The transition of Chrome extensions to Manifest V3

David Li
David Li

Earlier this year, for Chrome 88, we announced the availability of a new manifest version for the Chrome extension ecosystem. Years in the making, Manifest V3 is more secure, performant, and privacy-preserving than its predecessor. It is an evolution of the extension platform that takes into consideration both the changing web landscape and the future of browser extensions.

As we look to the future by continuing to iterate on and improve upon Manifest V3 functionality, we also want to share details about the plan to phase out Manifest V2 extensions.

There are two key dates for the phase-out:

  • January 17, 2022: New Manifest V2 extensions will no longer be accepted by the Chrome Web Store. Developers may still push updates to existing Manifest V2 extensions, but no new Manifest V2 items may be submitted.

  • January 2023: The Chrome browser will no longer run Manifest V2 extensions. Developers may no longer push updates to existing Manifest V2 extensions.

As these dates draw closer, we will share more details around the Chrome version targeted for the change, as well as more information on how both extension developers and users may be affected. Refer to this page for more granular timeline information, which will be kept up to date as more exact dates and milestone details are available.

In the meantime, we will continue to add new capabilities to Manifest V3 based on the needs and voices of our developer community. Even in the last few months, there have been a number of exciting expansions of the extension platform. We introduced additional mechanisms to the new Scripting API, and we expanded the Declarative Net Request API with support for multiple static rulesets, filtering based on tab ID, and session-scoped rules.

In the coming months, we'll also be launching support for dynamically configurable content scripts and an in-memory storage option, among other new capabilities. These changes were crafted with community feedback in mind, and we will continue to build more powerful extension API functionality as developers share more information about their migration challenges and business needs. Finally, we'll continue working with other browser vendors in the Web Extensions Community Group to iterate on the platform and pursue a common cross-browser extension model.

If you have feedback on Manifest V3 or are encountering unique challenges with the migration process, please post to the chromium-extensions Google Group. The earlier issues are raised and the earlier feedback is given, the more options the team has to address them prior to Manifest V2 phase-out.