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RefreshPilot
RefreshPilot

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I Built a Chrome Extension That Watches Websites So I Don't Have To

#chrome #extensions #webdev #browser

Have you ever kept a webpage open because you're waiting for something to change?

A ticket to become available.

A product to come back in stock.

A freelance job to appear.

A visa appointment slot to open.

A price to change.

A dashboard to update.

And then you find yourself pressing F5 every few minutes.

I got tired of doing exactly that.

So I built RefreshPilot.

👉 https://refreshpilot.com/

The idea

The concept is simple:

Tell the extension what you're waiting for, and let the browser watch it for you.

RefreshPilot automatically reloads a webpage and checks whether something you're interested in has changed.

For example:

URL:
https://example.com/jobs

Refresh:
Every 30 seconds

Watch for:
"React Developer"

Alert me:
When the keyword appears
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Instead of manually checking the page 100 times, you can let the extension do it.

What can it monitor?

RefreshPilot supports several types of monitoring:

  • 🔄 Automatic page refresh
  • 🔎 Keyword monitoring
  • 📝 Page-change detection
  • 🎯 Watch specific areas of a webpage
  • 🌐 XHR/network monitoring
  • 🔔 Desktop notifications
  • 📧 Email alerts
  • 🔗 Webhooks
  • 🤖 Custom JavaScript automation
  • ⌨️ Keyboard shortcuts
  • ⏱️ Custom and random refresh intervals

It can be useful for things like:

Freelancing

Waiting for a new job matching:

"React"
"Next.js"
"Blockchain"
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E-commerce

Waiting for:

"In Stock"
"Add to Cart"
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Tickets

Waiting for:

"Tickets Available"
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Travel

Watching for changes in:

Flight prices
Hotel availability
Appointment slots
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Developers

Monitoring:

Dashboards
Deployment status
Build results
API-powered pages
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The interesting part: it's a Chrome extension

I built RefreshPilot using the modern Manifest V3 extension architecture.

One thing I wanted to avoid was creating an extension that becomes a giant resource hog.

The goal was simple:

Let the browser do the work, but only for the tabs the user chooses to monitor.

The extension runs monitoring per tab, so you don't have to keep manually checking the page yourself.

Monitoring isn't just "refresh every X seconds"

This was one of the biggest things I learned while building it.

A simple auto-refresh extension is easy.

The interesting problem is:

"What exactly changed?"

For example, imagine a page initially contains:

Sold Out
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After several refreshes it becomes:

Only 2 left
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The useful event isn't the refresh.

The useful event is:

The condition I care about became true.

That's why RefreshPilot has keyword watches and change detection rather than being only a page reloader.

I also wanted automation

Eventually I realized that detecting a change isn't always enough.

Sometimes you want the browser to take an action after the change.

For example:

1. Refresh page
2. Detect "Available"
3. Click a button
4. Fill a field
5. Continue the workflow
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That's why RefreshPilot also supports custom scripts.

And recently I added an AI Script Generator where you can describe the action in plain English and have the script generated for you.

For example:

"Click the button that says Continue and then select the first available option."

The idea is to make browser automation accessible even if you don't want to write the JavaScript yourself.

Privacy was also important

I didn't want RefreshPilot to become another extension that collects everything you browse.

The product is designed around the pages that you explicitly choose to monitor.

You're essentially telling the extension:

"Watch this page for me."

Not:

"Track everything I do in Chrome."

It's free to start

RefreshPilot has a free plan, and you don't need an account or credit card to start using the basic functionality.

There is also a PRO version for advanced features such as scripts, webhooks, email alerts and multi-device sync.

👉 Try it here: https://refreshpilot.com/

What's next?

I'm still actively developing it, so I'm interested in feedback from other developers.

Some things I'm exploring:

  • Better change detection
  • More browser support
  • More automation capabilities
  • Better AI-assisted scripts
  • More integrations
  • Better monitoring for dynamic websites
  • More developer-focused workflows

If you build Chrome extensions, browser automation tools, or monitoring systems, I'd especially love to hear how you approach these problems.

What website do you currently check manually over and over again?

Maybe that's the next thing RefreshPilot should automate. 🚀

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