[GH-ISSUE #170] Default Extensions: Feature Creep and Bloatware. A call for opt-in, instead of opt-out. #98

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opened 2026-10-15 18:04:25 +00:00 by bsakaguchi · 2 comments

bsakaguchi commented

2026-10-15 18:04:25 +00:00

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Originally created by @bucketcat on GitHub (Oct 1, 2023).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/SillyTavern/SillyTavern-Extras/issues/170

Title, there is a lot of random useless junk enabled by default that should really be at best an opt-in for power users. There are a lot of gimmick extensions enabled by default, eating resources, populating ports and opening potential avenues for vulnerabilities.

I think it's time for some introspection on what really should be a default auto-enabled extension, and to trim a lot of the default extensions by making them opt-in, rather than opt-out (such as Chromadb). Why is summarization, one of the most useless (for most use cases) enabled by default? Why is anything outside of Regex, dice (has no performance impact) and token counter enabled by default?

Currently, debugging problems has become way harder due to how much random crap is running. It's a lot faster enabling the few things I personally require, compared to going through documentation for every god-damn gimmick to find what is irrelevant, disabling them one by one.

Imagine if an IDE just installed and imported every library and package for a language when you create a new project by default... That would be crazy! A bit of a hyperbolic example, but that's how SillyTavern is starting to feel.

Having a vast array of options is great! Enabling all the options by default, is not. It should be up to the users to enable what fits their individual workflow and use case.

I apologize if this comes off as a bit ranty and incoherent. It would be more suited in a discussion thread, but sadly it's not enabled for this repo. Nevertheless, I hope this sparks some good conversation, as the problem of feature creep is really becoming more problematic with time.

Originally created by @bucketcat on GitHub (Oct 1, 2023). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/SillyTavern/SillyTavern-Extras/issues/170 Title, there is a lot of random useless junk enabled by default that should really be at best an opt-in for power users. There are a lot of gimmick extensions enabled by default, eating resources, populating ports and opening potential avenues for vulnerabilities. I think it's time for some introspection on what really should be a default auto-enabled extension, and to trim a lot of the default extensions by making them opt-in, rather than opt-out (such as Chromadb). Why is summarization, one of the most useless (for most use cases) enabled by default? Why is anything outside of Regex, dice (has no performance impact) and token counter enabled by default? Currently, debugging problems has become way harder due to how much random crap is running. It's a lot faster enabling the few things I personally require, compared to going through documentation for every god-damn gimmick to find what is irrelevant, disabling them one by one. Imagine if an IDE just installed and imported every library and package for a language when you create a new project by default... That would be crazy! A bit of a hyperbolic example, but that's how SillyTavern is starting to feel. Having a vast array of options is great! Enabling all the options by default, is not. It should be up to the users to enable what fits their individual workflow and use case. I apologize if this comes off as a bit ranty and incoherent. It would be more suited in a discussion thread, but sadly it's not enabled for this repo. Nevertheless, I hope this sparks some good conversation, as the problem of feature creep is really becoming more problematic with time.

bsakaguchi closed this issue

2026-10-15 18:04:25 +00:00

bsakaguchi commented

2026-10-15 18:04:25 +00:00

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@Cohee1207 commented on GitHub (Oct 1, 2023):

The usefulness is subjective. I'm not too fond of Chromadb, but it's not going to be enabled unless you connect to an Extras API with the Chromadb server. But the "disabled by default" extension state is a good idea.

@Cohee1207 commented on GitHub (Oct 1, 2023): The usefulness is subjective. I'm not too fond of Chromadb, but it's not going to be enabled unless you connect to an Extras API with the Chromadb server. But the "disabled by default" extension state is a good idea.

bsakaguchi commented

2026-10-15 18:04:25 +00:00

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@Cohee1207 commented on GitHub (Nov 16, 2023):

Most of the built-in extensions were moved out to external repositories and now are optional downloads.

@Cohee1207 commented on GitHub (Nov 16, 2023): Most of the built-in extensions were moved out to external repositories and now are optional downloads.

bsakaguchi referenced this issue

2026-10-15 18:05:25 +00:00

[PR #98] [MERGED] Updated readme #189