violentmonkey

Violentmonkey provides userscripts support for browsers. It works on browsers with WebExtensions support.

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greasemonkey

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Greasemonkey is a user script manager for Firefox.

tampermonkey

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Tampermonkey is the most popular userscript manager, with over 10 million users. It's available for Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Safari, Opera Next, and Firefox.

userscripts

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An open-source userscript manager for Safari

Quick Overview

Violentmonkey is an open-source userscript manager that supports multiple browsers. It allows users to install and manage userscripts, which are small JavaScript programs that can modify web pages and enhance browser functionality. Violentmonkey is compatible with most userscripts written for Greasemonkey and Tampermonkey.

Pros

Cross-browser compatibility (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and more)
Supports a wide range of userscript features and APIs
Active development and community support
Lightweight and efficient performance

Cons

May have occasional compatibility issues with some complex userscripts
Less popular than Tampermonkey, resulting in fewer resources and tutorials
Some advanced features may require a learning curve for new users

Getting Started

To get started with Violentmonkey:

Install the Violentmonkey extension for your browser from the official store (e.g., Chrome Web Store, Firefox Add-ons).
Visit a userscript hosting site like Greasy Fork or OpenUserJS.
Find a userscript you want to install and click the "Install" button.
Violentmonkey will prompt you to confirm the installation. Review the script and click "Confirm installation."
The userscript is now installed and will run automatically on matching web pages.

To create your own userscript:

Click the Violentmonkey icon in your browser toolbar.
Select "Create a new script."
Edit the script metadata and add your JavaScript code.
Save the script, and it will be active immediately.

Example of a basic userscript structure:

// ==UserScript==
// @name        My First Script
// @namespace   http://example.com
// @match       https://example.com/*
// @grant       none
// @version     1.0
// @author      Your Name
// @description A simple example userscript
// ==/UserScript==

(function() {
    'use strict';
    // Your code here
    console.log('Hello, Violentmonkey!');
})();

This userscript will run on all pages of example.com and log a message to the console.

Competitor Comparisons

greasemonkey

2,331

Greasemonkey is a user script manager for Firefox.

Pros of Greasemonkey

Longer history and established user base
More extensive documentation and community support
Better integration with Firefox, its primary browser

Cons of Greasemonkey

Limited cross-browser compatibility (primarily Firefox-focused)
Less frequent updates and slower development cycle
More restrictive in terms of script capabilities and API access

Code Comparison

Greasemonkey:

// ==UserScript==
// @name     My Greasemonkey Script
// @include  http://example.com/*
// @grant    GM_setValue
// ==/UserScript==

GM_setValue("key", "value");

Violentmonkey:

// ==UserScript==
// @name     My Violentmonkey Script
// @match    *://example.com/*
// @grant    GM_setValue
// ==/UserScript==

GM_setValue("key", "value");

The code structure is similar, but Violentmonkey supports more modern metadata like @match and has broader compatibility across browsers. Violentmonkey also offers a more permissive environment for script execution, allowing for greater flexibility in userscript development.

tampermonkey

4,227

Tampermonkey is the most popular userscript manager, with over 10 million users. It's available for Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Safari, Opera Next, and Firefox.

Pros of Tampermonkey

More extensive documentation and user guides
Larger user base, potentially leading to better community support
Advanced features like cloud storage sync and backup options

Cons of Tampermonkey

Closed-source, which may raise privacy concerns for some users
More resource-intensive, potentially impacting browser performance
Some features are locked behind a paid "Pro" version

Code Comparison

Violentmonkey uses a more modern JavaScript approach:

export async function getTab(tabId) {
  const tabs = await browser.tabs.query({ currentWindow: true });
  return tabs.find(tab => tab.id === tabId);
}

Tampermonkey tends to use older JavaScript conventions:

function getTab(tabId, callback) {
  chrome.tabs.query({ currentWindow: true }, function(tabs) {
    callback(tabs.find(function(tab) { return tab.id === tabId; }));
  });
}

Both extensions offer similar core functionality for userscript management, but Violentmonkey is open-source and generally lighter on system resources. Tampermonkey, while closed-source, provides more advanced features and has a larger user community. The choice between them often comes down to personal preference and specific feature requirements.

stylus

5,315

Stylus - Userstyles Manager

Pros of Stylus

Specialized for CSS styling, offering a more focused and user-friendly interface for managing custom styles
Supports advanced CSS features like variables and preprocessors (SCSS, Less)
Lighter weight and potentially faster performance due to its specific focus on styles

Cons of Stylus

Limited to CSS modifications, lacking the versatility of full userscript support
Smaller community and fewer available styles compared to Violentmonkey's userscript ecosystem
Less frequent updates and potentially slower bug fixes

Code Comparison

Stylus (CSS-focused):

@-moz-document domain("example.com") {
  body {
    background-color: #f0f0f0;
    font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
  }
}

Violentmonkey (JavaScript-based):

// ==UserScript==
// @name     Example Script
// @match    https://example.com/*
// ==/UserScript==

document.body.style.backgroundColor = '#f0f0f0';
document.body.style.fontFamily = 'Arial, sans-serif';

The code comparison illustrates the different approaches: Stylus uses pure CSS with @-moz-document for targeting, while Violentmonkey employs JavaScript to modify styles dynamically. Violentmonkey's approach is more flexible but potentially more complex for simple style changes.

userscripts

3,159

An open-source userscript manager for Safari

Pros of Userscripts

Native macOS application with a sleek, user-friendly interface
Supports iCloud sync for seamless script management across devices
Offers a built-in script editor with syntax highlighting

Cons of Userscripts

Limited to macOS, not available on other platforms
Smaller community and fewer available scripts compared to Violentmonkey
Less frequent updates and potentially slower bug fixes

Code Comparison

Violentmonkey (JavaScript):

// @grant GM_xmlhttpRequest
GM_xmlhttpRequest({
  method: "GET",
  url: "https://example.com",
  onload: function(response) {
    console.log(response.responseText);
  }
});

Userscripts (JavaScript):

// @grant GM.xmlHttpRequest
(async () => {
  const response = await GM.xmlHttpRequest({
    method: "GET",
    url: "https://example.com"
  });
  console.log(response.responseText);
})();

Both repositories support userscript management, but they differ in implementation and target platforms. Violentmonkey is a cross-platform browser extension, while Userscripts is a native macOS application. The code comparison shows that both support similar functionality, but Userscripts tends to use more modern JavaScript syntax with async/await patterns. Violentmonkey has a larger user base and more extensive script compatibility, while Userscripts offers a native macOS experience with iCloud sync capabilities.

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README

Violentmonkey

Violentmonkey provides userscripts support for browsers. It works on browsers with WebExtensions support.

More details can be found here.

Join our Discord server:

Automated Builds for Testers

A test build is generated automatically for changes between beta releases. It can be installed as an unpacked extension in Chrome and Chromium-based browsers or as a temporary extension in Firefox. It's likely to have bugs so do an export in Violentmonkey settings first. This zip is available only if you're logged-in on GitHub site. Open an entry in the CI workflows table and click the Violentmonkey-... link at the bottom to download it.

Environment Variables

The following environment variables will be injected at compilation time for some features to work:

SYNC_GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID / SYNC_GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET - Google sync service
SYNC_ONEDRIVE_CLIENT_ID / SYNC_ONEDRIVE_CLIENT_SECRET - OneDrive sync service

Workflows

Development

Install Node.js and Yarn v1.x.
The version of Node.js should match "node" key in package.json.

# Install dependencies
$ yarn

# Watch and compile
$ yarn dev

Then load the extension from 'dist/'.

Build

To release a new version, we must build the assets and upload them to web stores.

# Build for normal releases
$ yarn build

# Build for self-hosted release that has an update_url
$ yarn build:selfHosted

Release

See RELEASE for the release flow.

Related Projects

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