Installation‐Guide - Life-Experimentalist/NovelSynth GitHub Wiki

Installation Guide

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

  • Node.js 16+ and npm 8+
  • Modern browser (Chrome 88+, Firefox 85+, Edge 88+)
  • AI provider API key (Google Gemini recommended)

Development Installation

1. Clone and Setup

git clone https://github.com/LifeExperimentalist/novelsynth.git
cd novelsynth
npm install

2. Build Extension

# Development build
npm run build:dev

# Production build
npm run build

# Watch mode for development
npm run watch

3. Load in Browser

Chrome/Edge:

  1. Open chrome://extensions/ or edge://extensions/
  2. Enable "Developer mode" toggle
  3. Click "Load unpacked"
  4. Select the dist folder

Firefox:

  1. Open about:debugging
  2. Click "This Firefox"
  3. Click "Load Temporary Add-on"
  4. Select manifest.json from dist folder

4. Configure API Keys

  1. Click NovelSynth extension icon
  2. Go to Settings
  3. Add your Google Gemini API key
  4. Test with a sample enhancement

Production Installation

Chrome Web Store

Coming soon - extension under review

Firefox Add-ons

Coming soon - extension under review

Manual Installation

  1. Download latest release from Releases
  2. Unzip the package
  3. Follow browser-specific loading instructions above

🔧 Configuration

API Key Setup

Google Gemini (Recommended)

  1. Visit Google AI Studio
  2. Sign in with Google account
  3. Create new project if needed
  4. Click "Create API Key"
  5. Copy key to NovelSynth settings

Free Tier Limits:

  • 15 requests per minute
  • 1 million tokens per day
  • Rate limit resets daily

OpenAI (Optional)

  1. Visit OpenAI Platform
  2. Create account and add payment method
  3. Generate new secret key
  4. Add to NovelSynth as secondary provider

Pricing:

  • GPT-4 Turbo: $0.01 per 1K tokens
  • GPT-3.5 Turbo: $0.0015 per 1K tokens

Settings Overview

Enhancement Settings

  • Primary Provider: Google Gemini
  • Enhancement Mode: Improve (balanced enhancement)
  • Auto-Enhancement: Disabled (manual control)
  • Content Types: Novels, Articles, Technical docs

Performance Settings

  • Chunk Size: 4000 tokens (optimal for most content)
  • Processing Timeout: 30 seconds
  • Cache Duration: 7 days
  • Background Processing: Enabled

⚠️ Troubleshooting Installation

Common Issues

Build Errors

# Clear cache and reinstall
rm -rf node_modules package-lock.json
npm install

# Check Node.js version
node --version  # Should be 16+
npm --version   # Should be 8+

Extension Loading Failed

  1. Check browser developer mode is enabled
  2. Verify dist folder contains all required files
  3. Check browser console for errors
  4. Try refreshing extension page

TypeScript Compilation Errors

# Install TypeScript globally
npm install -g typescript

# Check TypeScript configuration
npx tsc --noEmit

# Rebuild with clean slate
npm run clean && npm run build

API Key Issues

  1. Verify key format (Google keys start with AI...)
  2. Check API quota and billing status
  3. Test key with simple API call
  4. Ensure no extra spaces or characters

Getting Help