Building RedirectWise: A Practical Chrome Extension for Redirect Analysis
Source: Dev.to
As a developer, I frequently encounter redirects—SEO audits, tracking broken links, debugging migrations, verifying campaign URLs, and more. Existing Chrome extensions that show redirect chains often miss many features needed for real work. Most redirect checker extensions only show basic information, work in a popup, require manual URL input, and close automatically when you navigate to the next page. This became frustrating, so I built my own solution: RedirectWise.
The Problem With Existing Redirect Extensions
- No redirect history; once you close the popup, the data is gone.
- No realtime tracking while browsing.
- Limited or no export options.
- Popup UI that auto‑closes, making continuous checks impossible.
- No easy way to analyze redirects for SEO impact.
These tools are fine for quick checks but not for serious debugging or audits.
What RedirectWise Tries to Fix
Real‑Time Redirect Tracking
RedirectWise captures redirects while you browse normally. No need to paste URLs or click extra buttons—just open a page and the redirect chain is recorded automatically.
History Dashboard
RedirectWise keeps a history of redirects. You can review older entries, filter them, and understand patterns—especially useful for large sites or repeated tests.
Export Options That Actually Help
Export redirect data as:
- Text
- CSV
These formats are handy for reports, sharing with clients, or saving audit results.
Realtime UI (Not Just a Popup)
Instead of a popup that closes automatically, RedirectWise provides a persistent interface so you can monitor redirects live without interruption.
SEO‑Friendly Insights
Beyond showing redirects, RedirectWise offers insights useful for SEO, such as full redirect chains, status codes, and overall health.
Clean UI With Dark Mode
A simple UI with dark mode makes long debugging sessions easier on the eyes.
Why It’s Open Source
RedirectWise is open source to promote transparency and community involvement. Anyone can review the code, suggest improvements, or build new features. It also serves as a learning resource for Chrome extension architecture, background listeners, and UI handling.
Try RedirectWise
RedirectWise is available on the Chrome Web Store and Microsoft Edge. Since it’s built for Chromium browsers, you can also use it on Brave, Opera, and other Chromium‑based browsers.
- Official site: RedirectWise
- Product Hunt: RedirectWise on Product Hunt
Final Thoughts
RedirectWise started as a personal solution to a daily problem. I didn’t aim for a “perfect” tool; I wanted something practical that works the way developers and SEO professionals actually work. If you’ve felt limited by existing redirect checker extensions, RedirectWise might help. Developers are welcome to contribute or suggest improvements.
Explore more of my experiments and tools at my site: Gauravlabs
Thanks for reading ✌️