chrome.socket

Description

Use the chrome.socket API to send and receive data over the network using TCP and UDP connections. Note: Starting with Chrome 33, this API is deprecated in favor of the sockets.udp, sockets.tcp and sockets.tcpServer APIs.

Permissions

socket

Types

AcceptInfo

Properties

  • resultCode

    number

  • socketId

    number optional

    The id of the accepted socket.

CreateInfo

Properties

  • socketId

    number

    The id of the newly created socket.

CreateOptions

NetworkInterface

Properties

  • address

    string

    The available IPv4/6 address.

  • name

    string

    The underlying name of the adapter. On *nix, this will typically be "eth0", "lo", etc.

  • prefixLength

    number

    The prefix length

ReadInfo

Properties

  • data

    ArrayBuffer

  • resultCode

    number

    The resultCode returned from the underlying read() call.

RecvFromInfo

Properties

  • address

    string

    The address of the remote machine.

  • data

    ArrayBuffer

  • port

    number

  • resultCode

    number

    The resultCode returned from the underlying recvfrom() call.

SecureOptions

Properties

SocketInfo

Properties

  • connected

    boolean

    Whether or not the underlying socket is connected.

    For tcp sockets, this will remain true even if the remote peer has disconnected. Reading or writing to the socket may then result in an error, hinting that this socket should be disconnected via disconnect().

    For udp sockets, this just represents whether a default remote address has been specified for reading and writing packets.

  • localAddress

    string optional

    If the underlying socket is bound or connected, contains its local IPv4/6 address.

  • localPort

    number optional

    If the underlying socket is bound or connected, contains its local port.

  • peerAddress

    string optional

    If the underlying socket is connected, contains the IPv4/6 address of the peer.

  • peerPort

    number optional

    If the underlying socket is connected, contains the port of the connected peer.

  • socketType

    SocketType

    The type of the passed socket. This will be tcp or udp.

SocketType

Enum

"tcp"

"udp"

TLSVersionConstraints

Properties

  • max

    string optional

  • min

    string optional

    The minimum and maximum acceptable versions of TLS. Supported values are tls1.2 or tls1.3.

    The values tls1 and tls1.1 are no longer supported. If min is set to one of these values, it will be silently clamped to tls1.2. If max is set to one of those values, or any other unrecognized value, it will be silently ignored.

WriteInfo

Properties

  • bytesWritten

    number

    The number of bytes sent, or a negative error code.

Methods

accept()

chrome.socket.accept(
  socketId: number,
  callback: function,
)

This method applies to TCP sockets only. Registers a callback function to be called when a connection is accepted on this listening server socket. Listen must be called first. If there is already an active accept callback, this callback will be invoked immediately with an error as the resultCode.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

  • callback

    function

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (acceptInfo: AcceptInfo) => void

bind()

chrome.socket.bind(
  socketId: number,
  address: string,
  port: number,
  callback: function,
)

Binds the local address for socket. Currently, it does not support TCP socket.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

  • address

    string

    The address of the local machine.

  • port

    number

    The port of the local machine.

  • callback

    function

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (result: number) => void

    • result

      number

connect()

chrome.socket.connect(
  socketId: number,
  hostname: string,
  port: number,
  callback: function,
)

Connects the socket to the remote machine (for a tcp socket). For a udp socket, this sets the default address which packets are sent to and read from for read() and write() calls.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

  • hostname

    string

    The hostname or IP address of the remote machine.

  • port

    number

    The port of the remote machine.

  • callback

    function

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (result: number) => void

    • result

      number

create()

Promise 
chrome.socket.create(
  type: SocketType,
  options?: CreateOptions,
  callback?: function,
)

Creates a socket of the specified type that will connect to the specified remote machine.

Parameters

  • type

    SocketType

    The type of socket to create. Must be tcp or udp.

  • options

    CreateOptions optional

    The socket options.

  • callback

    function optional

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (createInfo: CreateInfo) => void

Returns

  • Promise<CreateInfo>

    Chrome 121+

    Promises are only supported for Manifest V3 and later, other platforms need to use callbacks.

destroy()

chrome.socket.destroy(
  socketId: number,
)

Destroys the socket. Each socket created should be destroyed after use.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

disconnect()

chrome.socket.disconnect(
  socketId: number,
)

Disconnects the socket. For UDP sockets, disconnect is a non-operation but is safe to call.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

getInfo()

Promise 
chrome.socket.getInfo(
  socketId: number,
  callback?: function,
)

Retrieves the state of the given socket.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

  • callback

    function optional

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (result: SocketInfo) => void

Returns

  • Promise<SocketInfo>

    Chrome 121+

    Promises are only supported for Manifest V3 and later, other platforms need to use callbacks.

getJoinedGroups()

chrome.socket.getJoinedGroups(
  socketId: number,
  callback: function,
)

Get the multicast group addresses the socket is currently joined to.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

  • callback

    function

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (groups: string[]) => void

    • groups

      string[]

getNetworkList()

Promise 
chrome.socket.getNetworkList(
  callback?: function,
)

Retrieves information about local adapters on this system.

Parameters

Returns

  • Promise<NetworkInterface[]>

    Chrome 121+

    Promises are only supported for Manifest V3 and later, other platforms need to use callbacks.

joinGroup()

chrome.socket.joinGroup(
  socketId: number,
  address: string,
  callback: function,
)

Join the multicast group and start to receive packets from that group. The socket must be of UDP type and must be bound to a local port before calling this method.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

  • address

    string

    The group address to join. Domain names are not supported.

  • callback

    function

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (result: number) => void

    • result

      number

leaveGroup()

chrome.socket.leaveGroup(
  socketId: number,
  address: string,
  callback: function,
)

Leave the multicast group previously joined using joinGroup. It's not necessary to leave the multicast group before destroying the socket or exiting. This is automatically called by the OS.

Leaving the group will prevent the router from sending multicast datagrams to the local host, presuming no other process on the host is still joined to the group.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

  • address

    string

    The group address to leave. Domain names are not supported.

  • callback

    function

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (result: number) => void

    • result

      number

listen()

chrome.socket.listen(
  socketId: number,
  address: string,
  port: number,
  backlog?: number,
  callback: function,
)

This method applies to TCP sockets only. Listens for connections on the specified port and address. This effectively makes this a server socket, and client socket functions (connect, read, write) can no longer be used on this socket.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

  • address

    string

    The address of the local machine.

  • port

    number

    The port of the local machine.

  • backlog

    number optional

    Length of the socket's listen queue.

  • callback

    function

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (result: number) => void

    • result

      number

read()

chrome.socket.read(
  socketId: number,
  bufferSize?: number,
  callback: function,
)

Reads data from the given connected socket.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

  • bufferSize

    number optional

    The read buffer size.

  • callback

    function

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (readInfo: ReadInfo) => void

recvFrom()

chrome.socket.recvFrom(
  socketId: number,
  bufferSize?: number,
  callback: function,
)

Receives data from the given UDP socket.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

  • bufferSize

    number optional

    The receive buffer size.

  • callback

    function

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (recvFromInfo: RecvFromInfo) => void

secure()

chrome.socket.secure(
  socketId: number,
  options?: SecureOptions,
  callback: function,
)

Start a TLS client connection over a connected TCP client socket.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The connected socket to use.

  • options

    SecureOptions optional

    Constraints and parameters for the TLS connection.

  • callback

    function

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (result: number) => void

    • result

      number

sendTo()

chrome.socket.sendTo(
  socketId: number,
  data: ArrayBuffer,
  address: string,
  port: number,
  callback: function,
)

Sends data on the given UDP socket to the given address and port.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

  • data

    ArrayBuffer

    The data to write.

  • address

    string

    The address of the remote machine.

  • port

    number

    The port of the remote machine.

  • callback

    function

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (writeInfo: WriteInfo) => void

setKeepAlive()

chrome.socket.setKeepAlive(
  socketId: number,
  enable: boolean,
  delay?: number,
  callback: function,
)

Enables or disables the keep-alive functionality for a TCP connection.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

  • enable

    boolean

    If true, enable keep-alive functionality.

  • delay

    number optional

    Set the delay seconds between the last data packet received and the first keepalive probe. Default is 0.

  • callback

    function

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (result: boolean) => void

    • result

      boolean

setMulticastLoopbackMode()

chrome.socket.setMulticastLoopbackMode(
  socketId: number,
  enabled: boolean,
  callback: function,
)

Set whether multicast packets sent from the host to the multicast group will be looped back to the host.

Note: the behavior of setMulticastLoopbackMode is slightly different between Windows and Unix-like systems. The inconsistency happens only when there is more than one application on the same host joined to the same multicast group while having different settings on multicast loopback mode. On Windows, the applications with loopback off will not RECEIVE the loopback packets; while on Unix-like systems, the applications with loopback off will not SEND the loopback packets to other applications on the same host. See MSDN: http://goo.gl/6vqbj

Calling this method does not require multicast permissions.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

  • enabled

    boolean

    Indicate whether to enable loopback mode.

  • callback

    function

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (result: number) => void

    • result

      number

setMulticastTimeToLive()

chrome.socket.setMulticastTimeToLive(
  socketId: number,
  ttl: number,
  callback: function,
)

Set the time-to-live of multicast packets sent to the multicast group.

Calling this method does not require multicast permissions.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

  • ttl

    number

    The time-to-live value.

  • callback

    function

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (result: number) => void

    • result

      number

setNoDelay()

chrome.socket.setNoDelay(
  socketId: number,
  noDelay: boolean,
  callback: function,
)

Sets or clears TCP_NODELAY for a TCP connection. Nagle's algorithm will be disabled when TCP_NODELAY is set.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

  • noDelay

    boolean

    If true, disables Nagle's algorithm.

  • callback

    function

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (result: boolean) => void

    • result

      boolean

write()

chrome.socket.write(
  socketId: number,
  data: ArrayBuffer,
  callback: function,
)

Writes data on the given connected socket.

Parameters

  • socketId

    number

    The socketId.

  • data

    ArrayBuffer

    The data to write.

  • callback

    function

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (writeInfo: WriteInfo) => void