Install FrontBug

The extension is in review at the Chrome Web Store. Until it is approved there is one way to run it, and it takes about a minute.

While the review is open

Download the build: frontbug-extension.zip, and unzip it wherever you keep tools.
Open chrome://extensions and turn on Developer mode, top right.
Press Load unpacked and pick the folder you just unzipped.
Open the side panel from the FrontBug icon and start a session.

Chrome will show a reminder about developer mode every time it starts. That is Chrome being careful about extensions it has not reviewed, and it goes away once the store listing is live.

Why there is no one click install

Chrome refuses to install extensions that do not come from its own store on Windows and macOS. A download button for a .crx would look like a shortcut and would not work: the file downloads, you drag it in, and the entry sits there greyed out. We would rather ask for four steps that work than one that does not.

When the review clears

This page becomes a single button. The listing starts unlisted, which means it installs in one click for anyone with the link but does not show up in store search yet.

What you need next to it

Nothing, to take notes and export a bundle: the extension works on its own and with the network off. The CLI is only for the next step, sending notes straight into a Claude Code session in your repo.

The CLI, for the agent tab

It is on npm, MIT licensed, with no dependencies: what you install is what runs.

Install it globally: npm install -g frontbug
Check it answers: frontbug --version
In the repo you are reviewing, start the agent: frontbug agent. It puts the token the extension asks for on your clipboard.
Paste it into the extension’s Agent tab and leave that terminal running. If nothing was copied, frontbug daemon --print-token prints the token.

frontbug --help lists the rest: reading notes in the repo, marking them fixed, pulling a bundle, and the Claude Code skill.