Extension development overview

After reading the Getting Started tutorial and Overview, use this guide as an outline to extension components and abilities. Developers are encouraged to explore and expand extension functionality.

Customize extension user interface
Browser Actions Add an icon, tooltip, badge, and popup to the toolbar.
Commands Add keyboard shortcuts that trigger actions.
Context Menus Add items to Google Chrome's context menu.
Omnibox Add keyword functionality to the address bar.
Override Pages Create a version of the New Tab, Bookmark, or History page.
Page Actions Dynamically display icons in the toolbar.
Build extension utilities
Accessibility (a11y) Make an extension accessible to people with disabilities.
Background Scripts Detect and react when something interesting happens.
Internationalization Work with language and locale.
Identity Get OAuth2 access tokens.
Management Manage extensions that are installed and running.
Message Passing Communicate from a content script to its parent extension, or vice versa.
Options Pages Let users customize an extension.
Permissions Modify an extension's permissions.
Storage Store and retrieve data.
Modify and observe the Chrome Browser
Bookmarks Create, organize, and manipulate bookmark behavior.
Browsing Data Remove browsing data from a user's local profile.
Downloads Programmatically initiate, monitor, manipulate, and search for downloads.
Font Settings Manage Chrome's font settings.
History Interact with the browser's record of visited pages.
Privacy Control Chrome privacy features.
Proxy Manage Chrome's proxy settings.
Sessions Query and restore tabs and windows from a browsing session.
Tabs Create, modify, and rearrange tabs in the browser.
Top Sites Access users most visited URLs.
Themes Change the overall appearance of the browser.
Windows Create, modify, and rearrange windows in the browser.
Modify and observe the web
Active Tab Securely access websites by removing most needs for <all_urls> host permission.
Content Settings Customize websites features such as cookies, JavaScript, and plugins.
Content Scripts Run JavaScript code in the context of web pages.
Cookies Explore and modify the browser's cookie system.
Cross-Origin XHR Use XMLHttpRequest to send and receive data from remote servers.
Declarative Content Perform actions on the content of a page without requiring permission.
Desktop Capture Capture content of screen, individual windows or tabs.
Page Capture Save a tab's source information as MHTML.
Tab Capture Interact with tab media streams.
Web Navigation Status updates of navigation requests in-flight.
Web Request Observe and analyze traffic. Intercept block, or modify requests in-flight.
Package, deploy and update
Chrome Web Store Hosting and updating extensions with the Chrome Web Store.
Other Deployment Options Distribute extensions on a designated network or with other software.
Expand Chrome DevTools
Debugger Instrument network interaction, debug JavaScript, mutate the DOM and CSS.
Devtools Add features to Chrome Developer Tools.