Discord Status

Show what you are watching, listening to, reading, or working on as a Discord activity status from your browser.

Overview | Features | Screenshots | Install | Discord Assets | Run From Source | Roadmap

Overview

Discord Status is a Chrome extension with a local companion app that turns supported browser activity into Discord Rich Presence.

It can detect media and page activity from sites like YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, Twitch, GitHub, ChatGPT, Google Meet, Crunchyroll, Hotstar, Google, and Wikipedia. The extension handles detection inside the browser, while the backend talks to the Discord desktop app through Discord RPC.

Install Model

The release flow is:

1. Install the Discord Status browser extension.
2. Install the Activity Status Companion desktop app.
3. Open Discord desktop.
4. Browse normally.

The companion app runs the local Discord RPC bridge in the background.

Why There Is A Companion App

Discord Rich Presence is local. A Chrome extension cannot directly access Discord's local RPC socket, so Activity Status is split into two parts:

Part	What it does
extension/	Detects browser activity, lets you choose auto or manual mode, and sends updates to the backend
src-tauri/ + tauri-ui/	Lightweight native companion that starts and supervises the local Discord RPC bridge
backend/	Legacy Node backend kept for source/manual development

Because of that, the best user experience is not “extension only.” The best experience is Chrome extension + native companion app.

Development Status

Discord Status is still in early development phase.

YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, GitHub, ChatGPT, Google Meet, Twitch, and a few other sites are supported, but some websites change their page structure often. Detection can occasionally need updates when a site changes its DOM.

Features

Area	What it does
Auto detect	Picks up activity from supported browser tabs
Current-tab priority	Auto mode prefers the tab you are actually viewing instead of randomly swapping between background tabs
Manual mode	Lets you set a custom title and message for Discord
Media timestamps	Shows play progress for supported video/audio pages
Discord assets	Includes 512x512 logo assets ready for Discord Developer Portal upload
Status controls	Enable, clear, refresh, reconnect, and select a specific tab from the popup
Diagnostics	Backend health, Discord RPC health, and recent extension logs
Tray companion	Runs the local backend from the macOS menu bar, Windows tray, or Linux system tray
Release packaging	Builds extension and companion artifacts for GitHub Releases

Supported Sites

Site	Status
YouTube	Supported
Netflix	Supported, title detection may vary by region/player UI
Spotify	Supported
Twitch	Supported
GitHub	Supported
ChatGPT	Supported
Google Meet	Supported
Crunchyroll	Supported
Hotstar	Supported
Wikipedia	Supported
Google Search	Supported
Manual custom status	Supported

Screenshots

Install

Get the latest release from the GitHub Releases page.

Download:

• Chrome Web Store listing is coming soon. Until then, install manually from the release zip.
• the Activity Status Companion app for your platform

Then:

1. Install/open Activity Status Companion.
2. Make sure Discord desktop is open.
3. Install Discord Status from the Chrome Web Store.
4. Keep the companion app running while using Discord status.

Until the Chrome Web Store listing is live, download the manual extension zip from GitHub Releases, extract it, open chrome://extensions, enable Developer mode, click Load unpacked, and select the extracted extension folder.

Installation note: current companion builds are unsigned. Windows SmartScreen/macOS Gatekeeper may warn because the app is not code-signed yet.

Allow the companion to run from your OS settings. For macOS:

sudo xattr -cr "/Applications/Activity Status Companion.app"

or go to Privacy & Security settings and press on Allow in the Security section at bottom beside the warning.

npm install

Companion note: the companion runs as a background tray/menu-bar app. Click the tray icon to open the compact control popover. Use Settings from that popover for launch-at-login, backend startup, and diagnostics.

Build Releases

Install dependencies:

npm install

Package the extension:

npm run package

Package the Chrome Web Store upload zip:

npm run package:webstore

Build the companion app for your current platform:

npm run dist:companion

The public companion is built with Tauri, so the downloads stay much smaller than the old Electron build.

Legacy Electron build commands are still available for comparison/debugging:

npm run dist:companion:electron
npm run dist:companion:mac
npm run dist:companion:win
npm run dist:companion:linux

Tauri build output goes to src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.

Publishing A GitHub Release

Pushes to main and pull requests build temporary GitHub Actions artifacts. They do not create a public Release page.

To publish a real GitHub Release with the .dmg, .exe, .AppImage, extension zips, and SHA256SUMS.txt, create and push a version tag:

git tag v1.0.0
git push origin v1.0.0

The release workflow uses GitHub's built-in GITHUB_TOKEN, so no personal access token is needed.

How To Use

1. Start Discord desktop.
2. Start Activity Status Companion; it will live in the menu bar/system tray.
3. Open Chrome and visit a supported site.
4. Open the extension popup.
5. Use Auto Detect to follow the current tab, or choose a specific detected tab.
6. Use Manual if you want to set your own title and message.
7. Use Clear when you want to remove the activity.

Settings Behavior

Setting	Works?	Notes
Backend Server URL	Yes	Keep it as http://localhost:3000 unless you run the local backend somewhere else on the same machine
Update Interval	Yes	Controls how often supported tabs are asked to refresh activity
Forget Inactive Tabs After	Yes	Removes stale tab activity from the popup and auto picker
Enabled Sites	Filter only	The checklist enables/disables already-supported detectors; new sites require code support
Log Level	Yes	Controls extension-side diagnostic logging
Discord Application ID	Companion build only	Maintainers set this in src-tauri/src/main.rs before building public releases

Run From Source

Install backend dependencies:

npm run install:backend

Run checks:

npm run check

Start the backend:

npm start

Run the companion app in development:

npm run companion:dev

Run the legacy Electron companion:

npm run companion:dev:electron

Run backend in watch mode:

npm run dev

Package the extension and backend:

npm run package

Package only the Chrome Web Store upload:

npm run package:webstore

Check backend status:

curl http://localhost:3000/api/status

Architecture

flowchart LR
  Browser["Chrome tabs"] --> Content["Content scripts"]
  Content --> Background["Extension background worker"]
  Popup["Extension popup"] --> Background
  Background --> Companion["Activity Status Companion"]
  Companion --> API["Local HTTP API"]
  API --> RPC["Discord RPC IPC"]
  RPC --> Discord["Discord desktop app"]
  Assets["Discord Rich Presence assets"] --> Discord

Loading

Project Structure

extension/             Chrome extension files
extension/scripts/     Site detectors and background worker
src-tauri/             Lightweight native companion and local HTTP/RPC bridge
tauri-ui/              Companion tray popover and settings UI
companion/             Legacy Electron companion shell
backend/               Legacy Node Discord RPC bridge
discord-assets-real/   Rich Presence logo assets
scripts/               Release/package helpers
.github/workflows/     GitHub Actions release packaging

Troubleshooting

Problem	Try this
Discord says disconnected	Make sure Discord desktop is open, then restart the companion app
Companion has no Dock/window presence	This is intentional; click the menu bar/system tray icon for controls and Settings
Extension says backend offline	Confirm Activity Status Companion is running and settings use http://localhost:3000
Auto mode swaps tabs	Reload the extension; auto mode should prioritize the active Chrome tab
Netflix title is wrong	Reload the Netflix tab and click Refresh in the popup

Release Notes

GitHub Actions builds temporary artifacts on pushes, pull requests, and manual runs. It publishes a GitHub Release only when a v* tag is pushed.

The GitHub release assets include:

• Activity Status Companion for macOS (.dmg)
• Activity Status Companion for Windows (.exe and .msi)
• Activity Status Companion for Linux (.AppImage and .deb)
• Discord Status extension/manual install bundle
• Chrome Web Store upload zip
• SHA-256 checksums

The Chrome Web Store upload is generated separately at:

dist/discord-status-webstore.zip

That zip has manifest.json at the root, which is the format the Chrome Web Store expects.

Star History

Contributing

Bug reports, site detector fixes, UI improvements, and setup simplifications are welcome.

When adding a new site detector, include:

• The content script or generic detector logic
• A matching Discord asset key (in case you are creating own discord application in developer portal - update the client ID in the code)
• A short note in the supported-sites table
• A test run with npm run check

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.