(FOSS) One system for every app
wayBetter puts the apps you already use in a light native window and extends them in place, the way BetterDiscord extends Discord. Tabs, split panes, every account side by side, themes, plugins and fixes for the app's own bugs. Anyone can make a theme or a plugin. Anyone can build the next app.
Download wayBetter for X for Windows · free · GPL-3.0-or-later · no telemetry on what you read or post
waybetter01 The problem
The rest you can't have: the app decides how many accounts you get, how it looks, and when its bugs get fixed. wayBetter keeps the app and adds the other half.
One account per window. Log out, log in, repeat.
Every account, side by side, all signed in at once.
A bug in the app? Wait for them to fix it.
Fixed on your machine, in place, today.
The look they picked. The features they shipped.
Themes and plugins anyone can write.
A whole browser bundled into every desktop client.
One light native window, on the system WebView.
02 One system
Every wayBetter app is the same system: a native Shell, a page Runtime, and one small Adapter that knows the app. The app itself keeps doing what it does. Nothing is proxied or re-hosted; it changes on your machine only.
01 · Shell
Tauri 2, on the system WebView. The chrome you wish every app had:
02 · Runtime
Injected into the app's own pages, shared by every wayBetter app:
03 · Adapter
The only part that knows the app: its hosts, its layout, its account button and the data it already loads.
SiteSpec and a page SiteAdapter03 The first app
wayBetter for X.The live x.com in tabs and split panes, every account side by side, fourteen themes, ten plugins and fixes for the bugs X ships: likes and follows that race, drafts that vanish, a timeline that jumps. Available now for Windows; macOS and Linux later.
Tabs and split panes on the live x.com, each account signed in at once in its own profile.
Likes and follows that land, your place kept on Back, no timeline jumps, retried uploads.
Every draft kept locally with its revision history, and put back when X loses it.
Full redesigns, not just colors. Plugins like Thread Reader, Muted Regex and User Notes.
A command palette for tabs, accounts, settings and X search with operator chips.
04 Make it yours
A theme is one JSON file. A plugin is one JavaScript file. No store, no review queue, no account: write it, drop it in, share the file. If you can write CSS, you can restyle an app. If you can write a little JavaScript, you can add the feature it never shipped.
Import and export JSON in the Appearance panel. Contrast is checked for you: text is kept readable on every surface.
Fourteen themes ship with it. The fifteenth is yours.
One JSON file. Drop it into Appearance → Import.
{
"name": "Deep Sea",
"author": "@you",
"mode": "dark",
"colors": { "bg": "#06141b", "text": "#e6f4f1", "accent": "#2ee6c5" },
"font": { "family": ["Geist"], "scale": 1.02 },
"shape": { "radius": 14, "button": 9999, "avatar": "rounded" },
"layout": { "density": "compact", "cards": true },
"background": { "kind": "pattern", "pattern": "grid",
"ink": "#2ee6c5", "opacity": 0.08, "size": 28 },
"effects": { "hover": "glow" }
}start() and stop().BetterDiscord-style *.plugin.js, dropped into the plugins folder and switched on in Settings. A helper API does the fiddly parts.
/**
* @name Copy Quote
* @description y on a focused post copies "@handle: text".
* @version 1.0.0
* @author @you
*/
module.exports = class CopyQuote {
start() {
const api = window.BetterTwttr.api;
this.scope = api.scope();
this.scope.onKey((event, post) => {
if (event.key !== 'y' || !post) return;
const t = api.tweet(post);
if (t) api.copyText(`@${t.handle}: ${t.text}`)
.then(() => api.toast('Copied'));
});
}
stop() { this.scope.dispose(); }
};Helper API
storage(ns)observe(sel, fn)onRouteChange(fn)onKey(fn)tweet(el)copyText(s)toast(msg)injectCSS(id, css)waitFor(sel)scope()Ten ship with wayBetter for X
05 Build on it
The page runtime and the shell models behind wayBetter for X are on npm as
waybetter: plain ESM with types, every module its own subpath, zero
dependencies. Take the pieces you need, or build a whole app.
npm i waybetter
import { configureRuntime, type SiteAdapter }
from 'waybetter/runtime/site';
export const KICK: SiteAdapter = {
product: 'wayBetter for Kick',
hosts: ['kick.com'],
runtimeGlobal: 'WayBetterKick',
apiMarks: ['/api/'],
// plugins, rail, account, links, themeSources …
};
configureRuntime(KICK);waybetter/runtime/*
sitethe adapter's composition rootdomHubone MutationObserver, one framenetHubone fetch/XHR hook for every featurepluginApihelpers for user pluginsthemeTokensthe OKLab color modelpaneNavone navigation in split viewlinkRoutingbeside, tab or browseraccountReportwhich account is signed inwaybetter/shell/*
addressModeladdress bar chipspaneModelsplit panes, links besidelinkDropdrop a link, get a panepalettecommand palette rankingprofileModelaccount profilesupdateModelthe update chipwindowControlstitlebar and caption buttonschrometitlebar and toolbar sizes06 What's next
Any app with a web version can get the same window, themes and plugins. These could be next. None of them is announced, and none has a date: they are waiting for someone to write the adapter. The README's own adapter example is Kick.
Start from the package and the README's adapter example. Built something? Add it to the "Projects using wayBetter" list with a pull request.
Possible next apps, not announced products. YouTube, Kick, Twitch and Discord are trademarks of their respective owners; their logos are shown only to name the services. wayBetter is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of them.
07 Free and open source
No paid tier, no ads, no upsell. Not now, not "after the beta".
GPL-3.0-or-later. The framework and the apps are public source on git.crt.fyi.
No analytics, no telemetry on what you read or post. Drafts, settings and plugins stay on your machine.
Fork it, theme it, write plugins, build the next app. The license keeps it open for the next person too.
08 Principles
You sign in to the app itself. Nothing is proxied or re-hosted; it is changed on your machine only.
A Tauri window on the system WebView, one per app, with every account inside it.
Fixes make your own clicks land. wayBetter never posts, follows or deletes anything by itself.
Updates are signed and install silently, so fixes land without another installer.
Source on git.crt.fyi