# Recent URL

> Writes the active tab's URL to a local text file, allowing external scripts and tools to access it for automation tasks.

Canonical page: [https://chrome-stats.com/d/recent-url](https://chrome-stats.com/d/recent-url)

## Overview

- **ID:** `recent-url`
- **Platform:** Firefox
- **Type:** Firefox add-on
- **Status:** Available
- **Publisher:** fiducia
- **Category:** tabs
- **Daily users:** 1
- **Version:** 1.1
- **Last updated:** 2025-08-08
- **First published:** 2025-08-01
- **Size:** 8.43 KB
- **Data as of:** 2026-09-08
- **Store listing:** [Firefox Add-ons Store](https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/recent-url/)

## Description

This extension provides a simple and reliable way to export the URL of the currently active tab in Firefox to a local text file.

It was created to solve the challenge of reliably getting the current URL via external automation tools, which can be unstable when the browser window is not in focus. This add-on offers a stable alternative by working from inside the browser.

The extension listens for tab activation and page updates. Upon a change, it writes the new URL to a file (firefox_active_url.txt) in the user's default Downloads folder. To ensure the data is always fresh, it also refreshes the file periodically using an alarm. It uses the downloads API to perform the file write operation, overwriting the existing file on each update.

The primary use case is to provide a clean and stable data source for local automation scripts (e.g., Python) that need to know the current browser URL.

## Rankings

- #128,679 — Overall

## Permissions and access

### Permissions

- `tabs`
- `downloads`

## Safety

- **Risk impact:** Moderate risk impact
- **Risk likelihood:** Moderate risk likelihood

### Analysis details

- Grants access to browser tabs, which can be used to track user browsing habits and history, presenting a privacy concern.
- This extension has low user count. Unpopular extensions may not be stable or safe.

> Some risk analysis details are omitted from this free response. [Upgrade to view the full analysis](https://chrome-stats.com/pricing).

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Source: [Chrome-Stats](https://chrome-stats.com/d/recent-url)