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Usage Buttons Helper (Chrome extension)

Companion Chrome extension for the Usage Buttons Stream Deck plugin. Proxies a narrow allowlist of AI usage-monitoring APIs (claude.ai, cursor.com, ollama.com) so the plugin can read your usage stats using your real logged-in browser session.

Cookies never leave the browser. The extension issues fetch(url, { credentials: "include" }) — Chrome itself attaches the user's cookies, the plugin only sees the API response bodies.

Why it exists

Cookie-gated usage APIs (Claude's web extras, Cursor, Ollama) sit behind Cloudflare. Routing through Chrome means:

  • Real Chrome TLS fingerprint + User-Agent. No JA3 surprises.
  • cf_clearance and session cookies stay in the browser's cookie jar — never serialized, never handed to a local binary.
  • No cookies permission needed. The extension holds only nativeMessaging + narrow host_permissions for the three allowlisted domains.

What it does and doesn't

Does Doesn't
Fetch claude.ai, cursor.com, ollama.com on behalf of the plugin Touch any other site
Use your existing browser session (credentials: "include") Read cookies directly
Mirror the plugin's allowlist — refuse off-list URLs in the service worker Let the plugin widen it at runtime
Hold a persistent native-messaging port so the plugin can probe liveness Run unless Chrome is open

Install

From a GitHub Release (simplest)

  1. Grab UsageButtons-Helper-unpacked.zip from the latest release and unzip it anywhere.
  2. Open chrome://extensions, toggle Developer mode on (top-right).
  3. Click Load unpacked and pick the unzipped folder.

That's it. The Stream Deck plugin picks the Helper up automatically on launch — nothing to paste, no admin prompt, no follow-up clicks.

From source

chrome://extensions → Load unpacked → pick this chrome-extension/ directory.

Updating

The plugin checks GitHub Releases for new versions and shows the current Helper version in the Property Inspector's Plugin settings tab. When a new release ships, the PI's Browser extension panel flags it — just re-download UsageButtons-Helper-unpacked.zip, replace the folder you loaded unpacked, and hit the refresh arrow in chrome://extensions.

Why not a .crx?

Chrome blocks drag-and-drop .crx installs from anywhere except the Chrome Web Store (since 2019). .zip + Load unpacked is the supported install path.

Supported browsers

Any Chromium-based browser with standard native messaging and MV3 fetch: Chrome (stable/beta/Canary), Microsoft Edge, Brave, Chromium. The plugin installs the native-messaging manifest for every browser on the machine.

A Firefox port is on the roadmap (same JS, slightly different manifest + browser.* shim). Safari is out of scope — its extension model is Swift/Xcode-based with a distinct native-messaging story.