rangerhq-tuner/CHANGELOG.md

Changelog

All notable changes to RangerHQ Tuner are documented here. Format: Keep a Changelog 1.1.0 — versioning: SemVer.

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[Unreleased]

Planned — New Tab Page override (Tier 2.5)

• Replace Chrome's default New Tab Page with a RangerHQ-branded version that surfaces the player, current track, and a quick-station picker.
• Adds chrome_url_overrides.newtab to manifest.json pointing at src/newtab/newtab.html.
• Reuses the popup's CSS palette + source-adapter pattern — no new architectural concepts.

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[0.1.0] — 2026-06-08

Added — Tier 1 MVP (Buddy is alive — er, Tuner is alive)

Buddy's browser cousin lives. First release of RangerHQ Tuner — a Chrome Manifest V3 extension that plays SomaFM internet radio from your toolbar. Sibling to rangerhq-radio (the WordPress version live on wp.org since 2026-06-04). Same brand idea, different surface: WP version lives in admin pages, Chrome version lives one toolbar-click away no matter what you're doing.

Architecture

• Manifest V3 — uses the chrome.offscreen API to host the <audio> element in a hidden document. Service workers can't host audio in MV3 (they get killed when idle), so a one-off offscreen document is the only supported pattern. Working code in src/offscreen/offscreen.js + src/background/service-worker.js.
• Source-adapter pattern at src/sources/ — every radio network is a single file conforming to the RadioSource interface in base-source.js. Adding a new network = drop a new file + register one line in src/sources/index.js. Popup, SW, and offscreen never know which network is which.
• Vanilla JS, no build step — pure ES modules loaded directly. No webpack, no Vite, no npm install. Same ethos as the RangerHQ WP family (hand-rolled PHP).
• No telemetry, no third-party JS — everything is local. Only outbound network calls are to SomaFM's public endpoints (catalogue + stream metadata).

Features

• Toolbar popup showing a searchable SomaFM station list (~150 channels) with artwork, name, and genre.
• Play / Pause / Volume controls. Volume persists across browser restarts.
• Last station picked is remembered — Tuner remembers where you left off.
• Now-playing metadata displayed from SomaFM's per-channel song history endpoint.
• Catalogue cached in chrome.storage.local for 6 hours to make popup re-opens instant.
• Audio continues after popup closes — the offscreen document owns the playback, popup is just a view.
• RangerHQ helmet icon in the Chrome toolbar (resized from src/assets/img/ranger.png to 16/32/48/128 PNGs with a dark #1a221c padded background that matches the popup palette).

Files (22 created)

rangerhq-tuner/
├── manifest.json
├── README.md
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── .gitignore
└── src/
    ├── assets/
    │   ├── icons/icon-{16,32,48,128}.png   (toolbar icons)
    │   └── img/ranger.png                  (master helmet logo, 257×275)
    ├── background/service-worker.js        (message router only)
    ├── offscreen/offscreen.{html,js}       (audio host — the MV3 gotcha solved)
    ├── popup/popup.{html,css,js}           (the toolbar UI)
    ├── sources/
    │   ├── base-source.js                  (RadioSource interface contract)
    │   ├── somafm.js                       (first concrete adapter)
    │   └── index.js                        (registry)
    └── lib/
        ├── messages.js                     (type + target constants)
        └── playlist-parser.js              (.pls parser)

Manifest permissions (narrow on purpose)

"permissions":      ["offscreen", "storage"],
"host_permissions": ["https://somafm.com/*", "https://*.somafm.com/*"]

No tabs, no <all_urls>, no webRequest. Smallest permission ask possible = easiest Web Store review.

Architecture / status

• Tier 1 MVP — shipped this commit.
• Tier 2 (planned) — full UX polish, favourites via chrome.storage.sync, now-playing polling loop, .m3u parser, .crx packaging, second source adapter stub.
• Tier 3 (planned) — Chrome Web Store submission. See ~/.ranger-memory/docs/ for the per-family submission checklist; Chrome Web Store specifics tracked in the user's memory under reference_chrome_web_store_rules.

Why this exists

David has Chrome open essentially all day. The WP version of RangerHQ Radio requires going to admin pages to use; the toolbar version is one click away regardless of context. Same code-level effort, dramatically higher daily-use payoff. The "best thing we done so far" verdict on first sound (2026-06-08 evening) confirmed the bet.

Rangers lead the way 🪖☕🎵