Pros of chrome-extension-boilerplate-react

• Built with React, offering a more modern and component-based approach
• Includes hot-reloading for faster development
• Provides a more comprehensive project structure with separate folders for components, pages, and hooks

Cons of chrome-extension-boilerplate-react

• Larger bundle size due to React dependencies
• Steeper learning curve for developers not familiar with React
• Less focus on cross-browser compatibility compared to web-extension-starter

Code Comparison

web-extension-starter:

import Browser from 'webextension-polyfill';

export async function getCurrentTab() {
  const tabs = await Browser.tabs.query({currentWindow: true, active: true});
  return tabs[0];
}

chrome-extension-boilerplate-react:

import React from 'react';
import { createRoot } from 'react-dom/client';

const root = createRoot(document.getElementById('root'));
root.render(<Popup />);

The code snippets highlight the different approaches:

• web-extension-starter uses a more traditional JavaScript approach with browser APIs
• chrome-extension-boilerplate-react leverages React for rendering components

Both repositories provide solid starting points for developing browser extensions, but they cater to different preferences and use cases. web-extension-starter offers a more lightweight and cross-browser compatible solution, while chrome-extension-boilerplate-react provides a modern React-based development experience with additional features like hot-reloading.

Pros of web-ext

• Officially maintained by Mozilla, ensuring compatibility with Firefox
• Robust CLI tool for building, running, and testing web extensions
• Supports auto-reloading and watching for file changes during development

Cons of web-ext

• Primarily focused on Firefox, may require additional setup for cross-browser development
• Less opinionated about project structure and build processes
• Steeper learning curve for beginners compared to web-extension-starter

Code Comparison

web-ext:

web-ext run
web-ext lint
web-ext build

web-extension-starter:

"scripts": {
  "dev": "cross-env NODE_ENV=development webpack --config webpack.config.js",
  "build": "cross-env NODE_ENV=production webpack --config webpack.config.js",
  "lint": "eslint . --ext .ts,.tsx"
}

Summary

web-ext is a powerful tool for Firefox extension development, offering robust CLI features and official Mozilla support. However, it may require additional setup for cross-browser compatibility. web-extension-starter provides a more opinionated and beginner-friendly approach, with a pre-configured project structure and build process. The choice between the two depends on the developer's experience level and specific project requirements.

Pros of vue-web-extension

• Built specifically for Vue.js, providing a more tailored experience for Vue developers
• Includes Vue Router and Vuex out of the box, offering a complete Vue ecosystem
• Uses Vue CLI 3, which provides a more modern and flexible build setup

Cons of vue-web-extension

• Less frequently updated compared to web-extension-starter
• Focuses solely on Vue.js, limiting flexibility for developers who might want to use other frameworks
• May have a steeper learning curve for developers not familiar with Vue.js ecosystem

Code Comparison

web-extension-starter:

import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
import Popup from './Popup';

ReactDOM.render(<Popup />, document.getElementById('popup-root'));

vue-web-extension:

import Vue from 'vue';
import App from './App.vue';
import store from './store';

/* eslint-disable no-new */
new Vue({
  el: '#app',
  store,
  render: h => h(App),
});

The code comparison highlights the different approaches: web-extension-starter uses React, while vue-web-extension is built around Vue.js. The vue-web-extension example also showcases the integration with Vuex (store), which is included by default.

Both projects aim to simplify web extension development, but they cater to different ecosystems and developer preferences. The choice between them largely depends on the developer's familiarity with React or Vue.js and the specific requirements of the project.