# Mimik

Open-source Chrome extension that auto-captures browser workflows and generates step-by-step guides. No backend, no account, no data leaves the browser.

## What It Does

You click "Record," perform a workflow in your browser, and Mimik automatically captures each action as a step with an annotated screenshot and description. You can edit the guide, replay it on a live page, or export it as a file.

**Core loop: Record → Edit → Replay or Export.**

## Architecture

**Everything runs in the Chrome extension. No backend.**

- Storage: IndexedDB via Dexie.js (browser-local)
- AI descriptions: optional, user provides their own API key in settings
- Export: generated client-side (no server rendering)
- No auth, no database, no hosting, no Docker

### Directory Structure

```
src/
├── core/                    # Business logic (no UI dependencies)
│   ├── capture/             # Recording pipeline
│   │   ├── ai/              # AI description + title generation (Vercel AI SDK)
│   │   │   ├── description.ts   # getAIDescription (DOM context → AI → step text)
│   │   │   ├── title.ts         # generateGuideTitle (steps → AI → guide name)
│   │   │   ├── models.ts        # AI_PROVIDERS config (OpenAI/Anthropic model lists)
│   │   │   ├── prompts.ts       # Prompt templates
│   │   │   └── provider.ts      # createModel factory (OpenAI/Anthropic)
│   │   ├── dom/              # DOM extraction utilities
│   │   │   ├── context.ts       # DOMContext extraction + serialization
│   │   │   ├── element-meta.ts  # extractElementMeta (selector, text, aria, rect)
│   │   │   └── element-utils.ts # findFocusableAncestor, isTextField, etc.
│   │   ├── events/           # Event capture system
│   │   │   ├── handlers.ts      # CaptureController class + startCapture
│   │   │   ├── highlight.ts     # HighlightManager (dashed border overlay)
│   │   │   └── input-session.ts # InputSession (typing lifecycle)
│   │   ├── machine.ts        # xstate capture state machine
│   │   ├── rrweb-recorder.ts # DOM recording for replay
│   │   ├── session.ts        # CaptureSession (lifecycle manager)
│   │   ├── spa-nav.ts        # SPA navigation tracking
│   │   ├── start-notification.ts # Recording notification overlay
│   │   └── step-description.ts   # Fallback rule-based descriptions
│   ├── blur/                # Smart blur: regex presets, DOM scanner, element picker, panel UI
│   ├── export/              # HTML, PDF, Markdown export generators + shared utils
│   └── guides/              # Data layer: types, Dexie DB, CRUD service
├── entrypoints/             # Chrome extension entry points (WXT)
│   ├── background/          # Service worker: state machine, message handlers, tab management
│   ├── content.ts           # Content script: CaptureSession, event listeners, rrweb
│   ├── sidepanel/           # Side panel React mount
│   ├── fullview/            # Full-page view React mount
│   ├── onboarding/          # Onboarding wizard (opens on first install)
│   └── options/             # Settings page React mount
├── lib/                     # Shared utilities
│   ├── messaging.ts         # Extension messaging protocol (webext-core)
│   ├── port.ts              # Long-lived port: background ↔ sidepanel
│   ├── browser-api.ts       # Chrome API wrappers
│   ├── tab-messages.ts      # Content script message types
│   ├── logger.ts            # Logging utility
│   └── utils.ts             # Shared helpers (dates, URLs, cn)
├── stores/                  # Zustand state stores
│   └── fullview.ts          # Fullview UI state (search, counts, guide data)
└── ui/                      # React components
    ├── components/ui/       # shadcn/ui primitives (button, input, dialog, badge)
    ├── fullview/            # Full-page dashboard
    │   ├── components/      # Extracted sub-components (grid, list, search, etc.)
    │   ├── App.tsx
    │   ├── TopNav.tsx
    │   ├── SearchModal.tsx
    │   ├── GuideContent.tsx
    │   ├── LibraryContent.tsx
    │   └── router.ts
    ├── sidepanel/           # Side panel UI
    │   ├── App.tsx
    │   ├── LibraryView.tsx
    │   ├── GuideEditor.tsx
    │   ├── RecordingView.tsx
    │   ├── StepCard.tsx
    │   ├── ExportMenu.tsx
    │   ├── BlurCanvas.tsx
    │   └── ZoomScreenshot.tsx
    ├── onboarding/          # Onboarding wizard UI
    │   └── App.tsx          # 5-step wizard (welcome, AI, blur, pin, done)
    ├── shared/              # Shared UI components
    │   └── SettingsView.tsx  # AI settings (provider, model, API key)
    └── options/             # Settings page
        └── App.tsx
```

## State Management

| Layer | Tool | Purpose |
|-------|------|---------|
| Capture lifecycle | xstate | State machine (IDLE ↔ RECORDING) in background service worker |
| Fullview UI | Zustand | Search modal, guide counts, active guide data |
| Persistence | Dexie (IndexedDB) | Guides, steps, screenshots, rrweb chunks |
| Service worker recovery | sessionStorage | xstate machine snapshot persistence |
| Background → Sidepanel | Port messaging | Real-time state broadcast |
| Cross-context sync | BroadcastChannel | Guide mutations (star, delete) across sidepanel/fullview |

## Extension Entry Points

| Entry Point | File | Purpose |
|-------------|------|---------|
| Background | `entrypoints/background/` | Service worker: xstate actor, message handlers, tab management |
| Content Script | `entrypoints/content.ts` | Injected into all tabs: CaptureSession, event listeners, rrweb |
| Side Panel | `entrypoints/sidepanel/` | Recording controls, library, guide editor, settings |
| Full View | `entrypoints/fullview/` | Dashboard: library browse, guide viewer, Ctrl+K search |
| Onboarding | `entrypoints/onboarding/` | First-install wizard: AI setup, smart blur, pin extension |
| Options | `entrypoints/options/` | Settings page (shared SettingsView in centered card) |

## Messaging

```
Content Script ←→ Background Service Worker ←→ Sidepanel / Fullview
```

**Extension messages** (webext-core, `lib/messaging.ts`):
- `getState` → current capture state, step count, guide ID
- `startRecording({url})` → creates guide, returns guideId
- `stopRecording()` → finalizes guide, generates AI title
- `captureStep({guideId, action, elementMeta, domContext})` → screenshots + creates step
- `updateInputStep({stepId, description})` → updates typing step description
- `finalizeInputStep({stepId, elementMeta, domContext})` → final screenshot + AI description
- `rrwebChunk({guideId, events, timestamp})` → stores DOM recording chunk

**Tab messages** (content script ↔ background, `lib/tab-messages.ts`):
- `PING` / `START_CAPTURE` / `STOP_CAPTURE` — lifecycle
- `HIDE_OVERLAY` / `SHOW_OVERLAY` — overlay toggle (fallback, used for non-click captures)
- `SHOW_NOTIFICATION` — "Recording started" overlay
- `URL_CHANGED` / `GET_ROUTE` — SPA navigation tracking

## Capture Pipeline

**Start recording:**
1. User clicks "Start Capture" in sidepanel
2. Background transitions xstate machine IDLE → RECORDING
3. Creates Guide in IndexedDB, broadcasts `START_CAPTURE` to all tabs
4. Content scripts create CaptureSession → CaptureController (event listeners) + rrweb
5. Shows recording notification overlay on active tab

**Capture a click:**
1. Content script's CaptureController detects click via DOM event listener
2. Click handler pushes async work into PQueue (concurrency: 1)
3. Queue processes: hides overlay instantly → sends `captureStep` to background → waits
4. Background calls `captureVisibleTab` (overlay is hidden, page hasn't reacted yet)
5. Saves Screenshot + Step to IndexedDB
6. Optionally generates AI description from DOM context text (not screenshot)
7. Returns `{ stepId }` → content script shows overlay → queue processes next event

**Capture text input (typing):**
1. Click on text field → CaptureController starts InputSession → `captureStep` with initial screenshot
2. Each keystroke → InputSession.update() → `updateInputStep` (description only, fire-and-forget)
3. Enter/Escape/focusout → InputSession.finalize() → `finalizeInputStep` → final screenshot replaces initial + AI description
4. Result: one step for entire typing interaction

**Stop recording:**
1. Background transitions RECORDING → IDLE
2. Broadcasts `STOP_CAPTURE`, content scripts flush pending input sessions + rrweb events
3. Background generates guide title from step descriptions + URLs via AI
4. Opens fullview dashboard with the guide

## DOM Context (AI Input)

Instead of sending screenshots to the AI for step descriptions, Mimik extracts a lightweight DOM context (~50-100 tokens) from around the target element:

```
Page: "Public profile - Settings" /settings/profile
Container: form "Public profile"
Heading: "Public profile"
Siblings: input "Name", input "Email", textarea "Bio", button "Update profile"
→ Target: button "Update profile" (click)
```

Extraction walks up from the target element to find:
- Page title + URL path
- Nearest semantic container (form, nav, dialog, section) or 3 levels up
- Nearest heading
- Sibling interactive elements in the same container (max 10)

## Export Formats

| Format | Generator | Details |
|--------|-----------|---------|
| HTML | `core/export/html-export.ts` | Self-contained, base64 images, inline CSS |
| PDF | `core/export/pdf-export.ts` | jsPDF, A4 portrait, auto page breaks |
| Markdown | `core/export/markdown-export.ts` | Standard MD with base64 image data URLs |

## Tech Stack

| Layer | Technology |
|-------|-----------|
| Extension framework | WXT (Manifest V3) |
| Language | TypeScript |
| UI | React 19 |
| Styling | Tailwind CSS v4 |
| Components | shadcn/ui |
| State (capture) | xstate |
| State (UI) | Zustand |
| Storage | Dexie.js (IndexedDB) |
| Messaging | webext-core |
| Session recording | rrweb |
| Export | jsPDF, client-side HTML/Markdown |
| AI (optional) | Vercel AI SDK (`ai`, `@ai-sdk/openai`, `@ai-sdk/anthropic`) |
| Event queue | p-queue (concurrency: 1) |
| Icons | Lucide React |
| Dates | dayjs |
| DOM utils | css-selector-generator |

## Design System

All colors are defined as CSS variables in `src/ui/global.css` and used via Tailwind classes:

| Token | Color | Usage |
|-------|-------|-------|
| `--color-foreground` | `#1E1B4B` | Primary text (deep navy) |
| `--color-muted-foreground` | `#6B7280` | Secondary text |
| `--color-border` | `#C7D2FE` | Borders, dividers (lavender) |
| `--color-secondary` | `#EEF2FF` | Light wash backgrounds |
| `--color-accent` | `#4F46E5` | Accent / interactive (indigo) |
| `--color-primary` | `#1E1B4B` | Dark backgrounds, badges |
| `--color-primary-foreground` | `#C7D2FE` | Text on dark backgrounds |
| `--color-lavender` | `#C7D2FE` | Soft accent |
| `--color-purple` | `#4F46E5` | Primary indigo |
| `--color-deep` | `#1E1B4B` | Deepest navy |
| `--color-violet` | `#38BDF8` | Sky blue accent |
| `--color-success` | `#059669` | Success green |

Font: Poppins (loaded via `@fontsource/poppins`).

## Key Technical Details

- **Async event queue** in content script (PQueue, concurrency 1) serializes capture work — each action awaits the full background round-trip before the next starts
- **Overlay hidden from content script side** (instant `display:none`) before sending capture message — no round-trip delay for overlay toggle
- **Input session** aggregates all typing on a field into one step — click creates it, keystrokes update description, finalize takes final screenshot
- **DOM context** sent as text to AI instead of screenshots — 15-30x cheaper per step
- **Highlight overlay** uses a custom web component (`<mimik-highlight>`) with closed Shadow DOM at max z-index
- **Content script injection** pings first, falls back to `chrome.scripting.executeScript()` for tabs without the script
- **xstate snapshot** persisted to sessionStorage so the state machine survives service worker restarts
- **Recording notification** uses `animationend` event (not hardcoded delays) for timing
- **Font loading** uses `@fontsource/poppins` (CSP-safe, no CDN dependency)
- **Cross-context sync** via BroadcastChannel — star/delete events update other views without full reload