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wtf is devtools-snippets?

addyosmani/devtools-snippets — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-07-23 · repo last pushed 2013-09-22

11JavaScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 1/5DormantSetup · easy

TL;DR

A collection of ready-to-use code snippets you can copy and paste into your browser's developer tools to quickly inspect, test, and modify web pages without writing code from scratch.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Copy-paste code snippets
      Runs in browser dev tools
      Prints results to screen
    Use cases
      Audit page colors
      Debug site performance
      Parse URL parameters
      Disable form validation
    Audience
      Web developers
      Designers
      QA testers
    Setup
      No install needed
      Built into modern browsers
      Open to contributions

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Audit every color used on a web page to check brand consistency.

REASON 2

Quickly print performance timing details to debug a slow website.

REASON 3

Disable browser form validation to test how a server handles bad input.

REASON 4

Extract and read values hidden inside long, complicated web addresses.

What's in the stack?

JavaScript

How it stacks up

addyosmani/devtools-snippets100/tab-organizerchalarangelo/jsiqle
Stars111111
LanguageJavaScriptJavaScriptJavaScript
Last pushed2013-09-222021-03-01
MaintenanceDormantDormant
Setup difficultyeasyeasyeasy
Complexity1/51/53/5
Audiencedevelopergeneraldeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

No installation required, just copy a snippet and paste it into your browser's built-in developer tools console.

The repository is publicly available on GitHub and open to community contributions, though no specific license file is mentioned.

Wtf does this do

devtools-snippets is a collection of small, reusable pieces of code designed to be pasted directly into a web browser's built-in developer tools. When you are looking at a website and need to quickly inspect, test, or modify something on the page, these snippets give you ready-made shortcuts to get the job done without having to write the code from scratch. The way it works is straightforward. Modern browsers like Chrome and Firefox have a built-in panel for developers that lets you run custom code against the current webpage. You simply copy a snippet from this collection, paste it into that panel, and run it. Once executed, the code immediately performs its task and prints the results directly to your screen. The project includes snippets for tasks like listing all the colors used on a page, converting images to a text-based format, or stripping away a browser's automatic form validations so you can test how a server handles bad input. This toolkit is built for web developers, designers, and quality assurance testers who frequently troubleshoot websites. For example, if a designer wants to audit every color used on a page to ensure brand consistency, they can run a snippet to print out all the colors and their locations. If a developer is debugging a slow website, they can use a snippet to quickly print out performance timing details. It is also useful for anyone who needs to extract or inspect data, such as reading the values hidden inside a long, complicated web address. A notable aspect of the project is that it relies entirely on the native capabilities of your browser rather than requiring you to install any external software. While the README includes older setup instructions for Chrome involving experimental flags, modern browsers have since made running snippets a built-in feature. The project is open to community contributions, meaning anyone with a useful piece of code can share it for others to use.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
Help me create a devtools snippet that finds all unique colors used on a webpage and prints them with the elements that use each color.
Prompt 2
Write a browser console snippet that disables all HTML5 form validation on the current page so I can test server-side error handling.
Prompt 3
Create a devtools snippet that parses all query parameters from the current URL and prints them as a readable object in the console.
Prompt 4
Write a snippet I can paste into Chrome devtools that lists all images on the page and converts them to base64 text format.

Frequently asked questions

wtf is devtools-snippets?

A collection of ready-to-use code snippets you can copy and paste into your browser's developer tools to quickly inspect, test, and modify web pages without writing code from scratch.

What language is devtools-snippets written in?

Mainly JavaScript. The stack also includes JavaScript.

Is devtools-snippets actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2013-09-22).

What license does devtools-snippets use?

The repository is publicly available on GitHub and open to community contributions, though no specific license file is mentioned.

How hard is devtools-snippets to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is devtools-snippets for?

Mainly developer.

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