Word Hunter
A Chrome extension where the player searches for a hidden word embedded invisibly in page text.
The extension picks a word from a chosen WordList and secretly hides it inside a Paragraph on every page the player visits. The word is rendered via CSS ::before on empty <span> elements — invisible to Ctrl+F and browser find. The player hunts for the word by reading the page, then clicks it to register a FindEvent and complete the hunt.
Features
- WordLists — curated sets of Words to choose from (Animals, Pokémon, etc.)
- HiddenWord — inserted invisibly into page Paragraphs, bypasses Ctrl+F
- Hunt Collection — Pokédex-style grid on the Play tab: every word in the active list is a slot. Caught slots show art + catch counter, uncaught slots are silhouettes. Includes progress bar, daily streak, and 5 achievement badges.
- Per-word art — emoji for Animals, animated Pokémon sprite (PokeAPI CDN) shown in the celebration popup and the collection grid
- Auto-Continue mode — opt-in toggle that auto-picks the next word from the active list after each find, so you can keep hunting by simply reloading the page. A top-right toast confirms the mode on every page load; the celebration popup shows an optional "Next up" preview (toggleable in Settings).
- HintTimer — optional hint tooltip after a configurable delay
- HuntRecords — statistics tracking per-hunt: word, duration, page, hint used, list source
- SPA support — NavigationObserver re-injects on client-side navigation
- Settings — configurable hint delay, celebration animation duration, minimum paragraph word threshold, per-toast notification toggles, next-word preview spoiler toggle
Browser support
Word Hunter targets Chromium-based browsers via Manifest V3.
| Browser | Supported |
|---|
| Chrome 116+ | yes |
| Edge 116+ (Chromium) | yes |
| Brave 1.59+ | yes |
| Opera (Chromium) | yes |
| Firefox | no — Firefox's MV3 background-script model differs from Chromium's service worker |
| Safari | no |
Installation
From the Chrome Web Store
Install from the Chrome Web Store →
One click to install; Chrome keeps it up to date automatically.
From source (unpacked)
git clone https://github.com/VinderOrnitier/word-hunter.git
cd word-hunter
pnpm install
pnpm build
Then in Chrome:
- Open
chrome://extensions
- Toggle Developer mode on
- Click Load unpacked and select the
dist/ directory
- Pin the extension to the toolbar for quick access
Development
pnpm install
pnpm dev # vite build --watch
pnpm build # production build
pnpm test # run tests (Jest, jsdom)
Load dist/ as an unpacked extension in Chrome (chrome://extensions → Load unpacked). After a pnpm dev rebuild, click Reload on the extension card to pick up the changes.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for project layout, code conventions, and the PR process. The domain glossary is in CONTEXT.md; cross-cutting design choices are documented as ADRs in docs/adr/.
Privacy
Word Hunter stores everything locally in your browser via chrome.storage.local. No analytics, no telemetry, no first-party server. The only outbound network call is to the public PokeAPI CDN for Pokémon sprite images, with no user identifiers attached.
Full details: PRIVACY.md.
Contributing
Pull requests are welcome. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md and the Code of Conduct before opening a non-trivial PR.
To report a vulnerability privately, see SECURITY.md.
License
MIT © 2026 Vinder Ornitier.
Third-party content (Pokémon names and sprite art, PokeAPI, web fonts) is attributed in NOTICE.md. Word Hunter is an unofficial, non-commercial, fan-made extension and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Nintendo, Game Freak, or The Pokémon Company.
Acknowledgements
- PokeAPI — community Pokédex CDN (CC0 sprite artwork)
- Preact — lightweight UI framework
- @crxjs/vite-plugin — Vite plugin for Chrome MV3 builds
- Fonts: Fraunces, JetBrains Mono, Space Grotesk — all under SIL OFL 1.1
AI Tooling
This project was developed with Claude Code using Matt Pocock's skills. Skill files live in .agents/skills/ and are tracked in git — no install needed after cloning.
To update skills to their latest version:
pnpm dlx skills@latest add mattpocock/skills
Version
1.0.0 — first stable release: core game loop, Hunt Collection, two themes (Slate + Pokédex), and a localized UI (English, Ukrainian, German, Japanese). Available on the Chrome Web Store. See CHANGELOG.md for the full list.
