Show HN: Wat Dat – A Firefox Extension for Instant Text Explanations
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/watdat/Wat dat" (What's that?) is a Firefox extension that sends any highlighted text to Groq and provides a simple explanation for it.
Every day, while learning or researching, I often need to look up the meanings of words or struggle to understand certain sentences. This breaks my flow and adds cognitive load due to context switching. So I created this extension to make my life a little easier.
It requires your own Groq API key and uses the llama3-70b model. All data is stored locally, ensuring your API key remains secure.
How It Works:
- Highlight text you want explained and press the shortcut Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+E.
- The extension sends the text to Groq's chat completion API
- Groq's llama3-70b model generates a simple explanation
- The explanation is streamed within the extension popup automatically
Code: https://github.com/bhavyagada/watdat
Examples:
https://x.com/bsgada/status/1831398552171638899
https://x.com/bsgada/status/1830881308102533597
Some notes:
- I have a Chrome version on GitHub but didn't publish it because I'm broke. I also haven't worked on a Safari version for the same reason.
- I chose Groq because it's free and meets my needs. If this gains traction, I will make it customizable.
- If you try it, please leave a review and share it with your friends if you liked it! :D
- If you encounter any bugs, let me know.
- Worth noting that Firefox 130 has an experimental feature which does a similar thing.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2447752/firefox-130-brings-a...
-- politelemon Reply - That's amazing. Thanks for letting me know.
However, I'd like to point out to others that they don't have Groq, which is free for normal everyday use and has the fastest inference compared to the options provided by Firefox.
My extension does a very specific thing and is not supposed to be a replacement for a chatbot. There's no typing involved, just a short keystroke.
I have no reviews so far, but in my experience, it has also been 'accurate' in explaining words, sentences, and short paragraphs to me.
I believe that, for now, my extension will be the most viable option for people who don't pay for their LLM use and only want certain things explained to them, after which they can be left alone to do their work.
-- bsgada Reply - Excellent tool! Installed and works exactly as described. A few days back, I was searching something similar for TV shows and movies when played on VLC. Maybe extract the relevant subtitle and provide the context and meaning to the viewer?
-- navigate8310 Reply - i am so happy you worked on a firefox version first.
it appears most of commercial browser extensions just go with chrome and be done with it even if porting wouldnt cost them an arm and a leg
-- 2Gkashmiri Reply - I use Firefox, so that's what I made it for. :)
-- bsgada Reply - I feel like the name could be considered a little racist and I'd advocate to change it.
-- ruthmarx Reply - Sorry, can you tell me what's racist about it?
I wanted a catchy name and thought it was just internet slang for "what's that?"
-- bsgada Reply - If the argument is about dutch, then have an opinion from a dutch person: It's not racist, it's funny.
-- ramon156 Reply - They are probably presuming it's intended to be AAVE or similar.
-- kuhewa Reply - I didn't know what AAVE meant, so I asked Wat dat: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11-S_eJt42MJwvMsnnPP43I6DfAW...
Anyway, I want to be clear that I didn't mean to offend anyone. It was just a coincidence.
-- bsgada Reply - Of course, you are totally fine. Even with that interpretation, shorthand slang pronunciations have definitely become enough of a part of common parlance especially on the internet that it is quite a stretch to invoke potential racism.
Hell, 'Wat' has its own Know Your Meme page, as do several phrases including 'Dat'
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/wat
-- kuhewa Reply - It is perfect dutch. «Wat is dat?»
-- exceptione Reply