vasper

privacy-conscious media selection and bulk downloading for chrome and chromium.

vasper is a manifest v3 browser extension that lets you drag a rectangle over a webpage, review the media found inside it, and download only the files you choose. it works with visible images, animated gifs, video, audio, svg images, canvases, direct media links, and css background images.

• drag to select any visible rectangular area on a webpage
• detect images, animated gifs, video, audio, image inputs, svg images, canvases, direct media links, and css background images
• review every result in a side panel before downloading
• select all, clear all, or toggle individual files
• deduplicate repeated media urls
• save downloads under downloads/vasper downloads/ with stable numbered filenames
• use narrow activetab access instead of persistent access to browsing history or every site
• run without a build step or third-party runtime dependencies

until a web store release is available, install vasper directly from this repository.

choose either method:

• without git: open the repository, select code → download zip, and extract the archive

• with git:

  git clone https://github.com/numbpill3d/vasper.git

1. open chrome://extensions
2. enable developer mode
3. select load unpacked
4. choose the extracted vasper folder containing manifest.json
5. optionally pin vasper from the browser extensions menu

chrome or chromium may show a developer-mode notice because the extension was installed outside the web store. the extension remains installed between browser restarts.

1. download and extract the latest source again, or run git pull inside the cloned repository
2. return to chrome://extensions
3. select reload on the vasper extension card

1. open a normal http:// or https:// webpage
2. select the vasper toolbar icon, then select select an area
3. drag a box over the media you want; a small click also selects media under the pointer
4. review the detected items, clear anything you do not want, and select download
5. press esc to cancel the selector or close the review panel

if the browser setting ask where to save each file before downloading is enabled, the browser may prompt for each file. disable that setting for unattended bulk downloads.

vasper processes page media locally in the browser. it does not include analytics, remote services, accounts, or persistent access to every webpage.

• activetab: inspect only the tab where you explicitly start vasper
• scripting: inject the temporary area selector and review panel
• downloads: send selected files to the browser download manager

• extensions cannot run on internal browser pages, the web store, and some built-in pdf viewers
• cross-origin iframe contents are not scanned from the top-level page
• drm streams, segmented hls or dash playback, mediasource streams, expired signed urls, and server-protected files may not be directly downloadable
• blob urls are downloaded from the page context when possible, but sites may revoke them before the download starts
• cross-origin canvases cannot be exported because of browser security rules
• css images in pseudo-elements such as ::before and ::after are not currently included

npm test
npm run check

core utility behavior is covered by the built-in node test runner. the unpacked extension has also been smoke-tested in chromium.

manifest.json            manifest v3 configuration
src/popup.*              toolbar popup
src/content-script.js    area selection, media discovery, and review panel
src/content.css          injected selector and review ui
src/background.js        browser downloads api integration
src/media-utils.js       shared, tested utility functions
icons/                   extension icons
screenshots/             readme screenshots
test/                    node tests