Topics

#ai-tools #chrome #customizable #firefox #gemini-api #keyboard-shortcuts #minimalistic-design #network-tools #new-tab-page #productivity #safari #startup-page #terminal-ui #terminal-ui-retro-ui #web-app #webpage

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README

Terminal Start Page

A sleek, fast, and feature-rich browser start page driven by an interactive terminal. Boost your productivity with semantic AI routing, direct Gemini integration, open directory search, shelf bookmarks, and a growing suite of built-in utility tools — all wrapped in a premium, modern aesthetic.

→ Try it live: caffienerd.github.io/startpage

Inspired by ahmetdem/start-page

Open directory search inspired by ewasion/opendirectory-finder

- Search Prefixes - Open Directory Prefixes - System Commands - Theme Commands

Keyboard Shortcuts
Utility Tools
Customization
Privacy

Demo

Themes

Install as Browser Extension

Use Terminal Start Page as your new tab page — works in Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Edge, and more.

Load manually (all Chromium browsers)

node build.js chrome        # sets manifest.json for Chrome/Brave/Edge

Open chrome://extensions (or brave://extensions, edge://extensions)
Enable Developer mode
Click Load unpacked → select this folder

Firefox

node build.js firefox       # sets manifest.json for Firefox

Open about:debugging → This Firefox
Click Load Temporary Add-on → select manifest.json

Focus tip: For best experience in Firefox, go to about:config and set

browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.handoffToAwesomebar → false

This lets the terminal receive focus automatically on new tab.

Opera

node build.js opera         # sets manifest.json for Opera

Load via Opera's extension developer mode. The extension uses a background service worker to intercept new tabs since Opera doesn't support chromeurloverrides.

Getting Started

As a localhost web page

You need a static file server. Opening index.html directly works for most features, but serving it properly is recommended for API requests.

Option 1: Python (Quickest)

python -m http.server 6174

Option 2: Caddy

Copy Caddyfile.example to Caddyfile, set your directory path, then:

caddy run --config Caddyfile

Other options

Any static server works — npx serve, nginx, etc.

Visit http://localhost:6174 in your browser.

Version management

Version is defined once in version/version.js and stamped into all manifests by the build script:

# Edit version/version.js, then:
node build.js chrome     # stamp + set Chrome manifest
node build.js firefox    # stamp + set Firefox manifest
node build.js opera      # stamp + set Opera manifest
node build.js            # stamp only, don't touch manifest.json

Features

Interactive Terminal — Command-driven interface with autocomplete (Tab), syntax highlighting per command type, and command history (↑/↓).
Semantic AI Router — Use ai: to navigate by intent. Intelligently routes to YouTube, Maps, Reddit, or search.
Gemini Integration — Direct AI prompting via gem: or gemini:. Responses appear in a clean, non-intrusive modal.
Open Directory Search — Power-user Google dorking via dir/<category>/<engine>: keyword. Search public open directory indexes filtered by file type, with full autocomplete and an interactive builder (:dir).
Shelf Bookmarks — A hidden second layer of bookmarks that surface dynamically as you type, filling slots vacated by non-matching upfront bookmarks. See Shelf Bookmarks.
8 Themes — Light, Dark, AMOLED Black, Nord, Newspaper, Coffee, Root (Hacker), and Neon (Cyberpunk).
Syntax Highlighting — Color-coded input for commands, themes, search prefixes, directory tokens, URLs, and more — fully customizable via :customize.
Live Dashboard — Local time and real-time weather at a glance.
Onboarding Tour — Interactive guided tour on first launch. Replay anytime with :tour.
Utility Suite:

- Spell Check — Smart spelling suggestions via spell:. Press D to define the selected word. - Pronunciation — Human-readable syllable breakdown + audio playback via pronounce:. Works on any word, including scientific and technical terms. - IP Info — Detailed network info (IPv4, IPv6, ISP, ASN, location) via :ipconfig. - Speed Test — Integrated network performance testing via :netspeed.

Bookmark Management — Fully customizable bookmark grid via visual editor or raw JSON. Includes a separate Shelf tab for hidden bookmarks.
Custom Tags — Override built-in search prefixes or define entirely new ones via :tags.
Backup & Restore — Export and import all settings (including shelf bookmarks) as a single JSON file.

Shelf Bookmarks

Shelf bookmarks are a hidden second layer that lives behind your main grid. They don't appear on the page — but as soon as you start typing, matching shelf items surface into the slots vacated by non-matching upfront bookmarks.

How it works:

Your main (upfront) bookmarks fill the grid normally when the terminal is empty.
As you type, upfront bookmarks that don't match your query fade out.
Shelf bookmarks that do match slide into those empty slots.
Clear the terminal → everything resets to default instantly.

Matching rules:

Matching is by title only (not URL) — so short alias titles like yt, gh, gpt work great.
Priority: upfront startsWith > shelf startsWith > upfront includes > shelf includes.
The best match gets the primary highlight and is what Enter launches.

Example:

Upfront: YouTube, Reddit, Discord, GitHub, Gmail Shelf: CyberChef, RemoveBG, Cobalt

Type c → Discord stays (matches), CyberChef and Cobalt slide into the slots where non-matching upfront items were. Everything else fades out.

Managing shelf bookmarks:

Run :bookmarks → click the Shelf tab. Same grid editor and JSON toggle as upfront bookmarks. Shelf bookmarks are included in :export / :import backups automatically.

Configuration

Run :config to open the settings modal.

Run :customize to change the active theme and independently adjust the syntax highlight color for each input type. Colors persist across theme changes.

Command Reference

Search Prefixes

Open Directory Prefixes

Search public open directory indexes using Google dorking (intitle:index.of). Syntax:

dir/<category>/<engine>: keyword

Both <category> and <engine> are optional. Omitting the engine uses your configured default.

Engine override — append /ggl, /ddg, or /bing before the colon:

dir/music/ddg: flac albums
dir/books/bing: operating systems pdf
dir//ggl: keyword        ← no category, explicit Google

Category aliases:

Tab autocomplete works after dir/ (suggests categories) and after dir/category/ (suggests engines).

System Commands

Theme Commands

Keyboard Shortcuts

Terminal

Ctrl+Enter and Ctrl+Shift+Enter work for bookmarks, search prefixes, direct URLs, plain-text searches, and dir: queries.

Spell Check (`spell:`)

| Key | Action | | :--- | :--- | | ↑ / ↓ | Navigate suggestions | | Enter | Copy selected suggestion to terminal | | D | Define the selected (or confirmed) word via OneLook | | Esc | Close |

Pronunciation (`pronounce:`)

| Key | Action | | :--- | :--- | | Space | Play / stop audio | | D | Define the word via OneLook | | Esc | Close |

Utility Tools

Spell Check — `spell:word`

Checks spelling using the Datamuse phonetic API with frequency scoring to eliminate false positives. Works on single words and multi-word phrases.

↑ / ↓ to navigate suggestions, Enter to copy the selected correction to the terminal.
Click or press D on any suggestion — or on a confirmed-correct word — to open its definition in OneLook.

Pronunciation — `pronounce:word`

Displays a human-readable syllable breakdown (e.g. nyoo·muh·noh·uhl·truh...) with the original IPA below it for reference. Plays audio using real MP3 recordings where available, falling back to browser speech synthesis for any word that lacks one — including scientific, chemical, and technical terms.

Works on single words and multi-word phrases. Each word is fetched independently and played in sequence.
Press Space or click Play to hear the pronunciation.
Press D to jump to the OneLook definition.

IP Info — `:ipconfig`

Shows your IPv4 and IPv6 addresses fetched from separate protocol-locked endpoints, plus ISP, ASN, timezone, location, and VPN detection from ipapi.co.

Speed Test — `:netspeed`

Runs an in-browser download/upload speed test and displays latency.

Customization

Bookmarks

The start page uses a 4-column layout. Customize bookmarks two ways:

Visual Editor (:bookmarks) — grid editor that maps directly to the 4-column layout. Switch between the Upfront and Shelf tabs to manage each set independently.
JSON Mode — toggle "Edit as JSON" inside the bookmarks modal for bulk edits or to share your setup.

Shelf Bookmarks

Open :bookmarks → click the Shelf tab. Add bookmarks here that you don't need visible all the time — they'll surface automatically when your terminal input matches their title. Short, memorable titles work best (e.g. gpt, cyberchef, bg).

Search Overrides & Custom Tags

Run :tags to override built-in search prefix URLs (e.g. point amazon: to amazon.in) or define entirely new prefixes. Custom prefixes get full syntax highlighting and autocomplete automatically.

Open Directory Extensions

Run :dirconfig to customize which file extensions each dir/ category searches for. Click × on a pill to remove an extension, type a new one and press Enter to add it, or use ↺ to reset to defaults.

Syntax Colors

Run :customize to set the highlight color for each input type independently. Colors are stored separately from themes — switching themes never resets your color choices.

Backup & Restore

Use ↓ Export and ↑ Import in :config to save all settings (bookmarks, shelf bookmarks, colors, API keys, custom tags, dir extensions) to a single JSON file and restore them anytime.

Privacy

All settings, including your Gemini API Key, are stored locally in your browser. When running as an extension, the API key is stored in the browser's encrypted extension storage (chrome.storage.local) — never in plain localStorage. No data is sent to any external server except for:

Google Gemini — when using gem: or ai: prompts
Open-Meteo — for real-time weather
Wiktionary / Free Dictionary API — for pronounce: IPA lookup (no key, no tracking)
Datamuse — for spell: suggestions (no key, no tracking)
ipapi.co / ident.me — for :ipconfig (your IP is sent by nature of the request)