API reference

Most extensions need access to one or more Chrome Extensions APIs to function. This API reference describes the APIs available for use in extensions and presents example use cases.

accessibilityFeatures

Use the chrome.accessibilityFeatures API to manage Chrome's accessibility features. This API relies on the ChromeSetting prototype of the type API for getting and setting individual accessibility features. In order to get feature states the extension must request accessibilityFeatures.read permission. For modifying feature state, the extension needs accessibilityFeatures.modify permission. Note that accessibilityFeatures.modify does not imply accessibilityFeatures.read permission.

alarms

Use the chrome.alarms API to schedule code to run periodically or at a specified time in the future.

audio
Chrome 59+ ChromeOS only

The chrome.audio API is provided to allow users to get information about and control the audio devices attached to the system. This API is currently only available in kiosk mode for ChromeOS.

bookmarks

Use the chrome.bookmarks API to create, organize, and otherwise manipulate bookmarks. Also see Override Pages, which you can use to create a custom Bookmark Manager page.

browserAction
≤ MV2

Use browser actions to put icons in the main Google Chrome toolbar, to the right of the address bar. In addition to its icon, a browser action can have a tooltip, a badge, and a popup.

browsingData

Use the chrome.browsingData API to remove browsing data from a user's local profile.

certificateProvider
Chrome 46+ ChromeOS only

Use this API to expose certificates to the platform which can use these certificates for TLS authentications.

commands

Use the commands API to add keyboard shortcuts that trigger actions in your extension, for example, an action to open the browser action or send a command to the extension.

contentSettings

Use the chrome.contentSettings API to change settings that control whether websites can use features such as cookies, JavaScript, and plugins. More generally speaking, content settings allow you to customize Chrome's behavior on a per-site basis instead of globally.

contextMenus

Use the chrome.contextMenus API to add items to Google Chrome's context menu. You can choose what types of objects your context menu additions apply to, such as images, hyperlinks, and pages.

cookies

Use the chrome.cookies API to query and modify cookies, and to be notified when they change.

debugger

The chrome.debugger API serves as an alternate transport for Chrome's remote debugging protocol. Use chrome.debugger to attach to one or more tabs to instrument network interaction, debug JavaScript, mutate the DOM and CSS, and more. Use the Debuggee property tabId to target tabs with sendCommand and route events by tabId from onEvent callbacks.

declarativeContent

Use the chrome.declarativeContent API to take actions depending on the content of a page, without requiring permission to read the page's content.

declarativeNetRequest
Chrome 84+

The chrome.declarativeNetRequest API is used to block or modify network requests by specifying declarative rules. This lets extensions modify network requests without intercepting them and viewing their content, thus providing more privacy.

declarativeWebRequest
Beta channel ≤ MV2

Note: this API is deprecated. Check out the declarativeNetRequest API instead. Use the chrome.declarativeWebRequest API to intercept, block, or modify requests in-flight. It is significantly faster than the chrome.webRequest API because you can register rules that are evaluated in the browser rather than the JavaScript engine, which reduces roundtrip latencies and allows higher efficiency.

desktopCapture

The Desktop Capture API captures the content of the screen, individual windows, or individual tabs.

devtools.inspectedWindow

Use the chrome.devtools.inspectedWindow API to interact with the inspected window: obtain the tab ID for the inspected page, evaluate the code in the context of the inspected window, reload the page, or obtain the list of resources within the page.

devtools.network

Use the chrome.devtools.network API to retrieve the information about network requests displayed by the Developer Tools in the Network panel.

devtools.panels

Use the chrome.devtools.panels API to integrate your extension into Developer Tools window UI: create your own panels, access existing panels, and add sidebars.

devtools.performance
Chrome 129+

Use the chrome.devtools.performance API to listen to recording status updates in the Performance panel in DevTools.

devtools.recorder
Chrome 105+

Use the chrome.devtools.recorder API to customize the Recorder panel in DevTools.

dns
Dev channel

Use the chrome.dns API for dns resolution.

documentScan
Chrome 44+ ChromeOS only

Use the chrome.documentScan API to discover and retrieve images from attached document scanners.

dom
Chrome 88+

Use the chrome.dom API to access special DOM APIs for Extensions

downloads

Use the chrome.downloads API to programmatically initiate, monitor, manipulate, and search for downloads.

enterprise.deviceAttributes
Chrome 46+ ChromeOS only Requires policy

Use the chrome.enterprise.deviceAttributes API to read device attributes. Note: This API is only available to extensions force-installed by enterprise policy.

enterprise.hardwarePlatform

Use the chrome.enterprise.hardwarePlatform API to get the manufacturer and model of the hardware platform where the browser runs. Note: This API is only available to extensions installed by enterprise policy.

enterprise.login
Chrome 139+ ChromeOS only Requires policy

Use the chrome.enterprise.login API to exit Managed Guest sessions. Note: This API is only available to extensions installed by enterprise policy in ChromeOS Managed Guest sessions.

enterprise.networkingAttributes
Chrome 85+ ChromeOS only Requires policy

Use the chrome.enterprise.networkingAttributes API to read information about your current network. Note: This API is only available to extensions force-installed by enterprise policy.

enterprise.platformKeys
ChromeOS only Requires policy

Use the chrome.enterprise.platformKeys API to generate keys and install certificates for these keys. The certificates will be managed by the platform and can be used for TLS authentication, network access or by other extension through chrome.platformKeys.

events

The chrome.events namespace contains common types used by APIs dispatching events to notify you when something interesting happens.

extension

The chrome.extension API has utilities that can be used by any extension page. It includes support for exchanging messages between an extension and its content scripts or between extensions, as described in detail in Message Passing.

extensionTypes

The chrome.extensionTypes API contains type declarations for Chrome extensions.

fileBrowserHandler
ChromeOS only Foreground only

Use the chrome.fileBrowserHandler API to extend the Chrome OS file browser. For example, you can use this API to enable users to upload files to your website.

fileSystemProvider
ChromeOS only

Use the chrome.fileSystemProvider API to create file systems, that can be accessible from the file manager on Chrome OS.

fontSettings

Use the chrome.fontSettings API to manage Chrome's font settings.

gcm

Use chrome.gcm to enable apps and extensions to send and receive messages through Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM).

history

Use the chrome.history API to interact with the browser's record of visited pages. You can add, remove, and query for URLs in the browser's history. To override the history page with your own version, see Override Pages.

i18n

Use the chrome.i18n infrastructure to implement internationalization across your whole app or extension.

identity

Use the chrome.identity API to get OAuth2 access tokens.

idle

Use the chrome.idle API to detect when the machine's idle state changes.

input.ime
ChromeOS only

Use the chrome.input.ime API to implement a custom IME for Chrome OS. This allows your extension to handle keystrokes, set the composition, and manage the candidate window.

instanceID
Chrome 44+

Use chrome.instanceID to access the Instance ID service.

loginState
Chrome 78+ ChromeOS only

Use the chrome.loginState API to read and monitor the login state.

management

The chrome.management API provides ways to manage installed apps and extensions.

notifications

Use the chrome.notifications API to create rich notifications using templates and show these notifications to users in the system tray.

omnibox

The omnibox API allows you to register a keyword with Google Chrome's address bar, which is also known as the omnibox.

pageAction
≤ MV2

Use the chrome.pageAction API to put icons in the main Google Chrome toolbar, to the right of the address bar. Page actions represent actions that can be taken on the current page, but that aren't applicable to all pages. Page actions appear grayed out when inactive.

pageCapture

Use the chrome.pageCapture API to save a tab as MHTML.

permissions

Use the chrome.permissions API to request declared optional permissions at run time rather than install time, so users understand why the permissions are needed and grant only those that are necessary.

platformKeys
Chrome 45+ ChromeOS only

Use the chrome.platformKeys API to access client certificates managed by the platform. If the user or policy grants the permission, an extension can use such a certficate in its custom authentication protocol. E.g. this allows usage of platform managed certificates in third party VPNs (see chrome.vpnProvider).

power

Use the chrome.power API to override the system's power management features.

printerProvider
Chrome 44+

The chrome.printerProvider API exposes events used by print manager to query printers controlled by extensions, to query their capabilities and to submit print jobs to these printers.

printing
Chrome 81+ ChromeOS only

Use the chrome.printing API to send print jobs to printers installed on Chromebook.

printingMetrics
Chrome 79+ ChromeOS only Requires policy

Use the chrome.printingMetrics API to fetch data about printing usage.

privacy

Use the chrome.privacy API to control usage of the features in Chrome that can affect a user's privacy. This API relies on the ChromeSetting prototype of the type API for getting and setting Chrome's configuration.

processes
Dev channel

Use the chrome.processes API to interact with the browser's processes.

proxy

Use the chrome.proxy API to manage Chrome's proxy settings. This API relies on the ChromeSetting prototype of the type API for getting and setting the proxy configuration.

runtime

Use the chrome.runtime API to retrieve the service worker, return details about the manifest, and listen for and respond to events in the extension lifecycle. You can also use this API to convert the relative path of URLs to fully-qualified URLs.

search
Chrome 87+

Use the chrome.search API to search via the default provider.

sessions

Use the chrome.sessions API to query and restore tabs and windows from a browsing session.

storage

Use the chrome.storage API to store, retrieve, and track changes to user data.

system.cpu

Use the system.cpu API to query CPU metadata.

system.display

Use the system.display API to query display metadata.

system.memory

The chrome.system.memory API.

system.storage

Use the chrome.system.storage API to query storage device information and be notified when a removable storage device is attached and detached.

systemLog
Chrome 125+ ChromeOS only Requires policy

Use the chrome.systemLog API to record Chrome system logs from extensions.

tabCapture

Use the chrome.tabCapture API to interact with tab media streams.

tabs

Use the chrome.tabs API to interact with the browser's tab system. You can use this API to create, modify, and rearrange tabs in the browser.

topSites

Use the chrome.topSites API to access the top sites (i.e. most visited sites) that are displayed on the new tab page. These do not include shortcuts customized by the user.

tts

Use the chrome.tts API to play synthesized text-to-speech (TTS). See also the related ttsEngine API, which allows an extension to implement a speech engine.

ttsEngine

Use the chrome.ttsEngine API to implement a text-to-speech(TTS) engine using an extension. If your extension registers using this API, it will receive events containing an utterance to be spoken and other parameters when any extension or Chrome App uses the tts API to generate speech. Your extension can then use any available web technology to synthesize and output the speech, and send events back to the calling function to report the status.

types

The chrome.types API contains type declarations for Chrome.

vpnProvider
Chrome 43+ ChromeOS only

Use the chrome.vpnProvider API to implement a VPN client.

wallpaper
Chrome 43+ ChromeOS only

Use the chrome.wallpaper API to change the ChromeOS wallpaper.

webNavigation

Use the chrome.webNavigation API to receive notifications about the status of navigation requests in-flight.

webRequest

Use the chrome.webRequest API to observe and analyze traffic and to intercept, block, or modify requests in-flight.

windows

Use the chrome.windows API to interact with browser windows. You can use this API to create, modify, and rearrange windows in the browser.