Nyx — Brave / Chrome extension

Make your new tab feel like a personal command center. Nyx is a beautiful, modern new-tab extension that replaces the ordinary new-tab page with something more useful, stylish, and personal. Instead of a blank or generic page, you get a fast workspace for your favorite links, real bookmarks, a live dashboard, translation, a password vault, immersive wallpapers, and a smooth local music experience.

Current version: 1.4.0 — see doc/changelog/CHANGELOG.md and per-release notes in version/.

Why users love it

• It turns every new tab into a productive and enjoyable start point.
• It feels premium and polished without being complicated to use.
• It keeps you organized with grouped shortcuts, real bookmarks, and quick actions.
• It gives your browser a personal identity with dynamic colors and custom backgrounds.
• It supports local music playback, so your media experience stays private and fast.

Main features

• Organized link groups and pinned shortcuts with inline editing and drag-to-reorder
• Bookmarks browser — the saved tab browses your real browser bookmarks (folders and all), with a breadcrumb and search
• Translation — select text on any page to translate it inline, plus a full translator panel (Alt+G) and a >translate command
• History-aware search bar — suggestions from your browsing history and bookmarks, like the address bar
• Password vault — a security dashboard with a score ring, weak/reused breakdown, 2FA coverage, and recently used/saved
• Display settings — text size (S/M/L), bold weight, board width, and open-links-in-new-tab
• Beautiful wallpapers — image and video backgrounds, with smart accent colors that adapt automatically, plus optional random wallpaper and lyrics-on-wallpaper
• Command mode (>) for quick actions, and an Alt+D dashboard (weather, date, calendar, profile, system, local music player)
• Built-in update notifications — no server needed (see "Updates" below)

Installation

One line in a terminal — no backend, no build step. The same command installs and updates.

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RDXFGXY1/nyx/main/install.ps1 | iex

Linux / macOS:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RDXFGXY1/nyx/main/install.sh | sh

On a first run it downloads the extension and tells you the folder to point "Load unpacked" at. On later runs it finds your existing install and swaps the old files for the new ones.

Manual install, if you prefer:

1. Copy or unzip this folder somewhere permanent (or clone this repo).
2. Open brave://extensions (or chrome://extensions).
3. Turn on Developer mode.
4. Click Load unpacked and select this project folder.
5. Open a new tab to start using the extension.

Updating Run the same one-liner again, then click the reload arrow on nyx in brave://extensions. Your data is safe: settings, links, notes, stash, vault, dictionaries and stats live in the browser profile, not in the extension folder — and an unpacked extension keeps its identity as long as its folder path doesn't change, so the updater always writes in place and never moves or renames the folder. js/config.js (your personal links) is never overwritten; if a release changes the default it lands beside it as js/config.new.js. The previous code is zipped to a backups folder first (last 3 kept).

The installer shows a Tokyo-night neon banner, a live download counter, and a progress bar (color + animation on a real terminal; it degrades to plain text when piped to a file).

Updater options (environment variables):

• NYX_DIR — install to / update a specific folder
• NYX_REF — install from a branch or tag other than main
• NYX_SRC — install from a local .zip or folder instead of downloading
• NYX_PLAIN=1 — disable color/animation · NYX_ANIM=1 — force it on when piping

Customize your experience Edit js/config.js to change:

• your link groups and shortcuts
• your name and city
• dock pins and favorites
• tab names and layout settings

Command mode Type > in the search bar to use quick commands such as:

• wall / >wall reset pick or restore a wallpaper (image or video)

• accent auto / >accent #hex auto or manual accent color

• name X / >city X change the greeting name or weather city

• translate / >tr open the translator, or quick-translate text

• stash open your bookmarks

• vault open the password vault

• settings open settings

• tab X / >dock / >reset

Keyboard shortcuts

• / focus the search bar
• Alt+D dashboard (Alt+K if Brave uses Alt+D)
• Alt+S bookmarks
• Alt+P password vault
• Alt+G translator
• Alt+N / Alt+T quick note / to-do

Dashboard experience Use Alt+D to open the dashboard:

• Dashboard tab — weather, profile, date, and calendar
• Media tab — local music playback and control of audio in your other tabs
• System tab — battery, memory, storage, and network details

Local music server (optional) Nyx can pair with a local backend music server (in the backend folder, not tracked here) for browsing and streaming your own music library, lyrics, and a desktop Vinyl HUD. It listens on http://127.0.0.1:5055 by default. Everything works without it — the server just unlocks the music/vault features.

Updates Nyx checks a small version.json in this repo (no backend). When a newer version is published, installed copies show an update banner; closing it leaves a small pulsing pill that opens a "What's new" list. To publish a release: bump manifest.json and version.json, update js/whatsnew.js, and follow version/README.md.

Permissions storage, tabs, topSites, bookmarks, history, contextMenus, webNavigation, and host access for weather, lyrics, translation, update checks, and the optional local server.

Project files

• manifest.json extension configuration
• index.html page layout
• css/style.css main styling
• js/config.js your personal links and settings
• js/app.js clock, weather, search, and tabs
• js/theme.js wallpaper and color logic
• js/commands.js command palette and dock behavior
• js/stash.js + js/bookmarksCore.js bookmarks browser
• js/vault.js password vault dashboard
• js/translate.js + js/content.js translation
• js/whatsnew.js + js/updatecheck.js what's-new popup + update notifications

Built for people who want their browser to feel more like a personal workspace than a blank page.