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Browser extension

Trizlink does not offer a browser extension. There is no Chrome add-on, no Firefox add-on, and nothing to install.

An earlier version of this page described one in detail. That extension was never published, and leaving a tutorial for software nobody can install is worse than saying so plainly. This page stays at the same address so that anything linking here still works, and answers the question honestly instead.

On this page​

Why there is not one​

Trizlink is built by one developer, and the surfaces were chosen deliberately: web and Android first, together, verified module by module. An extension is a third store, a third review process and a third permission model. Shipping it half-finished would be worse than not shipping it, so it is deferred until the first two are complete — not cancelled, and not quietly dropped.

There is a second, more specific reason the old one was not simply carried forward. It authenticated by sending a raw Google token where the backend expected a different credential entirely, so its cloud mode never worked at all. Any future extension would be a thin client of the public API rather than a port of that code.

Three faster ways to shorten a link​

What an extension is actually for is removing a context switch: you are on a page, you want a short link to it, and you do not want to copy the address into another tab. That is a real friction and it is worth solving. It does not require an extension to solve.

1. The box on the home page​

Paste an address into the box on trizlink.com. It validates as you type and previews what the short link will look like. Pressing the button carries the destination through sign-in and opens the create form with the URL already filled in, so you never navigate the dashboard to find it.

Be clear about what it does not do: it does not create the link from the home page. It gets you to the form with the work already done.

2. The public API​

This is the honest answer for anyone who wanted an extension for speed. A workspace-scoped key and a single POST /v1/links creates a link, which means a shell alias, an editor command, a launcher action or a phone shortcut can each do it in one step — from outside the browser as well as inside it. That is genuinely faster than a toolbar button.

The API is on Pro and Team. See Public API.

If you want an extension because you are making thirty links, the extension is the wrong tool anyway. Paste or upload a CSV, map the columns, read the preview, and commit. The preview step is the point — a bad import of 400 links is not fun to undo. See Link organisation.

Not an option, despite what you may have read elsewhere: Trizlink does not register itself as an Android share target, so it will not appear when you share a page from another app, and the app does not scan QR codes.

The permission problem​

The reason link-shortening extensions are awkward is that the useful version needs to know the address of the page you are on. Depending on how it is built, that can mean requesting access to every site you visit — a permission that is trivially justified while writing the feature and very hard to justify to somebody reading the install dialogue.

Narrower designs exist. An extension can ask for the active tab only when you click its icon, which is a much smaller ask and covers the main use. But narrower designs do less: no context menu on a link you have not opened, no automatic tagging, no reading the page title for you. Working out which trade is right is the actual design problem, and it is not one to rush because a competitor has a toolbar button.

What would have to be true for one to ship​

  1. Web and Android complete and verified, because that is the order that was chosen.
  2. The public API stable enough to build against, since an extension would be a client of it rather than a second implementation.
  3. A permission model narrow enough to justify to a store reviewer and to a reader.
  4. Something it can do that the API cannot. If the answer is only "it is in the toolbar", that is not enough.

The last point is the honest one. Convenience features are easy to justify while building and hard to justify afterwards, when somebody is deciding whether to grant an extension access to every page they open. If one ships, it will be because it earned that trade.

FAQ​

No. Not for Chrome, not for Firefox, not for any browser. An earlier version of the product had an unpublished one; it is deferred rather than cancelled.

Will there ever be one?​

Possibly. It is deferred until the web and Android surfaces are complete and until it can do something the API cannot.

The public API. One POST from a shell alias, an editor command or a launcher action, which also works outside the browser.

Can I share a page to Trizlink from my phone?​

No. The Android app is not registered as a share target.

Was there ever a published extension?​

No. One was built and never published.

Why keep this page if the feature does not exist?​

Because the address is linked from elsewhere, and answering the question is more useful than a 404. Removing a page does not remove the question.

Where should I ask for one?​

Through the contact form at trizlink.com/contact. A deferred item moves when somebody explains what it is blocking.