Overview

RoboCrop is a Firefox extension designed to detect and eliminate invisible or special characters often inserted by AI systems in text. These characters can cause formatting issues, affect copy-pasting, and get your text flagged by detection software. The extension scans web pages and highlights problematic characters, allowing users to eliminate them with a single click. Plus it adds a CRT TV effect and some targetting effects, just to make the whole process a bit cooler

Features

• Character Detection: Scans web pages for invisible or problematic characters
• Visual Highlighting: Highlights detected characters with futuristic crosshairs and a CRT-style effect
• Character Information: Provides detailed information about each detected character via tooltips
• One-Click Elimination: Replaces problematic characters with appropriate alternatives
• Customizable Filters: Configure which types of characters to detect:
  • Hidden/Control Characters: Zero-width spaces, joiners, and other invisible formatting characters
  • Variation Selectors: Unicode characters that modify the appearance of preceding characters
  • Special Spaces: Non-standard space characters like non-breaking spaces, hair spaces, etc.
  • Fancy Dashes: Em dashes, en dashes, and other dash variants

Installation

1. Download and extract the extension files
2. Navigate to about:debugging in Firefox
3. Click "This Firefox"
4. Click "Load Temporary Add-on"
5. Select the manifest.json file from the project directory
6. The RoboCrop icon will appear in your browser toolbar

Usage

1. Navigate to a web page you suspect contains invisible characters
2. Configure settings: Click the RoboCrop icon and select which character types to detect (all are selected by default)
3. Scan for characters: Click the "Scan" button to detect special characters on the current page
4. Review detected characters: Identified characters are highlighted with green crosshairs and labeled (hover over highlights to see character details)
5. Eliminate characters: Click the "Eliminate" button to replace all highlighted characters with appropriate alternatives
6. Process complete: The extension will show a clear state when no problematic characters remain

Screenshots

Permissions

RoboCrop requires the following permissions to function properly:

• activeTab: Allows the extension to access and modify content on the currently active tab when you click the extension icon. This is essential for scanning and highlighting characters on the page you're viewing.

• tabs: Enables the extension to interact with browser tabs and detect when you navigate to different pages. This allows RoboCrop to maintain state across different websites and provide consistent functionality.

• storage: Permits the extension to save your preferences (which character types to detect) locally in your browser. Your settings are stored only on your device and are never transmitted elsewhere.

These permissions follow the principle of least privilege - RoboCrop only requests access to what it absolutely needs to provide its core functionality of detecting and eliminating problematic characters.

Planned Features

• Advanced Settings: Granular control over individual character detection and replacement rules. Users will be able to specify custom replacement characters for each type of problematic character detected.

• Visual Effects Toggle: Option to enable/disable the CRT-style visual effects and crosshair highlighting for users who prefer minimal visual feedback.

• Background Monitoring: Implementation of background script functionality to automatically watch for new page loads and scan content without user intervention. This will include:

  • Automatic scanning of newly loaded pages
  • Visual feedback via the toolbar icon when problematic characters are detected
  • Optional auto-replacement of detected characters
  • Character count badges on the extension icon
  • Cumulative statistics tracking

• Staggered Targeting: Enhanced visual effects with staggered highlighting animations for a more engaging user experience when multiple characters are detected.

Known Issues

• Effect Persistence: Clicking outside the popup when visual effects are active will remove the highlighting effects. This is intended behavior, but can be inadvertently bypassed by right-clicking first instead of left-clicking, which may cause the effects to persist unexpectedly.

Development

Prerequisites

• Firefox browser
• Node.js and npm (for building from source)

Building from Source

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/Skycat1983/firefox_extension.git
   

2. Install dependencies

   npm install
   

3. Build the extension

   npm run build
   

4. Load the extension in Firefox:
   • Navigate to about:debugging
   • Click "This Firefox"
   • Click "Load Temporary Add-on"
   • Select the manifest.json file from the project directory

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Credits

Developed by Skycat1983

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2025 Skycat1983

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy...

Privacy Policy

RoboCrop does not collect, store, or transmit any personal data. All settings are stored locally on your device using Firefox's storage API. No data is sent to external servers.