DEV Community: fthux

A Little Context for Every Visitor: Meet Who Arrives

fthux — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 13:19:14 +0000

A free, open-source tool for exploring your public IP, approximate location, timezone, and network.

A visit to a website starts with a connection. Sometimes, a little information about that connection is all you need: a suggested country, a timezone to display, or a clearer picture of which network you are using.

I created Who Arrives to make that information easy to explore. It brings your public IP, approximate location, timezone, and network details together in one place, without asking you to create an account or obtain an API key.

You can try it at https://who-arrives.fthux.com/. The open-source project is available at https://github.com/fthux/who-arrives.

Start with your own connection

The easiest way to understand Who Arrives is to open the website and try it yourself.

The page begins with a labeled example. Click Run request to see information about your current connection instead. You can explore your public IP, the country or region associated with it, available city information, your detected timezone, and the network organization.

You do not need to set anything up first. That makes it useful for a quick check, whether you are curious about your connection or exploring an idea for your own website.

The tool describes the connection you are using to access it. It is intended for checking your own connection, rather than searching a list of other people's IP addresses.

Get a little more context

An IP address is useful, but it rarely tells the whole story at a glance. A country name is easier to read. A local time can make a timezone easier to understand. A network name can help explain which provider your connection appears to use.

Who Arrives offers those details alongside optional country reference information, including flags, capitals, currencies, official languages, and international calling codes.

On the website, selecting Include all enrichment fields lets you explore the additional information together. It is a simple way to discover which details would actually be useful to you.

For a quick connection check, the basics may be enough. For a regional information panel, readable country names and local time might be more helpful. You can decide how much context belongs in your experience.

Choose what to include with `fields`

You can also explore the API directly. Open the basic result to see the current connection's public IP, country or region code, location, timezone, and network information.

The query parameter fields lets you request additional context. The names below are choices for that one parameter, rather than separate parameters. Omit fields, or leave it empty, to keep the basic result.

Value for `fields`	What it adds	When it is useful
`names`	English names for the country or region and the continent.	Readable labels alongside location information.
`flag`	A flag emoji for the country or region.	A visual cue next to a country name.
`ipVersion`	Whether the public IP is IPv4 or IPv6.	A quick connection overview.
`time`	The current local date and time, plus the UTC offset, for the detected timezone.	A local-time display or timezone suggestion.
`capitals`	The country or region's capital cities; there may be more than one.	A regional reference panel.
`currencies`	Currency codes, names, and symbols for the country or region.	Country information or currency suggestions.
`languages`	Official language codes and names for the country or region.	A regional reference or language suggestions.
`callingCodes`	International country calling codes, such as `+1` or `+49`; these do not include local area codes.	Country reference information or a suggested dialing prefix.
`all`	All eight options above.	Exploring the full set of available information.

For a readable connection summary, try fields=names,flag,time. For the address type, try fields=ipVersion. To explore every option, try fields=all.

The options are case-sensitive: use ipVersion and callingCodes exactly as written. Separate multiple values with commas, as in ?fields=names,flag,time. Repeated fields parameters are combined, and repeated values do not add duplicate information. Unknown values or unsupported query parameters return a 400 error.

These selections add information without changing the basic connection details. A requested value may be null when it is unavailable. Country languages, currencies, and calling codes describe the country or region, rather than an individual's preferences.

A few places it could be useful

A country selector could offer a starting suggestion while still allowing the visitor to choose another country. A support page could help someone check their public IP and the network they appear to be using. A personal dashboard could display the timezone associated with the current connection.

These are modest features, but modest features can remove everyday friction. They save someone a small amount of work or help answer a question that would otherwise require opening another tool.

Who Arrives is also useful on its own. You do not have to be building an application to open it and explore your connection.

Leave room for the person behind the connection

Connection information is a useful starting point. It cannot tell you everything about a visitor.

An IP-based location is approximate. A VPN or proxy may make a connection appear to come from somewhere else. Someone visiting from a particular country may prefer a different language, use another currency, or be traveling.

For that reason, a suggested country should stay editable. A detected timezone can be presented as a suggestion. Country reference information can provide background without becoming a claim about an individual's preferences.

Some details may also be unavailable. An interface should remain useful even when it has less context to display.

Try it before deciding where it fits

I wanted Who Arrives to be easy to experience before you decide whether you need it. The website gives you a place to explore the information and see which parts answer a real question for you.

It is also open source, so you can follow the project, share feedback, or contribute ideas.

Visit https://who-arrives.fthux.com/ to check your connection. You can find the project at https://github.com/fthux/who-arrives.

What would be most useful to you: a quick IP check, a country suggestion, or a clearer view of your network?

GitZip Pro: Download Only the GitHub Files You Actually Need

fthux — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 14:59:56 +0000

Have you ever opened a large GitHub repository because you needed just one component, utility function, or documentation folder?

Cloning the entire repository feels excessive. Downloading files one by one is tedious. GitZip for GitHub has long solved this problem by letting developers download only the files and folders they select. I have used it for a long time, and it is a genuinely useful idea.

As I used it in more day-to-day workflows, I started wanting a few more conveniences:

ZIP filenames that clearly show the repository, branch, path, and download date
A way to download a single file or folder from the context menu
Better visibility into GitHub API rate limits and token access
Download history and statistics for keeping track of what I fetched
More control over notifications, appearance, and the floating download button

These are not complaints about the original extension. They are simply features I happened to need. That led me to build GitZip Pro, an open-source browser extension inspired by GitZip for GitHub.

GitZip Pro keeps the familiar workflow and adds a more complete set of tools around it.

Select Files Directly on GitHub

GitZip Pro adds selection checkboxes to GitHub repository pages. Select one or more files and folders, click the floating download button, and the extension creates a ZIP archive while preserving the original directory structure.

For a quick one-off download, you can also right-click a file or folder and send it directly to GitZip Pro through the browser context menu.

The extension follows GitHub's modern page navigation, so moving between repository pages does not require a manual refresh. Folder traversal, concurrent requests, and temporary network or API failures are handled in the background while you focus on choosing what you need.

ZIP Names That Stay Organized

Downloaded archives are much easier to find when their filenames carry useful context. GitZip Pro supports naming templates such as:

{owner}-{repo}-{branch}-{date}

Available variables include {owner}, {repo}, {branch}, {path}, {date}, {datetime}, and {ts}. You can use a preset naming strategy or create your own template.

Public and Private Repository Access

Public repositories can be accessed anonymously. If you need higher GitHub API limits or access to private repositories you are allowed to view, you can connect GitHub through OAuth or provide a compatible personal access token.

The access settings make the choice explicit:

Anonymous access for public repositories
A custom token when you want to manage credentials yourself
GitHub OAuth with access limited to public repositories, or public and private repositories
A rate-limit panel showing your remaining API request quota

The rate-limit view is useful before starting a large download: it gives you a better idea of whether the request budget is sufficient and helps explain an interrupted download.

Useful Details for Frequent Downloads

The main workflow stays simple, but a few small options make repeated use more comfortable:

Show File Sizes displays file sizes beside repository rows.
Show Notification sends a browser notification when the ZIP is ready.
Play Sound provides an optional completion sound.
Auto-open download location can open the browser's download folder after completion.
A configurable floating button can be placed in any of eight positions.

Themes, History, and Statistics

GitZip Pro includes System, Light, and Dark themes, plus preset accent colors and a custom color picker.

The download history page records useful details for each archive, including the repository, branch, selected path, file list, and the number of files selected and downloaded. Records can be grouped by date, filtered, expanded for more detail, deleted individually, or cleared in bulk.

This is especially helpful when you download examples from several repositories and later need to remember exactly which version or path you used.

Privacy by Design

Repository files are fetched from GitHub and packaged into a ZIP locally in your browser. GitZip Pro does not upload downloaded repository content to its own servers. Extension settings, credentials, download history, and statistics are stored locally through browser extension storage.

GitHub authorization is contacted only when you explicitly choose to connect your account. Public repositories do not require an account.

Install GitZip Pro

GitZip Pro is free and open source, released under the GNU AGPL v3 license with the attribution requirements described in the repository license.

If you try GitZip Pro, I would love to hear how it fits into your workflow. Have you ever needed only one small part of a large GitHub repository? Leave a comment with your use case, questions, or suggestions. Your feedback will help shape the next improvements.

Thanks to GitZip for GitHub and to everyone who contributes to the open-source community. Good tools improve through shared ideas.