Over the last couple of months, I’ve experimented with multiple self-hosted services to create a reliable application stack. But now that I’ve got dozens of gaming, coding, automation, and quality-of-life-enhancing utilities in my arsenal, I’ve started gathering tools designed to help manage my ever-growing app collection.

Since I rely on web UIs to access the majority of my locally-hosted services, I started skimming through browser extension stores to find the right companions for my favorite apps. Turns out, quite a few apps in my self-hosted fleet support browser extensions, and here’s a brief list of the ones I found most useful.

5 Tube Archivist Companion

To download my YouTube playlists

I’ve been a YouTube user for a long time, but the platform’s emphasis on Premium subscriptions has become rather aggravating. Luckily, ad-blockers and YouTube downloaders are great for circumventing the restrictions on the free version of the platform. Speaking of YouTube downloaders, Tube Archivist is my preferred utility for saving podcasts, videos, and shorts from my favorite creators.

Unlike its cloud-based, ad-riddled rivals, I can self-host Tube Archivist on my NAS and store my YouTube playlists on a dedicated dataset. Better yet, the app’s browser extension adds additional Download and Subscribe buttons on YouTube links, so I don’t have to skim through multiple menus just to add a new channel to my Tube Archivist repertoire.

4 Home Assistant

A convenient HASS dashboard on my browser

Capable of providing a unified interface for all my smart gadgets and IoT products, Home Assistant is one of the most invaluable services in my self-hosted arsenal. Between the community templates, trigger action scripts, and support for Node-RED, Home Assistant’s automation provisions are nothing to scoff at either. And that’s before you include all the add-ons and HACS integrations I’ve added to my Home Assistant setup.

Aside from all these elements that I can manage from the HASS UI, the Home Assistant extension is yet another neat utility for my smart home hub. On its own, a self-hosted Home Assistant instance lets me create multiple dashboards and views. The browser extension accepts a dashboard URL and can pull the essential statistics from it, making it easy to monitor my smart home metrics at a glance without launching a separate Home Assistant tab in my browser.

3 Add to Pinry

Perfect for creating idea boards

As a DIY nerd, I had a huge collection of Pinterest boards pointing to my favorite blog posts, videos, and websites. Well, the keyword is “had,” as I’m not a big fan of the fact that Pinterest can not only view my project boards but also use my private information to deliver targeted ads, especially now that I’ve started using privacy-respecting self-hosted applications.

Pinry is one of the more minimalist Pinterest options out there, but it’s great for creating idea boards. It supports tags to make my DIY boards and pins more organized, and is light enough to run on my Raspberry Pi. There’s even the Add to Pinry browser extension, which lets me save webpages directly to my Pinry instance.

2 Trillium Web Clipper

And a shoutout to Joplin Web Clipper

I’ve cycled through numerous note-taking applications over the course of my self-hosting journey, but each time, I’d come back to TriliumNext Notes. For starters, it supports Markdown formatting and code segments, making it perfect for storing my programming notes. I also frequently use the Excalidraw integration and Mermaid Diagrams when jotting down my ideas, and the Note Map feature helps me create links between loosely-connected project documentation.

Since I often rely on images and documentation (including those I’ve written in the past) in my notes, the Trillium Web Clipper comes in handy. Once paired with my TriliumNext Notes instance, this extension can crop web pages and save links to their contents directly to my note-taking container. But if you're fond of Joplin, the note-taker has its own extension that works the same way as its TriliumNext Notes counterpart.

1 Bitwarden Password Manager

It pairs well with Vaultwarden

Bitwarden is an amazing password manager, and it’s even possible to self-host it on a local server. However, I prefer the lightweight nature of Vaultwarden to safeguard my complex passwords, API keys, TOTP tokens, bank card details, ID documents, and everything in between. While Vaultwarden doesn’t include all the functionalities of Bitwarden, it is compatible with many tools you’d find on the latter.

This includes the Bitwarden Password Manager, a browser extension that syncs your passkeys with the self-hosted Vaultwarden instance. I love using it, because it saves me the hassle of adding new passwords or updating old ones in my Vaultwarden LXC every time I have to register on a new website.

Make your self-hosted apps even more useful with browser extensions

Considering the seemingly unlimited number of services in the self-hosting ecosystem, this list is far from over. If you’re a Nextcloud user, the Floccus extension can use your locally-hosted personal cloud to sync bookmarks between different browsers. Likewise, Nextcloud Passwords is a solid extension for folks who prefer storing their passkeys, authentication tokens, and other private data on servers. Then there’s Shiori and Linkding, which are excellent bookmark managers and include dedicated extensions to archive links to your favorite websites.