Three install paths, one philosophy
SnapToolz can show up on your machine in three forms, and you can run any or all of them at once. All three share the same code, the same UI, the same local-first guarantees. What changes is the surface area: how easy is it to reach the tool you want?
The PWA gives you a dock/start-menu icon and full offline support. The browser extension gives you right-click context menus on any page. The desktop build gives you native file streaming and OS-level integration.
Option 1 — Install as a PWA (recommended baseline)
On a modern desktop browser, look for the install icon in the URL bar — a small monitor with a down arrow. Click it. SnapToolz now opens as its own window without browser chrome, with an icon in your dock or Start menu. Closing the window doesn't close the tab; opening the icon doesn't open a new tab.
Once installed, the service worker keeps the tool cache fresh. The next time you compress a PDF on a plane, you don't need a network connection — the JavaScript and WebAssembly are already on disk. The /install page walks you through this on iOS and Android specifically, where the install gesture is buried in the Share menu.
Option 2 — Add the browser extension
The extension lives at /extension. It adds a SnapToolz submenu to your browser's right-click menu: select text on any page → right-click → SnapToolz → Format as JSON (or Base64, hash, QR, URL-encode, clean whitespace, count words, etc). Selected images get Compress / Convert / Resize / Crop / Palette / Strip EXIF. Selected links get QR code / link inspector.
The popup gives you a quick-launch grid for the six most-common tools, plus a text input that auto-routes to whichever tool fits your content. Default shortcut is Alt+Shift+S (⌘+Shift+S on Mac) — rebind it in chrome://extensions/shortcuts if you prefer.
Two permissions only: contextMenus and storage. No host permissions, no <all_urls>, no telemetry. The selected text goes via URL hash to the tool tab — it never enters network traffic.
Option 3 — Desktop build (Tauri)
The Tauri build is a native window wrapping the same web app. It's smaller (~10 MB installer instead of Electron's ~150 MB), faster on startup, and gets you direct File System Access without browser permission prompts every time. The /desktop page covers the Windows / macOS / Linux installers as they become available.
For now the desktop build is a preview — the web and PWA versions are the recommended production paths. We'll surface a stable desktop release on the /changelog page when it's ready.
Which one should you pick?
- Just want to use SnapToolz occasionally? Stay on the website.
- Use it daily for files? Install as a PWA.
- Use it daily for text snippets (JSON, regex, hash)? Install the extension.
- Want native file integration? Watch the desktop releases page.
Most power users end up running PWA + extension together. The PWA owns the "I'm processing a file" path; the extension owns the "I selected some text" path. They share favourites, recent tools, and workflow state via IndexedDB, so flipping between them feels seamless.
FAQ
- Will the PWA update when I update the site?
- Yes — the service worker fetches new versions in the background and applies them on the next launch. You don't need to manually update.
- Can I use the PWA offline?
- Once a tool has been opened with a connection at least once, yes — the JavaScript and assets are cached. Tools you've never opened need a one-time download.
- Does the extension share data with the website?
- Only via URL hash, which is local to the browser tab. The extension and the website both read your IndexedDB favorites + recent tools via the same shared storage origin, so the experiences stay in sync without any sync server.
- Is there a Linux desktop build?
- Tauri targets AppImage / .deb / .rpm. The current desktop build is a preview; tracking on /changelog when each format ships a stable release.