Reddit Classic

Reddit Classic is a Firefox extension that replaces supported www.reddit.com/r/* pages with a compact, desktop-focused interface inspired by old Reddit. It reads Reddit's public JSON endpoints in the current browser session, so public communities work without an account.

Use Reddit Classic

1. Download reddit_classic-0.1.1.zip from the latest release and extract it.
2. In Firefox, open about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox.
3. Select Load Temporary Add-on, then choose manifest.json from the extracted directory.
4. Open a supported page such as https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/. Reddit Classic replaces the page automatically.
5. Browse listings, search results, and comment threads normally. Browser back/forward navigation remains available, and new reddit restores the untouched Reddit page immediately.

The release ZIP is unsigned, so Firefox removes this temporary installation when the browser restarts. Permanent installation in release Firefox requires Mozilla signing.

Features

• Hot, new, rising, controversial, top, and gilded subreddit listings
• Subreddit search results
• Compact link, text, image, gallery, and video posts with expandos
• Threaded comment pages, comment sorting, and "load more" support
• Community details, reader counts, search, and classic pagination
• In-place navigation with working browser back and forward controls
• A new reddit escape hatch that restores the untouched page immediately

Unsupported routes, including wiki pages and non-subreddit pages, are left unchanged. Actions that require an authenticated Reddit account lead to Reddit's login flow rather than pretending to succeed.

Install from source

Requirements:

• Node.js 20 or newer
• Firefox 142 or newer

Install dependencies and build the extension:

npm ci
npm run build

The unsigned archive is written to dist/. To load the source directly during development:

1. Open about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox.
2. Select Load Temporary Add-on.
3. Select extension/manifest.json.
4. Open a supported URL such as https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/.

Privacy

Reddit Classic:

• runs only on https://www.reddit.com/r/*;
• requests data only from Reddit;
• sends no telemetry;
• uses no third-party analytics or services; and
• stores no browsing history.

The extension uses the browser's existing Reddit session for same-origin requests. It does not ask for a Reddit token or any other credential.

Development

npm test          # Node-based unit tests
npm run lint      # JavaScript syntax checks and web-ext validation
npm run build     # tests, lint, and unsigned extension archive

The implementation is split into:

• extension/core.js for route parsing, URL construction, formatting, and comment-tree helpers that can be tested without a browser;
• extension/content.js for rendering and browser interaction;
• extension/classic.css for the classic desktop presentation; and
• tests/core.test.js for the portable behavior checks.

The project overview used by GitHub Pages lives in docs/.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

Reddit is a trademark of Reddit, Inc. This project is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Reddit.