GitHub - MrCordeiro/barra-ai: No-Nonsense AI Browser Extension

Welcome to Barra AI, the most straightforward, no-frills, barebones AI browser extension you'll ever need. We've cut the fluff and focused on raw AI power. No subscriptions, no cute robots, just you and the model of your choice — including local, offline models via Ollama with no API key required.

Type /ai followed by your prompt in any input or text field, press Tab, and the extension will fetch a streamed response from your selected model, updating the field as chunks arrive.

("barra" means "slash" in Portuguese, as in /ai)

Features

🦖 Dino-powered simplicity

• No popups, no sidebars: Type /ai followed by your prompt in any text field and hit Tab. Boom! Instant AI response.
• Streaming output: Watch the model response appear in real time.
• Works with Lexical editors: Includes Reddit, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
• Offline / no-key mode: Run fully local models via Ollama — no API key, no internet, no data leaving your machine.
• Cloud models too: OpenAI GPT, Anthropic Claude, and Google Gemini are all supported with your own API key.
• Client-side processing: All data stays in your browser's local storage. API requests go directly from your browser to the provider — no middleman. Doubt us? Just check the code, we are open-source!
• Free and open-source: While all browsers will soon offer this feature natively, Barra AI gives you a taste of the punk future now. And for free!

TLDR

• 🚫 NO Subscriptions
• 🚫 NO Cute Robots
• 🚫 NO Middlemen
• 🚫 NO Bullshit
• ✅ Works offline with local models (Ollama)
• ✅ Dinosaur icon! Because dinosaurs are cool – and so are you.

Install

Chrome extension

Usage

1. Install the Extension:

• Download and install the Barra AI extension from the Chrome Web Store.

2. Configure your model:

Option A — Local model (no API key needed):

• Install Ollama and pull at least one model (e.g. ollama pull llama3.2).
• Open the extension settings, enable Local model, and follow the setup steps.
• The extension will connect to Ollama at http://localhost:11434 by default.

Option B — Cloud model:

• Open the extension settings page.
• Enter your API key for OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google Gemini.
• Select your preferred model from the dropdown.

3. Usage:

• In any text input or field, type /ai followed by your prompt.
• Press the Tab key.
• The field's content is replaced progressively as the streamed response arrives.

Limitations

• Some highly customized editors may still block synthetic paste events or override key handling.
• If a page aggressively remaps Tab, click the target field again and retry /ai + Tab.

Development

The extension is built with WXT. Node.js 22 or newer is required.

1. Fork the repository
2. Run npm install — the postinstall hook runs wxt prepare, which generates the .wxt/ directory. TypeScript, ESLint and your editor need it, so install before running npm run compile or npm run lint on a fresh clone.
3. Run npm run build
4. Open chrome://extensions (or edge://extensions)
5. Check the Developer mode checkbox
6. Click on the Load unpacked extension button
7. Select the folder barra-ai/.output/chrome-mv3

npm run dev starts WXT in watch mode with hot reloading, and npm run zip packages the extension for store submission.

Scripts

Firefox is not supported yet — see the tracking issue for the remaining work.