Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are Progressive Web Apps?

   Progressive Web Apps are web apps that use emerging web browser APIs and features along with traditional progressive enhancement strategy to bring a native app-like user experience to cross-platform web applications. Progressive Web Apps are a useful design pattern, though they aren't a formalized standard. PWA can be thought of as similar to AJAX or other similar patterns that encompass a set of application attributes, including use of specific web technologies and techniques.

   (From MDN Web Docs)

2. How to install and use this project?

   Check other pages in this wiki for detailed user instructions. Check the repository itself and the source code for more technical documentation.

3. How to install this project to a different location (for example, /usr/local)?

   You can customize install locations for most directories using build-time environment variables. However, this will only change where the program expects the files to be, and you will need to manually copy the files to the correct locations. You will also need to manually edit the native app manifest with the correct path to the connector.

   Descriptions of each directory, their default locations, and a list of environment variables to change them are available in the source code. If you want to specify a location in the home directory, start the environment variable with ~/, so it will be expanded to the user home directory at the run-time.

4. How to install the browser runtime to a different location (for example, /usr/local/share/firefoxpwa/runtime)?

   If you want to change the locations of all directories, see the above question. Otherwise, you will need to manually edit the source code.

5. How to use this project with an alternative Firefox-based browser (for example, LibreWolf)?

   Installation steps:

   1. Download the "portable" archive (binary tarball) for your preferred Firefox-based browser.
   2. Extract downloaded archive and copy files to the correct directory (see below).
   3. Inside that directory, symlink the main binary of your browser (for example, librewolf.exe/librewolf-bin) as firefox.exe/firefox.

   Runtime locations:

   • Windows: %APPDATA%\FirefoxPWA\runtime\
   • Linux: $XDG_DATA_HOME/firefoxpwa/runtime/ or $HOME/.local/share/firefoxpwa/runtime/
   • macOS: $HOME/Library/Application Support/firefoxpwa/runtime/
   
   
   Detailed LibreWolf-specific steps

   Windows:

   1. Download latest .win64.zip file from LibreWolf releases.
   2. Create empty directory %APPDATA%\FirefoxPWA\runtime\ (or remove its content if it exists).
   3. Extract downloaded file and copy content (without "root" directory) of librewolf-VERSION\LibreWolf\ to %APPDATA%\FirefoxPWA\runtime\.
   4. Open Command Line in that directory and run mklink firefox.exe librewolf.exe.

   
   

   Linux:

   1. Download latest .x86_64.tar.bz2 file from LibreWolf releases.
   2. Create empty directory $HOME/.local/share/firefoxpwa/runtime/ (or remove its content if it exists).
   3. Extract downloaded file and copy its content (without "root" directory) to $HOME/.local/share/firefoxpwa/runtime/.
   4. Open Terminal in that directory and run: ln librewolf firefox.

   
   

   macOS:

   1. Download latest .dmg file from LibreWolf releases.
   2. Create empty directory $HOME/Library/Application Support/firefoxpwa/runtime/Firefox.app/ (or remove its content if it exists).
   3. Extract downloaded file and copy content (without "root" directory) of LibreWolf\LibreWolf.app\ to $HOME/Library/Application Support/firefoxpwa/runtime/Firefox.app/.
   4. Open Terminal in $HOME/Library/Application Support/firefoxpwa/runtime/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/ and run: ln librewolf firefox.

   
   

6. How to install addons inside PWA profile?

   You can open the built-in addon manager using a standard keyboard shortcut or app menu, or pressing F6 and entering addons.mozilla.org.

7. Why can't I install the website I want?

   If you are building a development extension build yourself, the auto-reloading feature may prevent the extension from running on certain websites. To be able to install such websites, you either need to build a production build or use a pre-built extension.

   Some Mozilla websites block extension content scripts for security reasons. You cannot install that sites, and this cannot be fixed. You may be able to install them manually using the command-line program.

   If the website is not a valid PWA, the page (address bar) action will not appear. However, you can install such websites from the main extension/browser action (the same place where all installed PWAs are listed). This way of installing sites does not require PWA manifest, so it should work with basically any website.

   If there is a problem while installing the website, try refreshing and installing it again. If it still doesn't work, check the troubleshooting steps and report an issue. You can also try installing it using the command-line program.