Alpha

v0.2.0 is out now. Expect bugs. Report one on GitHub

[ Install ]

Install winnower

About two minutes, and no account needed. You need Chrome 121 or newer, or another Chromium browser.

Download winnower.zipv0.2.0 · GPL-3.0Provided as is, with no warranty
  1. 01

    Download and unzip

    Download winnower.zip and unzip it. You get a folder called winnower.

    Keep that folder somewhere it can stay, like Documents. Chrome runs winnower from it, so moving or deleting the folder removes winnower. The zip itself you can delete.

  2. 02

    Open the extensions page

    Type this into Chrome's address bar and press Enter:

    chrome://extensions
    chrome://extensionsEnter ↵
  3. 03

    Turn on Developer mode

    Switch on Developer mode at the top right of the page. A row of buttons appears underneath.

    It's what lets Chrome add an extension from a folder on your computer, which is how winnower installs.

    chrome://extensions
  4. 04

    Load unpacked

    Click Load unpacked, choose the winnower folder, and confirm. winnower's card appears on the page, switched on.

    chrome://extensions
  5. 05

    Pin it to the toolbar

    Optional, but handy. Click the puzzle-piece icon next to the address bar, then the pin beside winnower, so its menu is one click away.

    news.example

[ Check it's working ]

Open winnower's menu on any site.

Click winnower's icon in the toolbar. The card at the top should say Blocking on this site, and On this page lists what it did there.

On YouTube, the YouTube line shows its rules with a tick. If it says NOT LOADED, reload the tab.

An example on YouTube. Try the switches.

www.youtube.com
Blocking on this site
Ads, trackers and popups
24blocked on this tab
123,655rules active

Filter lists

AdsEasyList + uBlock Origin filters
TrackingEasyPrivacy, Peter Lowe
PopupsPopunders — also blocks visiting those domains
Cookie bannersConsent overlays
AnnoyancesNewsletter nags, overlays. May break sites.

On this page

Cosmetic rules
33 selectors
Wrappers collapsed
2
YouTube
18 rules ✓
Popups blocked
0
Master switchPause winnower on every site
© 2026 meistyr.tech · GPL-3.0v0.2.0

[ Good to know ]

Updating, and the rest.

Updating

winnower doesn't update itself. When a new version is out, download the new zip, replace everything inside your winnower folder with the new files, then click the reload button on winnower's card in chrome://extensions. Your settings are kept.

To hear about new versions, open the GitHub page and choose Watch, then Custom, then Releases.

Other Chromium browsers

The steps are the same. Only the address changes: edge://extensions, brave://extensions, opera://extensions or vivaldi://extensions.

If you can't see Developer mode at the top, look along the left-hand side of the page.

If Chrome says the manifest is missing

Manifest file is missing or unreadable means a different folder was picked. Choose the folder that has manifest.json directly inside it.

Removing it

On chrome://extensions, click Remove on winnower's card, then delete the winnower folder.