January 2026
Video Grabber - Chromium MV3 Browser Extension
TypeScript, React, ffmpeg.wasm, OPFS, Chrome Extension APIs
I re-architected Video Grabber from a server/VPS model into a strict client-side Chromium MV3 extension using a background worker, offscreen WASM based yt-dlp and ffmpeg runtime, OPFS checkpoints, and resumable jobs.
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Overview
Video Grabber is a browser-extension runtime rebuilt around Manifest V3 constraints.
Re-Architecture
The original approach depended on a server or VPS. I moved the system into a strict client-side model using:
- a background worker
- an offscreen
yt-dlpandffmpegWASM runtime - OPFS checkpoints
- resumable jobs
Reliability Work
The project also includes a deterministic error taxonomy, a recovery matrix, and policy-aware distribution thinking for open-source unpacked installs. That work matters as much as the happy path because browser-extension tooling gets messy fast if failure handling is vague.
Why It Matters
This is the kind of systems work I enjoy: constrained platform, weird runtime rules, and a need to turn those constraints into something predictable.