Tampermonkey is a

donationware Donationware is a licensing model that supplies fully operational unrestricted software to the user and requests an optional donation be paid to the programmer or a third-party beneficiary (usually a non-profit). The amount of the donation may also ...

userscript manager {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A userscript manager is a type of browser extension and augmented browsing technology that provides a user interface to manage userscripts. The main purpose of a userscript manager is to execute ...

that is available as a

browser extension A browser extension is a small software module for customizing a web browser. Browsers typically allow a variety of extensions, including user interface modifications, cookie management, ad blocking, and the custom scripting and styling of web p ...

. This

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

enables the user to add and use

userscripts A userscript (or user script) is a program, usually written in JavaScript, for modifying web pages to augment browsing. Uses include adding shortcut buttons and keyboard shortcuts, controlling playback speeds, adding features to sites, and enhan ...

, which are

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of Website, websites use JavaScript on the Client (computing), client side ...

programs that can be used to modify web pages.

History

Tampermonkey was first created in May 2010 by Jan Biniok. It first emerged as a

Greasemonkey Greasemonkey is a userscript manager made available as a Mozilla Firefox extension. It enables users to install scripts that make on-the-fly changes to web page content after or before the page is loaded in the browser (also known as augmen ...

userscript that was wrapped to support

Google Chrome Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS ...

. Eventually the code was re-used and published as a standalone extension for Chrome which had more features than Chrome's native script support. In 2011, Tampermonkey was ported to Android, enabling users to use userscripts on Android's internal browser. By 2019, Tampermonkey had over 10 million users. Tampermonkey is one of 13 extensions on the

Chrome Web Store Chrome Web Store is Google's online store for its Chrome web browser. As of 2019, Chrome Web Store hosts about 190,000 extensions and web apps. History Chrome Web Store was publicly unveiled in December 2010, and was opened on February 11, 2011 ...

to have at least 10 million users.

Chrome manifest V3

In January 2019, Biniok wrote in a

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post that the new Chrome manifest V3 would break the extension. The new manifest would ban remotely accessed code which Tampermonkey is dependent on. The userscripts use code that is created by developers not at

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

, and instead is created by third-party developers at places like Userscripts.org and Greasyfork. This code is inserted after the extension is installed, however the manifest requires the code to be present at installation.

Controversy

On January 6, 2019,

Opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

banned the Tampermonkey extension from being installed through the Chrome Web Store, claiming it had been identified as malicious. Later,

Bleeping Computer ''Bleeping Computer'' is a website covering technology news and offering free computer help via its forums that was created by Lawrence Abrams in 2004. It publishes news focusing heavily on cybersecurity, but also covers other topics including c ...

was able to determine that a piece of

adware Adware, often called advertising-supported software by its developers, is software that generates revenue for its developer by automatically generating online advertisements in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the ...

called ''Gom Player'' would install the Chrome Web Store version of Tampermonkey and likely utilize the extension to facilitate the injection of ads or other malicious behavior. The site stated, "This does not mean that Tampermonkey is malicious, but rather that a malicious program is utilizing a legitimate program for bad behavior," going on to call Opera's blacklisting the extension for this reason a "strange decision".

References

{{reflist Google Chrome extensions Nonfree Firefox WebExtensions 2010 software

History

Chrome manifest V3

Controversy

See also

References