Userscripts Safari

An open-source userscript editor for Safari

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Usage
• UI Overview
  • Browser Page
  • Settings Modal
  • Popover
• Metadata
• API
• Scripts Directory / Save Location
• Getting Help
• FAQs
• Contributing
• Support
• Privacy Policy
• License

Installation

Userscripts is available for iOS (+ipadOS) and macOS. For all versions, installation is done through Apple's App Store. On macOS, versions prior to 4.x were made available to download and install directly from the repository, but due to changes in the way Apple allows developers to distribute apps built with the WebExtension API, that is no longer an option.

To run Userscripts on iOS you should be on iOS 15.1 or higher.

To run Userscripts on macOS you should running macOS 12 or higher, along with Safari 14.1 or higher.

App Store Link

Development Progress

Usage

It's recommend to read this documentation and, if you have time, watch the following video overviews to familiarize yourself with the app and extension.

Once the app is downloaded and installed the following steps should be taken:

iOS

• Go to Settings > Extensions > Userscripts
• Turn Userscripts on
• For optimal experience it's recommended that you allow Userscripts for All Websites
• Once the above is complete open the containing app
• Click the "Set Userscripts Directory" button and select the directory, within the Files.app, where your userscripts are located and where you wish newly installed userscripts to be placed
  • Tip: for optimal cross platform experience it's a good idea to use an iCloud folder for syncing between macOS and iOS
  • Note: syncing between macOS and iOS is not immediate, it is sometimes necessary to open Files.app in order to applying changes made in macOS to be reflected in iOS - that includes userscript deletions, additions and edits
• Once the directory is set you can close the containing app and open Safari.app
• It may be necessary to apply further permissions and it's to Always Allow Userscripts for All Websites

macOS

After installing Userscripts on macOS, you do not need to select a userscripts directory if you do not plan on syncing your userscripts between multiple devices. Instead you can choose to use the default directory, which is located at ~/User/Library/Containers/Userscripts/Data/Documents/scripts - again, this is default (and automatic) behavior. You only need to select a new location if you want to store your userscripts elsewhere, which is especially useful if you are using an external code editor such as Sublime Text or VSCode.

Here's a short clip showing how to easily create/add a userscript in Safari using this extension on macOS

UI Overview

Browser Page:

1. Extension button - click this button to open the extension interface
2. Filter bar - use this input to filter items in the sidebar, by name
3. Sort button - changes the order of the items in the sidebar by name or modified time
4. Sidebar buttons - described left to right
   • The settings button (represented by a cog) displays the settings modal (discussed below)
   • The plus button allows users to add new items
     • New CSS is a "userscript" that expects CSS code
     • New Javascript is a prototypical userscript that expects Javascript code
     • New Remote allows the user to add a remote hosted userscript (or style) by inputting the web address (ex: https://www.k21p.com/example.user.js)
5. Item toggle - this toggle enables or disables an item
6. Item - this is the userscript (or style), clicking on it will load it's contents into the editor - you can hide descriptions in the settings area!
7. Editor buttons (top) - described left to right
   • Update button - this button allows you to update userscripts that meet the following conditions
     • metadata contains @version tag
     • metadata contains @updateURL tag
   • Download button - click this button to download a copy of your userscript
     • Note: every userscript that is displayed in the interface is already present on your local machine, at your save location - the download button offers a quick way to retrieve a copy of that file, without needing to click the settings button, and then the save location link within the settings modal
   • Trash button - moves the currently loaded userscript to the trash bin - it will subsequently be removed from the interface and save location
8. Editor buttons (bottom)
   • Discard - while editing, reverts any unsaved changes you've made to a userscript
   • Save - while editing, saves all changes you've made to a userscript
     • Command + S is the keyboard shortcut for the action

Settings Modal:

• Auto Close Brackets - toggles on/off auto closing of brackets in the editor
  • this affects the following characters: () [] {} "" ''
• Auto Hint - automatically shows completion hints while editing
• Hide Descriptions - hides the item descriptions in the sidebar
• Show Invisibles - toggles the display of invisible characters in the editor
• Javascript Linter - toggles basic Javascript linting within the editor
• Tab Size - the number of spaces a tab is equal to while editing, obviously defaults to 4 because using 2 spaces is absolute insanity
• Enable Injection - toggle on/off script injection for the pages you visit (this is the on/off switch)
• Show Toolbar Count - displays a badge on the toolbar icon with a number that represents how many enabled scripts match the url for the page you are on
• Save Location - where your file are currently located and being saved to (click the blue text to open location)
• Change Save Location (cogs icon) - this button, located directly to the right of the save location, is a shortcut for opening the host app, which will allow you to change the save location
• Global Blacklist - all domain patterns listed here will be globally ignored for script injection

Popup:

10. Open Page Link - macOS only, opens the extension browser page
11. Enable Injection toggle - turns on/off page script injection (on/off switch)
12. Refresh View - refreshes the popup view
13. Available Updates View - the extension periodically checks all userscripts in your save location for updates and when an update is found, it is shown in this view
14. Folder Button - on macOS this button opens your save location directory in Finder, on iOS this button displays the "all scripts view" where you can see every script that found in your save location directory, the "all scripts view" allows you to toggle individual userscript scripts on/off regardless of the current page being displayed in the browser
15. Install Prompt - when a userscript is displayed in the browser, this alert displays, giving the user the option to install the userscript into their save location directory, tapping the prompt will take them through the installation steps
16. Matched Userscripts List - this list shows the currently matched userscripts relative to the current page being displayed in the browser, all userscripts that match to the domain will be showed, whether they are active or not. Users can click/tap the userscript to the toggle them on/off. If a userscript is active for the domain through a subframe a sub tag will be show next the to the file type indicator

Metadata

Userscripts Safari currently supports the following userscript metadata:

• @name - This will be the name that displays in the sidebar and be used as the filename - you can not use the same name for multiple files of the same type
• @description- Use this to describe what your userscript does - this will be displayed in the sidebar - there is a setting to hide descriptions
• @match - Domain match patterns - you can use several instances of this field if you'd like multiple domain matches - view this article for more information on constructing patterns
  • Note: this extension only supports http/s
• @exclude-match - Domain patterns where you do not want the script to run
• @include - Used to match against urls for injection, globs and regular expressions are allowed, read more here
• @exclude - Functions in a similar way as @include but rather than injecting, a match against this key's value will prevent injection
• @inject-into - allows the user to choose which context to inject the script into
  • allows the user to choose which context to inject the script into
  • values: auto (default), content, page
  • works like violentmonkey
• @run-at
  • allows the user to choose the injection timing
  • document-start, document-end (default), document-idle
  • works like violentmonkey
  • JS Only
• @weight
  • allows the user to further adjust script injection timing
  • can be used to ensure one script injects before another
  • ONLY accepts integers (floats, strings and everything else will be ignored)
  • min value = 1, max value = 999, higher numbers (“heavier”) execute earlier
• @require
  • allows users to include remote resources in their scripts
  • the value must be a valid url, currently no local file support
  • must require a resource of the same file type (JS for JS, CSS for CSS)
  • when a resource is required, it is downloaded and saved locally
  • the resources is downloaded once at save and never checked for updates or parsed in anyway
    • if you want to update the require resources, and the url does not change, you must remove the resources, save, then re-input it
  • require remote resources at your own risk, the extension never validates remote resource code in any way and be aware that using remote resources from untrusted sources can jeopardize your personal security
• @version
  • used to determine the current version of a userscript
  • when paired with @updateURL, this will allow the user to update a userscript from a remote source, if the version on their machine is < version at the update URL
  • @version does nothing by itself, it needs to be paired with @updateURL for remote updating to function properly
• @updateURL
  • the remote url to check version against
  • if the version of the file located at the update URL is > the version on the local machine, the file will be updated
  • @updateURL does nothing by itself, it needs to be paired with @version for remote updating to function properly
• @downloadURL
  • optional download location for a remotely updateable file (*i.e. a file that has both @version and @updateURL)
  • when paired with @version and @updateURL, if the local version is < the version of the file that @updateURL points to, the extension will attempt to update the file's code with the contents of the file located at the @downloadURL
  • @downloadURL does nothing by itself, it needs @version and @updateURL to present in order to function properly
• @noframes
  • this key takes no value
  • prevents code from being injected into nested frames

All userscripts need at least 1 @match or @include to run!

API

Userscripts currently supports the following api methods. All methods are asynchronous unless otherwise noted. All methods are accessible without regard to @grant when @inject-into has the content value..

• GM.addStyle(css)
  • css: String
  • on success returns a promise resolved with the css string argument provided
• GM_addStyle(css)
  • css: String
  • synchronous
  • returns the css string argument provided without regard to success
• GM.setValue(key, value)
  • key: String, value: Any
  • on success returns a promise resolved with an object indicating success
• GM.getValue(key, defaultValue)
  • key: String, defaultValue: Any
  • on success returns a promise resolved with the value that was set or default value provided
• GM.deleteValue(key)
  • key: String
  • on success returns a promise resolved with an object indicating success
• GM.listValues()
  • on success returns a promise resolved with an array of the key names of presently set values
• GM.openInTab(url, openInBackground)
  • url: String, openInBackground: Bool
  • on success returns a promise resolved with the tab data for the tab just opened
• US.closeTab(tabId)
  • tabId: Int
  • tabId is optional and if omitted the tab that called US.closeTab will be closed
  • on success returns a promise resolved with an object indicating success
• GM.setClipboard(data, type)
  • data: String - required
  • type: String - optional and defaults to text/plain
  • read more here
  • on success returns a promise resolved with a Bool indicating success
• GM_setClipboard(data, type)
  • "synchronous' version of GM.setClipboard
  • the setClipboard function runs in the background script, requires a promise to send message from content script to background to facilitate writing to the clipboard, thus no real synchronous function available
  • returns undefined
• GM.info && GM_info
  • is available without needing to add it to @grant
  • an object containing information about the running userscript
    • scriptHandler: String - returns Userscripts
    • version: String - the version of Userscripts app
    • scriptMetaStr: String - the metablock for the currently running script
    • script: Object - contains data about the currently running script
      • description: String
      • exclude-match: [String]
      • excludes: [String]
      • grant: [String]
      • includes: [String]
      • inject-into: String
      • matches: [String]
      • name: String
      • namespace: String
      • noframes: Bool
      • require: [String]
      • resources: [String] - currently not implemented
      • run-at: String
      • version: String - the userscript version value
• GM.xmlHttpRequest(details)
  • details: Object
  • the details object accepts the following properties
    • url - String - required
    • method - String - defaults to GET
    • user - String
    • password - String
    • headers - Object
    • overrideMimeType
    • timeout - Int
    • binary - Bool
    • data - String
    • responseType - String
    • read more about XMLHttpRequests here
  • event handlers:
    • onabort - function
    • onerror - function
    • onload - function
    • onloadend - function
    • onloadstart - function
    • onprogress - function
    • onreadystatechange - function
    • ontimeout - function
    • the response object passed to the event handlers has the following properties:
      • readyState
      • response
      • responseHeaders
      • responseType
      • responseURL
      • status
      • statusText
      • timeout
      • withCredentials
      • responseText (when responseType is text)
  • returns an object with a single property, abort, which is a function
    • usage: const foo = GM.xmlHttpRequest({...}); ... foo.abort() to abort the request
• GM_xmlhttpRequest(details)
  • an alias for GM.xmlHttpRequest, works exactly the same

Scripts Directory

This is the directory where the app/extension will read from and write to. This directory is changed by opening the containing app and clicking the respective "change location" button.

Script Directory Notes

• Close all instances of the extension UI (browser app and/or popup) before changing the scripts directory
• After files are added, removed or edited, you will need to open the popup at least 1 time to see those changes reflected in your browsing experience
• On macOS, after a directory outside of the default is selected, if you rename or move that selected directory, the extension will continue to read/write to that directory - the only way to remove the “link” is by trashing the folder or selecting a new save location

Getting Help

If you encounter a problem while using this app/extension or are in need of some assistance, please open an issue here in the repository. When doing so, please provide as much detail as possible. This includes listing system specs and what website and script you are trying to execute. Please follow the issue template!

FAQs

"Refused to execute a script" error(s), what should I do!?

You are seeing this error because of the website's Content Security Policy. Currently there is no way to allow extension content scripts to bypass CSPs in Safari.

Automatically, the extension will attempt to circumvent strict CSPs, but if you are still experiencing issues, trying setting the userscript metadata key/val // @inject-into auto or // @inject-into content.

You can read more about this in this issue.

Do I need to use the extension's editor to create new userscripts or to edit existing?

You can use your own editor to update and manage your files. As long as you are saving the files to the save location, and they are properly formatted, they should be injected. However, you must open the extension popup beforehand. That means, if you create a new or edit an existing userscript with an external editor and save it to the save location, before injection will occur properly, the extension popup must be opened and the popup must load completely.

What are the keyboard shortcuts?

Whilst using the included editor, clicking ⌘ + s will save the file. While working the editor, clicking ⌘ + f will bring up the search bar and esc will hide it.

When I use @require, where are the required files stored?

All required files are saved as Javascript files in the extension container folder in macOS 11.x. That folder is located in the default save location, at: ~/Library/Containers/Userscripts/Data/Documents/require/.

If you move files from the require folder or manually edit the manifest.json file, you will likely break app/extension functionality.

Contributing

Code level contributions are welcome. I prefer to collaborate directly with contributors rather than receiving spontaneous pull requests. If you feel you can improve the project in some way, please reach out to me by email or by opening an issue with your improvement/feature request.

Further, any issue marked "help wanted" is actively seeking assistance. Please respond to those issues with feedback, guidance or offers of coding assistance.

Please ensure your contributions align with the project's license before committing anything.

Support

The quickest and easiest way to support the project is by leaving a positive review on the App Store if you enjoy the extension and want to see future improvements. Seeing these reviews let me know I am doing something right, or wrong, and motivates me to continue working on the project.

The second best way to help out is to sign up to beta test new versions of the app. Since this extension values your privacy, and does not collect any data from users, it is difficult to gauge how the extension is being used. By signing up to be a beta tester it not only allows you to test upcoming features, but also gives me the opportunity to elicit direct feedback from real users.

iOS Beta Sign Up Form

macOS Beta Sign Up Form

Privacy Policy

Userscripts does not collect any data from its users nor monitor activities or actions you perform within the application and extension. This means everything that you do with the application and extension is private to you and is never shared with the developers or third parties. Since there is no data collection, there is no data retention of any kind.

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Justin Wasack

Licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 license for all open source applications. A commercial license is required for all other applications.