                   # popup entry
│   └── components/                # PatternList, ThresholdField, NotificationStatus
├── components/ui/                 # shadcn primitives (Button, Input, Switch, Card, …)
├── lib/
│   ├── storage.ts                 # typed chrome.storage helpers
│   ├── matcher.ts                 # URL glob matcher
│   ├── messages.ts                # typed runtime message envelope
│   ├── defaults.ts                # default prefs + storage keys
│   └── utils.ts                   # cn() helper
└── styles/globals.css             # Tailwind base + Primer-mapped CSS variables

Privacy

No telemetry, no analytics, no remote calls of any kind.
Settings live in chrome.storage.sync, which Chrome syncs across your signed-in browsers.
Per-tab state lives in chrome.storage.session, which is wiped on every browser restart.
The extension only requests permission for github.com and its subdomains.
All source code is here — read it, audit it, fork it.

FAQ

Does this work on github.io, GitHub Enterprise, or GitHub Codespaces? Out of the box, only github.com and its subdomains. Enterprise users can fork and update host_permissions in manifest.config.ts.

Will it refresh while I’m reading? No — the auto-refresh only fires when the tab has been unfocused (you switched away from it). The reminder is a banner, not a forced reload, so reading is never interrupted.

Why not just hit Cmd+R? Because for tabs you don’t have in front of you (a PR review you’re waiting on, a CI run, an issue list), you forget. This extension is for those.

Does it work on Brave / Arc / Edge? Yes — any Chromium-based browser that supports Manifest V3.

Why does the desktop notification not appear on macOS? macOS requires Chrome itself to have OS-level notification permission. Open System Settings → Notifications → Google Chrome and enable alerts. The popup will warn you if Chrome is currently denied.

Will the auto-refresh blow away my unsaved comment? GitHub preserves draft comments in localStorage in most places, but the extension cannot guarantee it. As a precaution, the active tab is never auto-refreshed — only the reminder fires. So as long as the tab you’re typing in is the active tab, you’re safe.

Can I disable it on certain repos? Yes — only add patterns for the repos you want it to act on. Anything outside those patterns is ignored.

Contributing

PRs welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup, coding standards, and the PR checklist.

If you’re filing an issue, please include:

Browser + version
Extension version (visible in popup footer)
Steps to reproduce
What you expected vs. what happened

Releases

Every version’s changes are tracked in CHANGELOG.md. Prebuilt zips are attached to each GitHub Release.

For maintainers shipping a new version: see RELEASING.md. The flow is pnpm release:patch → git push --follow-tags → GitHub Actions does the rest.

License

If this saved you from one too many Cmd+R, leave a ⭐ on the repo.

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