Dark Reader analyzes web pages and aims to reduce eyestrain while browsing the web.
Dark Reader is an open-source MIT-licensed browser extension designed to analyze web pages. Dark Reader will generate a dark mode that aims to reduce the eyestrain of the user. Dark Reader is feature-rich and is customizable in many ways throughout the UI.
Most questions can be answered by reading the help page. If the help page doesn't answer your question, open up a new discussion.
Read more about contributing to Dark Reader in CONTRIBUTING.md.
Dark Reader build script requires a JavaScript runtime, either NodeJS or Deno. We recommend using NodeJS, Deno support is experimental.
You can install the extension from a file. Install Node.js (we recommend LTS or higher, but any version at or above 15 will work). Download the source code (or check out from git). Open the terminal in the root folder and run:
npm install
npm run build
ornpm run build [-- flags]
This will create a build/release/darkreader-chrome.zip
file for use in a Chromium-based browser and a build/release/darkreader-firefox.xpi
file for use in Firefox.
You can customize build process by passing flags to build script. To see all flags, run npm run build -- --help
.
You can build Dark Reader with alternative runtime called Deno. For this run deno:bootstrap
script (e.g., via npm run deno:bootstrap
or manually copy the command from package.json
). Then run the same commands described above.
Please note that if you encounter error Too many open files (os error 24)
, then you should use the newer version of Deno (preferably built from source or canary).
Prior to publication, extension stores provide digital signatures for extensions. These digital signatures certify the integrity of the archive (that extension bundle did not get corrupted or bit-rotted) and that extension store preformed very basic extension validation.
Dark Reader repository contains these digital signatures and you can add them to the extension bundle. The following will build Dark Reader for Firefox version 4.9.63:
npm run build -- --firefox --version=4.9.63
Please note that only Firefox Add-ons store signatures are present in the repositiry right now. Also, due to NodeJS and TypeScript version compatibility, one might have to first check out the old revision (commit), then build the extension files, then check out the recent commit and create the bundle (by running only signature
and zip
steps).
You can use Dark Reader to enable dark mode on your website!
- Install the package from NPM (
npm install darkreader
) - or build from the source code (
npm run api
) - or include the script via a CDN such as unpkg or jsDelivr
Then you can use the following code to control Dark Reader's API:
DarkReader.enable({
brightness: 100,
contrast: 90,
sepia: 10
});
DarkReader.disable();
// Enable when the system color scheme is dark.
DarkReader.auto({
brightness: 100,
contrast: 90,
sepia: 10
});
// Stop watching for the system color scheme.
DarkReader.auto(false);
// Get the generated CSS of Dark Reader returned as a string.
const CSS = await DarkReader.exportGeneratedCSS();
// Check if Dark Reader is enabled.
const isEnabled = DarkReader.isEnabled();
... or if you are using ES modules:
import {
enable as enableDarkMode,
disable as disableDarkMode,
auto as followSystemColorScheme,
exportGeneratedCSS as collectCSS,
isEnabled as isDarkReaderEnabled
} from 'darkreader';
enableDarkMode({
brightness: 100,
contrast: 90,
sepia: 10,
});
disableDarkMode();
followSystemColorScheme();
const CSS = await collectCSS();
const isEnabled = isDarkReaderEnabled();
Be aware that Dark Reader will add the chrome
object onto the window
object. These are to stub certain functions that the code will use. They originate from the webextension-api.
Automatically syncing the site fixes to every Dark Reader user was disabled because the GitHub team does not allow using GitHub as a CDN. The storage of these files would be expensive, and making requests to other resources would look suspicious. Each new release of Dark Reader will include these changes.
However, this can be enabled using the following steps:
- Click on the Dark Reader icon.
- Click on the
Dev tools
button (in the bottom-right corner). - Click on the
Preview new design
button. - Enable the
Synchronize site fixes
setting underSettings
->Manage settings
.
To force a synchronization of the sites fixes (when the corresponding setting is enabled), perform the following steps:
- Click on the Dark Reader icon.
- Click on the
Dev tools
button (in the bottom-right corner). - Click on the
Reset
button. This will remove any custom site fixes you may have.
By default, Dark Reader does not work on some websites due to security restrictions enforced by Mozilla.
The following instructions will guide you on how to bypass those restrictions.
Proceed with caution. This exposes you to a security risk if you do not know what you are doing.
These settings will apply to all extensions, and not just Dark Reader.
Step 1: change Dark Reader's settings.
- Click on the Dark Reader icon.
- Click on the
Dev tools
button (in the bottom-right corner). - Click on the
Preview new design button
. - Enable the
Enable on restricted pages
setting underSettings
->Site list
.
Step 2: change Firefox's settings.
- Type
about:config
in the address bar and press Enter. A warning page may appear. ClickAccept the Risk and Continue
to go to theabout:config
page. - Search for and set
extensions.webextensions.restrictedDomains
to an empty value. - Create
extensions.webextensions.addons-restricted-domains@mozilla.com.disabled
withboolean
as type and set its value totrue
. - Set
extensions.quarantinedDomains.enabled
tofalse
. - Set
privacy.resistFingerprinting.block_mozAddonManager
withboolean
as type and set its value totrue
. - Restart Firefox.
Thank you to all our generous backers! Support Dark Reader by becoming a backer.
Does your company use Dark Reader? Please ask your manager or the marketing team if your company would be interested in supporting our project. Your support will allow the maintainers to dedicate more time to maintenance and creating new features for everyone. Also, your company's logo will show on GitHub. Who doesn't want a little extra exposure? Here's the info.