Krabby is a browser extension (for Chrome and Firefox) for keyboard-based navigation, inspired by Kakoune.

The main differences with existing extensions are: multiple selections, keyboard layout agnostic, SOV (subject–object–verb) constructs and simple interaction with external programs. It is also quite usable with the mouse.

See YouTube · Krabby and krabby-resources for all available demos.

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 [static=no] [interactive=yes]

After installing, try to accomplish the following examples:

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

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

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

• Subject–object–verb order. Learn more at Differences with Vi(m).
• Keyboard layout agnostic. Maps to physical keys, but displays with the US layout.
• Multiple selections as a central way of interacting
• Powerful selection manipulation primitives
• Link hints
• External editor support. Open your favorite editor on text inputs.
• Tab search
• Contextual commands
• Contextual help
• Simple interaction with external programs
• Usable with the mouse. You can for example create a selection by grabbing a link with the mouse and s to create the selection. Or create multiple selections by clicking on hints with F. If you hold Control or Command, you can even make selections with the mouse selection area.
• 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.

• Crystal
• jq
• wl-clipboard for Wayland or xclip for X11 (Optional, for plumbing)
• mpv (Optional, for playing videos)
• dmenu (Optional, for tab search and plumbing)
• Pandoc (Optional, for HTML filtering)

• Commands (WebExtension API to perform browser actions)
• Shell (WebExtension API to execute external commands)
• Editor (Open an external editor to edit text inputs)
• dmenu (Tab search, selection and beyond with a dmenu filter program)

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

make install [static=no] [extensions=yes] [interactive=yes]

• Linux
• FreeBSD
• OpenBSD
• macOS

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

• 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.
• mpv and Kakoune for their website, from which Krabby is inspired.
• @AdamWagner for his work to unify scrolling mechanisms.

• Create a keyboard interface to the web