Should I Build It Should I Build It
20 Apr 2025
Developer Tools

chrome extension that receives a json command and it will ...

...automatically do action on the loaded website

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Minimal Signal

There’s barely any market activity - either because the problem is very niche or not important enough. You’ll need to prove real demand exists before investing significant time.

Should You Build It?

Not yet, validate more.

Your are here

Your idea for a Chrome extension that executes actions on a website based on JSON commands falls into the 'Minimal Signal' category. This means there isn't much market activity or validation for similar ideas, indicating it might be a very niche problem or not considered important by many. With only one similar product found, our confidence is low, signaling a need for significant validation before investing heavily. Engagement for the similar product is also low, with only 2 comments. While one user thought the idea was cool, there was criticism regarding data caching and limited use as an extension. Therefore, it is important to validate this idea before diving into development.

Recommendations

  1. First, identify your ideal customer profile and where they congregate online. Post about your idea in relevant online communities (e.g., developer forums, automation groups) and actively solicit feedback to gauge genuine interest. Quantify the level of enthusiasm by tracking likes, shares, and comments.
  2. Before building anything, offer to manually execute JSON-driven actions on websites for 2-3 potential customers. This will help you understand their specific needs, pain points, and workflows, while also validating the core value proposition of your extension.
  3. Create a short, compelling explainer video demonstrating how the extension works and the benefits it provides (e.g., automation, increased efficiency). Track the video's completion rate and engagement metrics (e.g., likes, comments) to assess viewer interest.
  4. To further gauge commitment, consider creating a landing page with a clear description of your extension and an option to join a waiting list by providing a small, non-refundable deposit. This will help you separate casual interest from serious demand.
  5. Given the criticism of similar products regarding data caching, explore and implement robust data caching mechanisms early in your development to address this pain point. Consider local storage, cloud synchronization, or other methods depending on the extension's requirements.
  6. Based on the criticism of limited use, brainstorm ways to expand the potential applications of your extension. Consider different use cases, integrations with other tools, or customizable features that cater to a wider audience. Think about the general types of websites where users could make use of this, and highlight this in your marketing.
  7. If, after 3 weeks of active validation efforts, you struggle to find even 5 individuals genuinely interested in your extension, it's wise to reconsider the idea or pivot to address a more pressing need. Don't fall in love with the solution before validating the problem.

Questions

  1. Given the low engagement observed in similar products, what unique features or marketing strategies will you implement to drive user adoption and sustained usage of your extension?
  2. Considering the criticism around limited use cases, how can you design the extension's architecture to be highly adaptable and extensible, allowing users to customize and tailor its functionality to their specific needs?
  3. In the event that early validation efforts reveal a limited addressable market, what potential pivots or complementary features could you explore to expand the extension's appeal and revenue potential?

Your are here

Your idea for a Chrome extension that executes actions on a website based on JSON commands falls into the 'Minimal Signal' category. This means there isn't much market activity or validation for similar ideas, indicating it might be a very niche problem or not considered important by many. With only one similar product found, our confidence is low, signaling a need for significant validation before investing heavily. Engagement for the similar product is also low, with only 2 comments. While one user thought the idea was cool, there was criticism regarding data caching and limited use as an extension. Therefore, it is important to validate this idea before diving into development.

Recommendations

  1. First, identify your ideal customer profile and where they congregate online. Post about your idea in relevant online communities (e.g., developer forums, automation groups) and actively solicit feedback to gauge genuine interest. Quantify the level of enthusiasm by tracking likes, shares, and comments.
  2. Before building anything, offer to manually execute JSON-driven actions on websites for 2-3 potential customers. This will help you understand their specific needs, pain points, and workflows, while also validating the core value proposition of your extension.
  3. Create a short, compelling explainer video demonstrating how the extension works and the benefits it provides (e.g., automation, increased efficiency). Track the video's completion rate and engagement metrics (e.g., likes, comments) to assess viewer interest.
  4. To further gauge commitment, consider creating a landing page with a clear description of your extension and an option to join a waiting list by providing a small, non-refundable deposit. This will help you separate casual interest from serious demand.
  5. Given the criticism of similar products regarding data caching, explore and implement robust data caching mechanisms early in your development to address this pain point. Consider local storage, cloud synchronization, or other methods depending on the extension's requirements.
  6. Based on the criticism of limited use, brainstorm ways to expand the potential applications of your extension. Consider different use cases, integrations with other tools, or customizable features that cater to a wider audience. Think about the general types of websites where users could make use of this, and highlight this in your marketing.
  7. If, after 3 weeks of active validation efforts, you struggle to find even 5 individuals genuinely interested in your extension, it's wise to reconsider the idea or pivot to address a more pressing need. Don't fall in love with the solution before validating the problem.

Questions

  1. Given the low engagement observed in similar products, what unique features or marketing strategies will you implement to drive user adoption and sustained usage of your extension?
  2. Considering the criticism around limited use cases, how can you design the extension's architecture to be highly adaptable and extensible, allowing users to customize and tailor its functionality to their specific needs?
  3. In the event that early validation efforts reveal a limited addressable market, what potential pivots or complementary features could you explore to expand the extension's appeal and revenue potential?

  • Confidence: Low
    • Number of similar products: 1
  • Engagement: Low
    • Average number of comments: 2
  • Net use signal: 0.0%
    • Positive use signal: 0.0%
    • Negative use signal: 0.0%
  • Net buy signal: 0.0%
    • Positive buy signal: 0.0%
    • Negative buy signal: 0.0%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

Similar products

Relevance

From Chaos – A Chrome extension that turns any webpage into JSON

02 Oct 2023 Developer Tools

Hey HN! I wanted to share a chrome extension I built for myself called From Chaos.It's an extension that takes the content of the page and organizes it into structured data. For instance, taking all the restaurants on a "top 10" article and just returning their names.It requires an OpenAI API key that you can set in your settings, and lets you get data back as JSON, YAML, CSV, or plain text.I built it to help in my data-gathering efforts, but wanted to share in case it's useful to someone else as well! It doesn't always return perfect data, but it does save me quite a bit of time.

Users provided suggestions for feature improvements and validation. One user found the idea cool and inquired about the availability of a CLI tool version.

The main criticisms are that the page disappears when closed, indicating a need for data caching, and that the product has limited use as an extension.

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