ThreadCopy

A Chrome browser extension that lets you copy entire threads from X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and Reddit with a single click. Perfect for saving discussions, feeding content to LLMs, or archiving conversations.

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Why This Exists

Social media threads are increasingly valuable sources of information—especially in AI, tech, and professional communities. But copying them is painful:

• Manual copying is tedious: Long threads require scrolling and copy-pasting dozens of posts
• LLMs can't read links: Most AI assistants can't access Twitter/X, LinkedIn, or Reddit URLs directly
• Context gets lost: Copy-pasting individual posts loses author attribution, timestamps, and thread structure

Thread Copier solves this by extracting the entire thread with one click, formatted as clean plain text that's ready to paste anywhere.

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Features

Feature	Description
One-Click Copy	Floating button appears on thread pages—click to copy everything
Smart Detection	Button only shows on actual threads/posts, not feeds or homepages
Full Metadata	Captures author names, handles, timestamps, and image URLs
Plain Text Output	Clean formatting that works in any text editor, notes app, or LLM
SPA Support	Works with dynamic navigation (no page refresh needed)
Minimal Permissions	Only requests activeTab and clipboardWrite—no data sent anywhere

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Supported Platforms

X (Twitter)

• Full thread extraction including all replies
• Author display names and @handles
• Timestamps (converted to local time)
• Image URLs and video thumbnail links
• URL Pattern: x.com/*/status/* or twitter.com/*/status/*

LinkedIn

• Post content with author details
• All visible comments
• Timestamps and professional titles
• Image attachments
• URL Pattern: linkedin.com/feed/update/*, linkedin.com/posts/*, linkedin.com/pulse/*

Reddit

• Original post (title + body)
• All visible comments with usernames
• Works with both new Reddit and old.reddit.com
• Image and media links
• URL Pattern: reddit.com/r/*/comments/*

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Installation

Method 1: Load Unpacked (Developer Mode)

1. Download or clone this repository

   git clone https://github.com/nickyc1/ThreadCopy-Browser-Ext.git

2. Open Chrome Extensions

   • Navigate to chrome://extensions/
   • Or: Menu (⋮) → More Tools → Extensions

3. Enable Developer Mode

   • Toggle the "Developer mode" switch in the top-right corner

4. Load the Extension

   • Click "Load unpacked"
   • Select the extension folder from this repository

5. Pin the Extension (Optional)

   • Click the puzzle piece icon in Chrome's toolbar
   • Click the pin icon next to "Thread Copier"

Method 2: Chrome Web Store

(Coming soon—pending publication)

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How to Use

1. Navigate to a thread on X, LinkedIn, or Reddit
2. Wait for the button to appear in the bottom-right corner (takes ~1.5 seconds)
3. Click "Copy Thread"
4. Paste anywhere—the formatted content is now in your clipboard!

Example Output

=== Thread from X (Twitter) ===
URL: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1234567890
Copied on: 1/15/2026, 3:45:00 PM
========================================

[ORIGINAL POST]
Author: Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
Time: 1/15/2026, 2:30:00 PM
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This is an example thread about technology and innovation...

Images:
  1. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/example.jpg

────────────────────────────────────────

[Reply 1]
Author: Tech Enthusiast (@techfan)
Time: 1/15/2026, 2:45:00 PM
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Great insights! Here's my perspective...

────────────────────────────────────────

[Reply 2]
Author: AI Researcher (@airesearcher)
Time: 1/15/2026, 3:00:00 PM
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Building on this thread, I'd add that...

────────────────────────────────────────

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Technical Architecture

File Structure

extension/
├── manifest.json      # Chrome Manifest V3 configuration
├── content.js         # Main content script (runs on target sites)
├── styles.css         # Button and toast notification styles
├── popup.html         # Extension popup with instructions
└── icons/
    ├── icon16.png     # Toolbar icon
    ├── icon48.png     # Extensions page icon
    └── icon128.png    # Chrome Web Store icon

How It Works

1. Content Script Injection: When you visit a supported site, content.js is injected into the page
2. Page Detection: The script checks if you're on a thread/post page using URL pattern matching
3. Button Creation: If on a thread page, a floating button is added to the DOM
4. Content Extraction: When clicked, platform-specific extractors parse the page DOM
5. Clipboard Copy: Extracted content is formatted and copied using the Clipboard API

Platform-Specific Selectors

Platform	Key Selectors
Twitter/X	article[data-testid="tweet"], [data-testid="tweetText"], [data-testid="User-Name"]
LinkedIn	.feed-shared-update-v2__description, .comments-comment-item, .update-components-actor__name
Reddit	shreddit-comment, [data-testid="post-content"], .RichTextJSON-root, .comment (old Reddit)

Permissions Explained

Permission	Why It's Needed
activeTab	Access the current tab's content to extract thread data
clipboardWrite	Write the formatted thread to your clipboard

No data is collected or transmitted. Everything happens locally in your browser.

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Troubleshooting

Button not appearing?

• Check the URL: Make sure you're on an actual thread page, not a feed or profile
  • ✅ x.com/user/status/123456789
  • ❌ x.com/home or x.com/user
• Refresh the page: Sometimes dynamic content needs a reload
• Check extension status: Go to chrome://extensions/ and ensure Thread Copier is enabled

Copy not working?

• Scroll to load content: For long threads, scroll down to load all replies first
• Try again: Click the button a second time
• Check browser permissions: Some browsers block clipboard access—try allowing it

LinkedIn showing limited content?

• LinkedIn aggressively hides comments behind "Load more" buttons
• Expand all comments before clicking Copy Thread
• LinkedIn frequently changes their DOM structure—if extraction stops working, please open an issue

Reddit comments not capturing?

• Reddit uses multiple frontend versions (new Reddit, old Reddit, mobile web)
• The extension supports both new and old Reddit
• For best results, use the desktop site

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Development

Local Development

1. Clone the repository
2. Make changes to the source files
3. Go to chrome://extensions/
4. Click the refresh icon on the Thread Copier card
5. Test your changes on a thread page

Building for Production

No build step required! The extension uses vanilla JavaScript and can be loaded directly.

Testing Checklist

• Twitter/X: Single tweet, thread with replies, tweet with images/video
• LinkedIn: Post with comments, article (Pulse), post with images
• Reddit: Text post, image post, post with many comments, old.reddit.com

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Roadmap

• Keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+Shift+C) for power users
• Markdown format option for richer output
• Firefox support via WebExtension APIs
• Settings panel to customize output format
• Thread summarization using AI (optional)
• Export to file (.txt, .md) instead of clipboard

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

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Privacy

Thread Copier does not collect, store, or transmit any data.

• All processing happens locally in your browser
• No analytics or tracking
• No external API calls
• No user accounts or authentication
• Clipboard data stays on your device

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License

MIT License - feel free to modify and distribute.

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Acknowledgments

• Built with vanilla JavaScript (no frameworks or dependencies)
• Icons created with SVG
• Inspired by the need to feed social media threads to LLMs

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Questions or issues? Open a GitHub issue and I'll help you out!