Manuscript

DOM-aware browser extension for authoring versioned web demos and manuals

Screenshots go stale, and one small UI change means re-recording the whole video. Tours you build with Manuscript don't break when the page changes — click to point, layer notes, press play. Manuscript is a browser extension for putting together step-by-step product tours, walkthroughs, and user manuals on the web (works on Chromium-based browsers — Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and others). Click the parts of a page you want to highlight, drop a spotlight on each, layer text boxes or hand-drawn arrows, then press play. ■ What sets it apart 1. Tours that don't break when the page changes Manuscript remembers each step's element three ways at once — by stable attribute (data-testid, id, aria-label), then by text and surrounding structure, then by viewport position with nearby words. A renamed class, an edited button label, or a small layout reflow won't make your tour go missing. 2. Your work, in a JSON file Every tour is a JSON file you download. Commit it to git, review it in a pull request, version it next to the code it documents. No cloud lock-in. 3. Nothing to install on the site you're documenting Manuscript lives in your browser, not in the page. Document your own product, a customer's portal, an internal tool, or any site on the web — without touching a line of its code. 4. Viewers replay it without installing anything Embed a finished tour on a page (standalone player) and visitors step through it right in their browser — no extension required. Drop it into your docs, a landing page, or an internal dashboard. Only the author needs the extension. ■ What you can do · Pick page elements with a click — even inside embedded mini-pages (iframes) · Spotlight to draw the eye — adjustable ring color, thickness, and dim level · Add text boxes, 8 shapes, hand-drawn arrows, and freehand drawing · Step-by-step replay with read-aloud narration (browser voices + Google voices) · A detached presenter window with a step list and keyboard controls · 4 palettes + dark mode — picks up the host site's brand colors and fonts so your tour fits in · English / Korean UI — follows your browser's language setting ■ Latest · Standalone player — embed a tour on a page and visitors replay it step by step with no extension installed; same-origin pages navigate directly, other origins continue based on the host's config · Export without thumbnails — save a lighter -lite JSON without the preview images, ideal for emailing or committing to a repo; replay and import are identical · Undo, redo & format painter — step every panel edit back and forward with Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z, copy one annotation's whole style onto the same kind in a single move, and copy-paste to duplicate fast · Remote Library — host tours in a public GitHub repo and teammates pick one from the popup's Remote Library tab to play; one click saves a copy to their own library · Screen recording in a separate window — a tour that moves across pages records as one continuous video, your narration and voice on a single track, with a "Created with Manuscript" watermark ■ Runtime bridge Drop a one-line manuscript-bridge.js into any host page and drive replay over postMessage. Embed tours in your own docs, marketing pages, or internal dashboards. ■ Who it's for · DevRel and Developer Advocacy — API, SDK, and CLI walkthroughs managed like code · Customer Success and Solutions Engineers — per-customer onboarding kept in git · Product Managers — executive and sales demos for new features · Internal IT — ERP and internal-tool manuals that stay in sync with the UI ■ Good to know · Current version v0.8.1. The core is stable; refinements land as users send in feedback. · Doesn't run on browser-internal pages (chrome://, edge://) or the web stores themselves (browser policy). · Depth-1 same-origin iframes are fully supported; nested and cross-origin iframes are partial. · Everything stays on your computer — chrome.storage.local plus the JSON files you export. Nothing ever leaves your machine. Contact: zendy00@gmail.com