Developers

Developer mode

Turn on developer mode in Settings and Arx adds DevTools, Inspect Element and unpacked extensions, without weakening its security.

This page is a first draft. It may change before the public beta.

Turn on developer mode in Settings → Developer. Arx adds the tools you reach for every day, without weakening the security you rely on the rest of the time. The setting applies to every profile and window.

Recording planned

Turn on developer mode, open localhost:3000 with the server stopped and read the explanation, start the server, retry, then press ⌥⌘I.

Always available

Reload Ignoring Cache (revalidates the current page)⌥⌘R
Clear Cache and Reload (also clears the profile's HTTP cache)⇧⌘R

Developer Tools

Press ⌥⌘I, or use the View menu or the command bar, to open Chromium DevTools for the focused page: a tab, a Split View pane, a Peek or Little Arx. With developer mode on, the page context menu also has Inspect Element. You can change the shortcut in Settings → Shortcuts.

  • DevTools opens in its own window, one per inspected page. Docking isn't supported.
  • It stays with its page across navigation, reloads and renderer recovery, and never jumps to another tab.
  • Closing the page closes its inspector. ⌘W in an inspector closes only the inspector.
  • There is no remote debugging port.

Turning developer mode off removes the commands, but inspectors that are open stay until they or their pages close.

Localhost that explains itself

Local servers work at addresses such as localhost:3000 and 127.0.0.1:8080, including WebSocket live reload. When something goes wrong, Arx explains it instead of showing a generic error:

  • Nothing is running on the port.
  • An https:// address points at a server that speaks plain HTTP. Arx offers the same page over http://.
  • A certificate failed validation. Arx never offers to bypass it.

Developer mode never turns off certificate validation, same-origin protections or Chromium's sandbox. Use http on localhost, or trust your development certificate in Keychain Access.

Load unpacked extensions

With developer mode on, Settings → Extensions offers Load Unpacked…. Pick the folder that contains manifest.json, and the extension loads into the selected profile only.

  • Reload picks up your edits. Arx also reloads it when files in the folder change, and it stays loaded across restarts.
  • A missing folder, an unreadable folder and an invalid manifest each get their own message.
  • Turning developer mode off hides Load Unpacked and Reload; loaded extensions stay until you remove them.