Oxichrome

Oxichrome is a Rust-based framework designed for building browser extensions that compile to WebAssembly. It enables developers to create type-safe extensions for Chrome and Firefox entirely in Rust, eliminating the need to write any JavaScript manually. The framework leverages procedural macros and the Leptos UI library to streamline extension development, providing a workflow where core extension concepts—such as popups, background scripts, and event handlers—are expressed through annotated Rust code.

A central feature of Oxichrome is its set of procedural macros, including [extension], [background], [popup], and [on], which map directly to browser extension concepts and replace large amounts of boilerplate code. json files, JavaScript shims, and HTML, ensuring that developers can focus on Rust code while the build system handles integration with browser APIs. The framework wraps Chrome and Firefox APIs in type-safe, asynchronous Rust interfaces, allowing errors to be caught at compile time rather than at runtime. For UI development, Oxichrome integrates with Leptos, enabling the creation of reactive popup and options pages without relying on a JavaScript framework or virtual DOM.

The development process with Oxichrome involves installing the CLI tool via cargo, scaffolding a new project, writing extension logic in Rust using the provided macros, and building the project with a single command. The build tool compiles the Rust code to WebAssembly, generates all required extension assets, and prepares output directories for Chromium and Firefox. Developers can then load the generated extensions into their browsers for testing and deployment. The architecture is modular, with separate crates handling macros, runtime, facade, analysis, and CLI orchestration, but the developer interacts primarily with the main Oxichrome crate.

Oxichrome is aimed at Rust developers who wish to build browser extensions with type safety, modern Rust features, and without direct JavaScript coding.