🧩 express Γ— browser-extension

Ship browser extension on Express with sensible defaults.

Express is a TypeScript workable choice for browser extension. GreatCTO auto-detects both β€” adds the browser-extension archetype overlay, wires browser-extension-specific gates, and runs 83 specialist agents around your existing Express workflow.

What changes when GreatCTO joins your Express project

Detection β†’ overlay β†’ gates β†’ reviewers.

1 Β· DETECT

Stack + archetype

GreatCTO reads your package.json and detects express + browser-extension archetype from signals: imports, file structure, env vars, README hints.

2 Β· OVERLAY

Archetype pack

Attaches the browser-extension archetype overlay: archetype-specific reviewer + compliance gates. Override if your specifics differ; the defaults are sensible for Express-style projects.

3 Β· GATES

Express-aware reviewers

qa-engineer runs tsc --strict / eslint / vitest --coverage; security-officer checks for prototype pollution + XSS sinks; performance-engineer reviews bundle size + cold-start times.

4 Β· MEMORY

Cross-project lessons

Bugs you've hit before in other Express projects (connection-pool exhaustion, ORM N+1 queries, retry storms) β€” the agent's Step 0 includes the prior detection order. MTTR drops 94 % on second occurrence (methodology).

First 10 minutes

Concrete walkthrough.

$ cd my-express-app && npx great-cto init
βœ“ scanning manifests… found package.json
βœ“ stack: express (TypeScript)
βœ“ archetype: browser-extension
⚠ archetype + stack combo is unusual β€” review overlay manually
βœ“ 83 agents ready

$ /start "add browser-extension feature"
β–Έ architect drafting ARCH-browser-extension.md…
β–Έ pm decomposing into beads tasks…
⚐ gate:plan β€” your approval needed

Approve β†’ 3 senior-devs run in parallel worktrees β†’ 5 reviewers fan out in parallel β†’ gate:ship β†’ deploy. One real run walked stage-by-stage: /proof.

What ships

The first feature, Express-idiomatic.

This is the shape of what senior-dev drafts for "browser-extension feature" β€” auth first, schema validation, and the audit line the browser-extension reviewer requires before gate:ship opens.

// src/routes/browser-extension.ts β€” drafted by senior-dev, reviewed by 5 agents
import { Router } from 'express';
import { requireAuth } from '../middleware/auth';  // security-officer: auth first
import { auditLog } from '../lib/audit';           // gate:browser-extension: every decision logged

export const router = Router();
router.post('/browser-extension', requireAuth, async (req, res) => {
  const parsed = schema.parse(req.body);           // qa-engineer: zod schema enforced
  const result = await handle(parsed, req.user);
  await auditLog({ who: req.user.id, what: 'browser-extension feature', confidence: result.confidence });
  res.json(result);
});
Where this combo lands

What teams build with Express + the browser-extension overlay.

1

Productivity extensions with minimal host permissions.

2

Enterprise extensions passing Chrome Web Store review.

3

Cross-browser extensions (Chrome / Firefox / Safari).

⚠ Honest caveat

Express (TypeScript) is not a typical fit for browser extension. The archetype overlay still attaches, but you may want to override defaults more aggressively. Check the browser-extension archetype page for the typical stack list and decide if your case is the right tool / right archetype.

Architecture

Every step of the pipeline, transparent.

No black-box "AI does it all" loop. GreatCTO is a deterministic state machine β€” 8 stages, 22 nodes, 2 human gates. Every node maps to a real agent on GitHub. Inspect the state machine β†’

Install

Express + GreatCTO in one command.

$ npx great-cto init

Free, MIT, runs locally. Built as a Claude Code plugin β€” install with one command.

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