{"slug": "tridactyl", "name": "Tridactyl", "category": "browsers", "category_name": "Browsers and extensions", "description": "", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 8, "warners": 1, "score": 4.042, "rising": -0.64, "first": "2025-12-08", "latest": "2026-10-22", "why": "plugins like Vimium for Chromium based browsers (or Tridactyl for Firefox)", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "plugins like Vimium for Chromium based browsers (or Tridactyl for Firefox)", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "tridactyl.xyz", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://tridactyl.xyz", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Tridactyl"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 791746801, "item_id": 49484175, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49484175", "by": "Arubis", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "without which I feel almost helpless in a browser", "excerpt": "At this point what keeps me on Firefox is less the browser engine diversity than [tridactyl](https://tridactyl.xyz/), without which I feel almost helpless in a browser.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven"}, {"id": 774600272, "item_id": 48412517, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48412517", "by": "utopiah", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Indeed or https://tridactyl.xyz", "excerpt": "Indeed or https://tridactyl.xyz", "context": "", "use_case": "Keyboard browser control", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mouseless \u2013 keyboard-driven control of macOS/Linux/Windows"}, {"id": 774599616, "item_id": 48412476, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48412476", "by": "utopiah", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Let me introduce you to https://tridactyl.xyz", "excerpt": "Let me introduce you to https://tridactyl.xyz", "context": "", "use_case": "Keyboard navigation in browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mouseless \u2013 keyboard-driven control of macOS/Linux/Windows"}, {"id": 746887409, "item_id": 46680463, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46680463", "by": "Anthony-G", "date": "2026-01-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "currently, I\u2019m using Tridactyl for this purpose.", "excerpt": "On my side of the Atlantic using en-dashes with spaces on either side of the dash is acceptable writing style so that\u2019s what I use (instead of em-dashes). However, many people can\u2019t tell the difference between the two so some might confuse my writing from that of an LLM. But I\u2019m not going to let that dictate my writing style. For the past 15 years, I\u2019ve used the Unicycle Vim plugin\u00b9 which makes it very easy to add pr", "context": "typography nerd", "use_case": "launch GVim for editing text boxes", "switched_from": "", "story": "Dead Internet Theory"}, {"id": 745211664, "item_id": 46575729, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46575729", "by": "nehal3m", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "plugins like Vimium for Chromium based browsers (or Tridactyl for Firefox)", "excerpt": "Take this with a grain of salt, it's impossible for me to tell what you are and aren't comfortable with, but there is an alternative to using trackpads or mice at all and that's tiling window managers. You drive the OS with your keyboard. Combining this with plugins like Vimium for Chromium based browsers (or Tridactyl for Firefox) you can drive your entire OS and browser with keybindings. As an aside, the latter als", "context": "", "use_case": "Keyboard browser control", "switched_from": "", "story": "I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 767073280, "item_id": 47942080, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47942080", "by": "krautsauer", "date": "2026-04-28", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it disables the default Ctrl-F search function but its own search function is subpar", "excerpt": "We're talking about https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tridactyl-vim/? One example: it disables the default Ctrl-F search function but its own search function is subpar (no match counts/hlsearch, e.g.) and often clashes with website's built-in search (on Github, e.g.). It doesn't work on the default newtab either, and changing the default newtab somehow makes opening a new tab slower (that's FF's fault, I", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I have officially retired from Emacs"}]}], "who": [{"by": "Anthony-G", "context": "typography nerd", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46680463", "date": "2026-01-19"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["keyboard browser control", "keyboard tab navigation", "keyboard navigation in browser", "launch gvim for editing text boxes", "firefox keyboard navigation"], "compared": [{"slug": "firefox", "name": "Firefox", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "vimium", "name": "Vimium", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "gvim", "name": "gVim", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "vim", "name": "Vim", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48383667", "title": "Mouseless \u2013 keyboard-driven control of macOS/Linux/Windows", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46190577", "title": "Twelve Days of Shell", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50197601", "title": "A farewell to Arc browser", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49479837", "title": "GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49090607", "title": "Show HN: I was tired of opening 2 tabs for every HN link, so I made a userscript", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47906651", "title": "I have officially retired from Emacs", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"warn": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 803184672, "item_id": 50199042, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50199042", "by": "zeendo", "date": "2026-10-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Tridactyl for moving between tabs, though.", "excerpt": "They're pretty good. There's a shortcut settings that lets you assign shortcuts for moving between spaces. I use Tridactyl for moving between tabs, though.", "context": "", "use_case": "keyboard tab navigation", "switched_from": "", "story": "A farewell to Arc browser"}, {"id": 791746801, "item_id": 49484175, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49484175", "by": "Arubis", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "without which I feel almost helpless in a browser", "excerpt": "At this point what keeps me on Firefox is less the browser engine diversity than [tridactyl](https://tridactyl.xyz/), without which I feel almost helpless in a browser.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven"}, {"id": 785594720, "item_id": 49099670, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49099670", "by": "Izkata", "date": "2026-07-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Apparently Firefox needs to add an API for it first", "excerpt": "Apparently Firefox needs to add an API for it first: https://github.com/tridactyl/tridactyl/issues/5349", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: I was tired of opening 2 tabs for every HN link, so I made a userscript"}, {"id": 774600272, "item_id": 48412517, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48412517", "by": "utopiah", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Indeed or https://tridactyl.xyz", "excerpt": "Indeed or https://tridactyl.xyz", "context": "", "use_case": "Keyboard browser control", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mouseless \u2013 keyboard-driven control of macOS/Linux/Windows"}, {"id": 774599616, "item_id": 48412476, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48412476", "by": "utopiah", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Let me introduce you to https://tridactyl.xyz", "excerpt": "Let me introduce you to https://tridactyl.xyz", "context": "", "use_case": "Keyboard navigation in browser", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mouseless \u2013 keyboard-driven control of macOS/Linux/Windows"}, {"id": 767073280, "item_id": 47942080, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47942080", "by": "krautsauer", "date": "2026-04-28", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it disables the default Ctrl-F search function but its own search function is subpar", "excerpt": "We're talking about https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tridactyl-vim/? One example: it disables the default Ctrl-F search function but its own search function is subpar (no match counts/hlsearch, e.g.) and often clashes with website's built-in search (on Github, e.g.). It doesn't work on the default newtab either, and changing the default newtab somehow makes opening a new tab slower (that's FF's fault, I", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I have officially retired from Emacs"}, {"id": 746887409, "item_id": 46680463, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46680463", "by": "Anthony-G", "date": "2026-01-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "currently, I\u2019m using Tridactyl for this purpose.", "excerpt": "On my side of the Atlantic using en-dashes with spaces on either side of the dash is acceptable writing style so that\u2019s what I use (instead of em-dashes). However, many people can\u2019t tell the difference between the two so some might confuse my writing from that of an LLM. But I\u2019m not going to let that dictate my writing style. For the past 15 years, I\u2019ve used the Unicycle Vim plugin\u00b9 which makes it very easy to add pr", "context": "typography nerd", "use_case": "launch GVim for editing text boxes", "switched_from": "", "story": "Dead Internet Theory"}, {"id": 745211664, "item_id": 46575729, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46575729", "by": "nehal3m", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "plugins like Vimium for Chromium based browsers (or Tridactyl for Firefox)", "excerpt": "Take this with a grain of salt, it's impossible for me to tell what you are and aren't comfortable with, but there is an alternative to using trackpads or mice at all and that's tiling window managers. You drive the OS with your keyboard. Combining this with plugins like Vimium for Chromium based browsers (or Tridactyl for Firefox) you can drive your entire OS and browser with keybindings. As an aside, the latter als", "context": "", "use_case": "Keyboard browser control", "switched_from": "", "story": "I dumped Windows 11 for Linux, and you should too"}, {"id": 739179026, "item_id": 46198689, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46198689", "by": "probablyrobert", "date": "2025-12-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Shameless shill - I found Tridactyl and Vimium to be frustratingly limited due to the security restrictions imposed on web extensions, so I've been working on https://glide-browser.app/ for a while; It's a fork of Firefox with (some) vim motions and a TypeScript based config.", "context": "", "use_case": "Firefox keyboard navigation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Twelve Days of Shell"}, {"id": 739142033, "item_id": 46196377, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46196377", "by": "Izkata", "date": "2025-12-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "For Firefox, I use Tridactyl.", "excerpt": "I have an odd suggestion for learning more of vim: Check out gvim. It's vim with a GUI, dropdowns for nice discoverability and most importantly the shortcuts on each menu item are the commands to use it in regular vim. It's how I found out vim even had folding waaay back. For Firefox, I use Tridactyl. After Vimperator died I tried several replacements and found Vimium very limited (IIRC it was the one that was just h", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "Vimperator", "story": "Twelve Days of Shell"}]}