Browser Extension

The Bifurc Companion extension connects your browser directly to Bifurc for proxy control, capture-driven workflows, and quick creation of requests and mocks from live traffic.

---

What it does

The extension provides three main capabilities:

1. Proxy toggle from the browser — route traffic through Bifurc without opening OS proxy settings.
2. Companion bridge — a localhost WebSocket bridge for sending actions into the desktop app.
3. DevTools workflows — capture network activity and turn it into Bifurc entities.

---

Installation

Load from source

1. Open chrome://extensions
2. Enable Developer mode
3. Click Load unpacked
4. Select the local-panel-extension folder from the Bifurc repository

Browser support

• Chrome: supported
• Edge: supported as a Chromium browser
• Other Chromium browsers: likely compatible if they support the required APIs

---

Popup workflow

Open the extension popup to control the browser-to-Bifurc connection.

Configure ports

The popup stores:

• Proxy port — the Bifurc port that should receive browser traffic
• Companion port — the localhost WebSocket bridge port Bifurc listens on

These values should match the desktop app settings for your current workspace setup.

Enable proxy routing

When you enable the proxy toggle, the extension writes a PAC configuration through the browser proxy API so traffic is routed through 127.0.0.1:<proxyPort>.

That gives you a fast on/off switch for:

• capture sessions
• mock interception
• proxy-rule testing
• browser validation against mapped services

---

DevTools workflows

Open DevTools and switch to the Bifurc tab.

Capture and review

The panel records browser network activity and shows:

• request method
• URL
• status
• asset type
• size
• timing

Save a request to Bifurc

1. Open the Bifurc DevTools tab
2. Trigger traffic in the page
3. Find a captured row
4. Click Save
5. The extension sends the request to the Bifurc companion bridge
6. Bifurc creates a saved request in the active workspace

Turn traffic into a mock

1. Capture a request in DevTools
2. Click Mock
3. The request and response payload are sent through the companion bridge
4. Bifurc creates a mock prefilled with:
   • method
   • URL pattern
   • request headers and body
   • response status, headers, and body

Bulk-create mocks or requests

The DevTools panel also supports batch workflows over the current filtered view:

• create a folder
• send multiple captured requests as mocks
• send multiple captured requests as saved requests

This is useful when reverse-engineering an existing frontend API surface quickly.

---

Context-menu workflow

The extension adds browser context-menu actions:

• Mock this request [Bifurc]
• Add to Requests [Bifurc]

These are quick helpers for link-driven workflows and feed actions into the same companion bridge.

---

Companion bridge details

The extension talks to Bifurc over a localhost WebSocket connection:

• default documented companion bridge: ws://127.0.0.1:9271
• reconnects automatically with backoff
• never sends traffic to external servers

The bridge is intended for additive actions such as:

• creating requests
• creating mocks
• creating folders for captured items

---

Security model

• Communication is localhost-only
• The extension does not send data to a cloud backend
• Proxy routing is browser-scoped through browser APIs
• HTTPS inspection still depends on trusting the Bifurc CA inside the desktop app

---

Current scope and limitations

---

Troubleshooting