CULPA on Vergil

Shows CULPA professor ratings directly on Columbia's Vergil course registration page. Available as a Chrome extension and a Safari extension.

Quick install

Chrome — load unpacked from the chrome/ folder (see instructions below)

Safari — requires Xcode (free, ~7GB from the Mac App Store):

git clone https://github.com/HoldenB2007/ProfRater.git
cd ProfRater
xcrun safari-web-extension-converter safari/ --app-name "CULPA on Vergil" --bundle-identifier com.holdenb.culpavergil --macos-only --no-prompt
open "CULPA on Vergil/CULPA on Vergil.xcodeproj"

Then in Xcode: set both targets' Signing Certificate to Sign to Run Locally → press ⌘R. In Safari: Develop → Developer Settings → Allow Unsigned Extensions, then enable in Safari → Settings → Extensions.

Note: "Allow Unsigned Extensions" must be re-enabled each time Safari relaunches.

What it does

When you browse courses on Vergil (vergil.columbia.edu), the extension automatically:

1. Detects instructor names in course section rows and the instructor autocomplete dropdown
2. Looks them up on the live culpa.info API
3. Injects a compact badge next to each instructor showing:
   • Average rating (e.g. 3.1)
   • Nugget status: 🥉 Bronze (3.0+) / 🥈 Silver (3.5+) / 🥇 Gold (4.0+)
   • Review count
   • Hover tooltip with rating, nugget, review count, and "Click box to view on CULPA"
   • Click to open the professor's full CULPA page

Repo

https://github.com/HoldenB2007/ProfRater.git

Installation — Chrome

1. Clone or download this repo
2. Open Chrome → chrome://extensions
3. Enable Developer mode (top right)
4. Click Load unpacked → select the chrome/ folder
5. Navigate to Vergil — badges appear automatically

Installation — Safari

Safari Web Extensions must be wrapped in a native app using Xcode.

1. Clone this repo
2. Run the converter (requires Xcode command-line tools):

   xcrun safari-web-extension-converter safari/ \
     --app-name "CULPA on Vergil" \
     --bundle-identifier com.holdenb.culpavergil \
     --macos-only
   

3. Open the generated Xcode project → Product → Run (⌘R)
4. In Safari: Develop → Allow Unsigned Extensions (one-time)
5. Open Safari → Settings → Extensions → enable CULPA on Vergil
6. Navigate to Vergil — badges appear automatically

If the Develop menu isn't visible: Safari → Settings → Advanced → Show features for web developers

File structure

culpa-vergil-extension/
├── chrome/                 ← Load this folder as the Chrome extension
│   ├── manifest.json       MV3 config, permissions, host rules
│   ├── background.js       Service worker: CULPA API lookups + 24h cache
│   ├── content.js          Injected into Vergil: finds instructors, injects badges
│   ├── content.css         Badge + tooltip styles
│   ├── popup.html          Extension popup: status, legend, cache clear
│   ├── popup.js            Popup script (status check + cache clear handler)
│   └── icons/              16/48/128/256px icons (transparent bg, from logo.png)
├── safari/                 ← Web extension source for Safari (same structure as chrome/)
│   ├── manifest.json
│   ├── background.js
│   ├── content.js
│   ├── content.css
│   ├── popup.html
│   ├── popup.js
│   └── icons/
├── logo.png                Project logo (source for icons)
└── .gitignore

Architecture

Content script (content.js)

Runs on Vergil pages. Uses a MutationObserver to handle Vergil's Angular SPA navigation.

Two scanners run on every DOM change (debounced 600ms):

Scanner	Selector	Name format
Course section rows	span.instructor > div.text	Last, First (uni)
Instructor autocomplete dropdown	mat-option containing a UNI pattern (abc123)	First Last (uni)

parseVergilName() handles both formats: strips the UNI, flips comma-separated names.

A single shared tooltip div is appended to document.body (not inside the badge) to avoid inheriting opacity from Vergil's table row transitions.

Background service worker (background.js)

Receives CULPA_LOOKUP messages from the content script.

Lookup flow (2 API calls in sequence):

1. GET /api/professor/search?queryString={First Last}&maxResults=20
   • Returns array of { professor_header: { professor_id, first_name, last_name, nugget } }
   • Nugget values: 0=None, 1=Bronze, 2=Silver, 3=Gold
   • Matches by exact name → last name only → first result
2. GET /api/professor_page/card/{professor_id}
   • Returns professor_summary.avg_rating and professor_summary.num_reviews

Results cached in chrome.storage.local for 24 hours. Clear from the extension popup.

culpa.info API (discovered from SPA JS bundle)

Base: https://culpa.info

Endpoint	Description
GET /api/professor/search?queryString={name}&maxResults=20	Search professors by name
GET /api/professor_page/card/{id}	Professor details: avg_rating, num_reviews, ai_overview
GET /api/review/professor/{id}?page=1	Paginated reviews, returns number_of_reviews
GET /api/front_page	Homepage data
GET /api/departments/all	All departments

The API was discovered by downloading culpa.info/static/js/main.*.js and grepping for api/ strings. The search parameter name is queryString (not q or query).

CORS note: culpa.info/api/* has Access-Control-Allow-Origin: http://localhost:3000. Chrome and Safari extension service workers with host_permissions for https://culpa.info/* bypass this restriction. Do NOT add Content-Type: application/json to GET requests — it triggers a preflight that fails.

Vergil DOM notes

Vergil is an Angular Material SPA at vergil.columbia.edu.

• Course section rows: <span class="instructor"><a><div class="text">Last, First (uni)</div></a></span>
• Badges are inserted with span.instructor.insertAdjacentElement("afterend", badge) — not inside the <a> tag (invalid HTML)
• Instructor autocomplete: <mat-option>First Last (uni)</mat-option> — badges appended inside the option
• Vergil applies opacity transitions to table rows; the tooltip must live on document.body to avoid inheriting opacity

Adapting to Vergil DOM changes

If badges stop appearing:

1. Open Vergil → right-click an instructor name → Inspect
2. Find the element containing Last, First (uni) text
3. Update findInstructorElements() selector in content.js
4. Check processElement() if the child text element path changed

Customization

What	Where
Badge appearance	content.css — .culpa-badge, .culpa-gold/silver/bronze
Tooltip size/style	content.css — .culpa-tooltip and .culpa-tip-*
Cache duration	background.js — CACHE_TTL (default 24h)
Scan debounce	content.js — DEBOUNCE_MS (default 600ms)
Popup content	popup.html + popup.js

Privacy

• Only communicates with culpa.info
• Results cached locally via chrome.storage.local
• No analytics or tracking
• Only runs on vergil.columbia.edu pages

Full privacy policy: https://holdenb2007.github.io/ProfRater/privacy.html

Disclaimer

Not affiliated with Columbia University, CULPA, or the Columbia Spectator.