GitHub Download Now is an open-source browser extension for Chromium and Firefox that helps people download the right application file from public GitHub Releases.
It adds a clear download control to repository pages, detects the current operating system and CPU architecture, recommends a trusted release asset, explains how to install or run it, and can optionally watch selected public repositories for updates.
Install GitHub Download Now from Firefox Add-ons →
The official signed build is available for Firefox Desktop and Firefox for Android where add-ons are supported.
For unpacked development builds, see Install for development.
- Detects Windows, Linux, macOS and Android release assets.
- Matches x64, x86, ARM64 and ARM filenames.
- Recommends common installers and packages, including EXE, MSI, DMG, PKG, AppImage, DEB, RPM and APK.
- Keeps alternative assets grouped by platform and supports explicit package preferences.
- Places a compact, tag-specific download control beside versions on GitHub Releases pages.
- Lets users switch release versions directly inside the download menu.
- Rejects external or cross-repository links that imitate GitHub Release paths.
- Excludes checksums, signatures, SBOMs, source archives and developer-only Android App Bundles from automatic recommendations.
- Finds dedicated build documents and useful
Buildingsections inside README files, including operating-system-specific subsections. - Follows a small, ranked set of same-repository README links to find component-specific instructions such as
libpiper/README.md, with depth and API-budget limits. - Links to original GitHub documentation without inventing or executing commands.
- Shows deterministic installation and launch guidance with copyable commands using the exact filename.
- Keeps optional local download history and opt-in repository watches.
- Rotates background checks in small batches and respects GitHub API rate limits.
- Offers an optional scope-free GitHub connection for a larger API budget; anonymous public-only mode remains fully available.
- Uses an original purple repository-branch/download mark while keeping green for successful download actions.
- Supports Russian and English interfaces.
The extension has no analytics, advertising, AI service, developer-operated backend or remote executable code.
GitHub Download Now supports public repositories only and fails closed when GitHub does not expose a positive public-repository marker. It reads public release data already present on the current GitHub page and may make anonymous requests to public github.com pages. The official GitHub REST API is used as a fallback, for user-requested build-document discovery and for opt-in update checks. Page requests omit GitHub session credentials.
Users may optionally connect GitHub through the official OAuth Device Flow with no requested scopes. This raises the API budget for public requests but does not enable private-repository support. The token stays in storage.local, is never synchronized or sent to the developer, and its local copy can be removed with Disconnect. Full server-side revocation remains available in GitHub Settings → Applications. Browser extension storage is not an encrypted credential vault; see the complete policy before enabling the connection.
Release and source URLs are accepted only when their origin, repository and path match the expected GitHub resource. Download history, watched repositories and rate-limit scheduling metadata stay in storage.local; preferences may be synchronized by the browser through storage.sync.
See PRIVACY.md for the complete policy and Limited Use disclosure.
- Chromium 121 or newer: Chrome, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi and other compatible browsers.
- Firefox 140 or newer.
- Firefox for Android 142 or newer where add-ons are supported.
Android in the feature list means the extension can recognise APK/APKS/AAB release assets. Regular Chrome for Android does not install desktop Chrome extensions.
- Extract
github-download-now-chromium-v1.2.0.zip. - Open
chrome://extensions. - Enable Developer mode.
- Choose Load unpacked.
- Select the extracted directory containing
manifest.json.
- Extract
github-download-now-firefox-v1.2.0.zip. - Open
about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox. - Choose Load Temporary Add-on.
- Select
manifest.json.
The temporary installation above is intended for development. For normal use, install the signed build from Firefox Add-ons.
The extension ships with English and Russian. Interface text uses the standard WebExtensions _locales format, and unsupported browser languages fall back to English.
Adding a translation does not require changing application logic. Copy the English catalog, translate its message values and run the locale validator. See Translating GitHub Download Now.
The exact reviewer-oriented build procedure is documented in BUILDING.md.
Requirements:
- Node.js 20 or newer;
- Python 3.13 for UI tests;
- Playwright from
requirements-dev.txt.
npm ci --ignore-scripts
npm run verifynpm run verify runs locale/project validation, architecture-boundary checks, ESLint, automatically discovered unit tests, JavaScript syntax checks, reproducible packaging and Firefox add-on linting. Full browser UI checks:
python3 -m venv .venv-ui
source .venv-ui/bin/activate
python -m pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
python -m playwright install chromium
npm run test:uiThe release workflow runs both verification groups again before publishing artifacts with signed build-provenance attestations.
Build directories:
dist/chromium/
dist/firefox/
The build uses an explicit source-file allowlist. Unknown files in src/ fail validation instead of silently entering store packages. Release ZIP timestamps derive from SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH or the current Git commit for reproducible builds.
storage: saves settings and optional local update-tracking data.alarms: schedules batched checks for explicitly watched repositories.notifications(optional): displays update notifications only after the user enables them.https://github.com/*: displays the interface on public repository pages and, only after an explicit connection action, uses GitHub's official OAuth Device Flow endpoints.https://api.github.com/*: requests public release metadata, build documents, rate-limit status and watched-repository updates.
The extension does not request cookie, download-history or browsing-history permissions. Optional GitHub authentication is initiated only from settings, requests no OAuth scopes and is disclosed in PRIVACY.md.
Release workflows create SHA-256 checksums and signed GitHub artifact attestations. A downloaded release can be checked with:
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS-v1.2.0.txt
gh attestation verify github-download-now-chromium-v1.2.0.zip -R ITDruss/github-download-nowReports of incorrect recommendations are especially useful. Include the public repository URL, detected platform, selected asset and expected asset.
Before changing code, read the contributing guide, development task map and architecture reference. Translation-only contributions are documented separately in TRANSLATING.md.
GitHub Download Now is an independent open-source project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by GitHub, Inc. GitHub is a trademark of GitHub, Inc.
MIT