4chan X: a userscript layer over anonymous imageboards

A userscript that lives inside someone else's page

4chan X is a script that adds various features to anonymous imageboards. It was originally developed for 4chan but has no affiliation with it, and the project description is deliberately generic because the code now runs on more than one board. The package metadata shows the scope, with an includes_only list of specific 4chan and 4channel hosts, a matches_only list covering the wider 4chan and 4channel domains, and a matches list that includes other boards such as 39chan.moe, erischan.org and fufufu.moe. The code itself is written in CoffeeScript, with a src/ directory organised into feature areas named in the build configuration, including globals, config, css, platform, classes, site, Archive, Filtering, General, Images, Linkification, Menu, Miscellaneous, Monitoring, Posting, Quotelinks and main. The Makefile compiles those CoffeeScript and JavaScript sources, runs the sources through a template step, and assembles the result into the single 4chan-X.user.js file that users install. So the shipping artifact is a script, and the repository is the build system that produces it, not a server that hosts anything.

Installing on Firefox, Chromium, Edge and Safari

Installation follows the userscript model, so the browser needs a userscript manager first. On Firefox the documentation lists Violentmonkey, Tampermonkey or Greasemonkey, with issue links for Greasemonkey problems since version 4, and then a single click on the install link for 4chan-X.user.js. Chromium takes Violentmonkey or Tampermonkey and the same install link. MS Edge takes Tampermonkey from its store, again with the same script. Safari is different, because there is no userscript manager in the usual sense: you install the Userscripts extension, enable it in the extensions pane reached with the keyboard shortcut, open the userscripts editor with the code button in the taskbar, create a new JavaScript entry, paste the contents of the script and save. One browser is explicitly excluded. The current version does not work with Opera 12, and the documentation points to a third party fork for that case. The build itself is served from the project site rather than from a GitHub release, and the repository publishes no GitHub releases, so there is no versioned artifact to download and pin.

Minimal browsers need a userscripts directory instead of a manager

For browsers built on WebKitGTK, QtWebKit or QtWebEngine that support userscripts, the installation is a file placed in a directory, and the project documents the paths for several of them. The qutebrowser case is a single download into a greasemonkey folder.

wget -P ${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/qutebrowser/greasemonkey https://www.4chan-x.net/builds/4chan-X.user.js

dwb works the same way, and you also need the userscripts extension enabled.

dwbem -N -i userscripts
wget -P ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/dwb/greasemonkey https://www.4chan-x.net/builds/4chan-X.user.js

uzbl is the most involved of the three, because the userscript support itself has to be installed and wired into the browser configuration.

wget -P "${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/uzbl/scripts" https://raw.githubusercontent.com/singpolyma/singpolyma/master/uzbl/data/scripts/userscript.sh
chmod +x "${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/uzbl/scripts/userscript.sh"

The cost of these minimal setups is stated plainly. Because the cross-site GM_* API is missing and userscripts do not run in iframes, not all features work. The documentation also warns that repeatedly solving the default image based captchas can crash these browsers, and points at the Use Recaptcha v1 setting as the way to avoid that. Midori is set up through its preferences and Luakit through a single command, and browsers with no userscript support at all are covered by a separate local proxy project, where again not every feature will work.

Privacy defaults that remember you in incognito mode

Two defaults deserve attention before installation, because they are the opposite of what a private browsing session implies. By default 4chan X remembers your last read post in a thread and which posts were made by you, even in private browsing or incognito mode. Both behaviours are controlled by options in the settings panel, Remember Last Read Post and Remember Your Posts, and clearing everything the script has stored is done by resetting your settings. The script also has a Link Title feature that fetches titles of YouTube links, and the documentation is explicit that using it is subject to YouTube's terms of service and privacy policy, pointing at the project's own privacy wiki page for what information is sent to YouTube and other sites and how to turn the feature off. A third piece of state is less obvious. 4chan X disables the native extension of the board, so uninstalling the script does not restore the original behaviour by itself: you have to go into the settings panel, uncheck Disable the native extension and save, and the documentation warns that the save button itself may be hidden by an ad blocker. So the uninstall path is a manual step, not a clean removal.

A custom licence, a beta channel and no tagged releases

The licensing is unusual and needs reading rather than assuming. The repository declares a licence that GitHub cannot classify, pointing to a LICENSE file in the repository rather than to a standard identifier such as MIT or Apache-2.0, and the project metadata links to that same file. Whatever the terms are, they are specific to this project and are the only authority on what you may do with the built script. On the release side there is no GitHub releases section, so version tracking is through the CHANGELOG.md file and the version.json file that the build reads. New features and non-urgent fixes are published on a beta channel first for further testing before they move to stable, and the documentation asks users to report issues with their version stated, and to back up settings regularly because a bug can lose them. The Makefile exposes the release machinery as targets, including bump, tag, beta, stable, web and update, and a CHANGELOG.md plus a CONTRIBUTING.md sit at the top of the repository. The last push was on 2026-08-27, and the project is under active development in the sense that recent commits exist, though nothing in the repository is versioned as a downloadable release.

Where 4chan X is the wrong tool

The first limit is architectural. A userscript runs with the page's privileges and modifies a site you do not control, so every change it makes is a change to a third party interface, and when the site changes, the script breaks. The documentation is candid that feature support is partial in minimal browsers and that some features do not work at all without the cross-site API, which is a strong signal about how much of the feature set depends on the manager you install. The second limit is the captcha. The script faces the same image based captchas as any other user, and the documentation treats this as a browser stability problem in lightweight environments, which points to a workflow that remains partly manual. The third is trust. The script comes as a single JavaScript file that a userscript manager executes on the pages you browse, and if you want the features but not the state, you have to turn off the remembering options yourself. A fourth point is about scope. The project is aimed at anonymous imageboards, not at general web automation, so a different kind of script is the right tool for a different problem. If you need a script manager in the first place for work rather than for browsing, a general purpose userscript distribution is the better starting point, and if you want the styling layer that the README mentions, the OneeChan fork is the separate piece of software.

Editorial conclusion

4chan X suits someone who reads imageboards daily and wants the extra navigation, monitoring and posting features without a dedicated application, and who is comfortable running a userscript that injects itself into the pages of a site they do not control. It does not suit a browser that cannot run userscripts without a local proxy, and it does not suit anyone who needs every feature in a minimal browser, since the missing cross-site GM_* API breaks parts of it. Before installing, read the LICENSE file, because it is a custom licence GitHub cannot classify, disable the Remember Last Read Post and Remember Your Posts options if private browsing matters to you, and check that the build you install came from the project rather than a mirror.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. ccd0/4chan-x on GitHub
2. Issues
3. Project website
4. README