chrome.history

Description
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.
Permissions
history

Manifest #

You must declare the "history" permission in the extension manifest to use the history API. For example:

{
  "name": "My extension",
  ...
  "permissions": [
    "history"
  ],
  ...
}

Transition types #

The history API uses a transition type to describe how the browser navigated to a particular URL on a particular visit. For example, if a user visits a page by clicking a link on another page, the transition type is "link".

The following table describes each transition type.

Transition type	Description
"link"	The user got to this page by clicking a link on another page.
"typed"	The user got this page by typing the URL in the address bar. Also used for other explicit navigation actions. See also generated, which is used for cases where the user selected a choice that didn't look at all like a URL.
"auto_bookmark"	The user got to this page through a suggestion in the UI—for example, through a menu item.
"auto_subframe"	Subframe navigation. This is any content that is automatically loaded in a non-top-level frame. For example, if a page consists of several frames containing ads, those ad URLs have this transition type. The user may not even realize the content in these pages is a separate frame, and so may not care about the URL (see also manual_subframe).
"manual_subframe"	For subframe navigations that are explicitly requested by the user and generate new navigation entries in the back/forward list. An explicitly requested frame is probably more important than an automatically loaded frame because the user probably cares about the fact that the requested frame was loaded.
"generated"	The user got to this page by typing in the address bar and selecting an entry that did not look like a URL. For example, a match might have the URL of a Google search result page, but it might appear to the user as "Search Google for ...". These are not quite the same as typed navigations because the user didn't type or see the destination URL. See also keyword.
"auto_toplevel"	The page was specified in the command line or is the start page.
"form_submit"	The user filled out values in a form and submitted it. Note that in some situations—such as when a form uses script to submit contents—submitting a form does not result in this transition type.
"reload"	The user reloaded the page, either by clicking the reload button or by pressing Enter in the address bar. Session restore and Reopen closed tab use this transition type, too.
"keyword"	The URL was generated from a replaceable keyword other than the default search provider. See also keyword_generated.
"keyword_generated"	Corresponds to a visit generated for a keyword. See also keyword.

Examples #

For examples of using this API, see the history sample directory and the history API test directory. For other examples and for help in viewing the source code, see Samples.

Summary

Types
HistoryItem
UrlDetails
VisitItem
TransitionType
Methods
addUrl
chrome.history.addUrl(details: UrlDetails, callback: function)
deleteAll
chrome.history.deleteAll(callback: function)
deleteRange
chrome.history.deleteRange(range: object, callback: function)
deleteUrl
chrome.history.deleteUrl(details: UrlDetails, callback: function)
getVisits
chrome.history.getVisits(details: UrlDetails, callback: function)
search
chrome.history.search(query: object, callback: function)
Events
onVisitRemoved
onVisited

Types

HistoryItem

An object encapsulating one result of a history query.

Properties

id
string
The unique identifier for the item.
lastVisitTime
number optional
When this page was last loaded, represented in milliseconds since the epoch.
title
string optional
The title of the page when it was last loaded.
typedCount
number optional
The number of times the user has navigated to this page by typing in the address.
url
string optional
The URL navigated to by a user.
visitCount
number optional
The number of times the user has navigated to this page.

UrlDetails

Properties

url
string
The URL for the operation. It must be in the format as returned from a call to history.search.

VisitItem

An object encapsulating one visit to a URL.

Properties

id
string
The unique identifier for the item.
referringVisitId
string
The visit ID of the referrer.
transition
TransitionType
The transition type for this visit from its referrer.
visitId
string
The unique identifier for this visit.
visitTime
number optional
When this visit occurred, represented in milliseconds since the epoch.

TransitionType

The transition type for this visit from its referrer.

Enum

"link", "typed", "auto_bookmark", "auto_subframe", "manual_subframe", "generated", "auto_toplevel", "form_submit", "reload", "keyword", or "keyword_generated"

Methods

addUrl

chrome.history.addUrl(details: UrlDetails, callback: function)

Adds a URL to the history at the current time with a transition type of "link".

Parameters

details
UrlDetails
callback
function
The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:
() => {...}

deleteAll

chrome.history.deleteAll(callback: function)

Deletes all items from the history.

Parameters

callback
function
The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:
() => {...}

deleteRange

chrome.history.deleteRange(range: object, callback: function)

Removes all items within the specified date range from the history. Pages will not be removed from the history unless all visits fall within the range.

Parameters

range
object
- endTime
  number
  Items added to history before this date, represented in milliseconds since the epoch.
- startTime
  number
  Items added to history after this date, represented in milliseconds since the epoch.
callback
function
The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:
() => {...}

deleteUrl

chrome.history.deleteUrl(details: UrlDetails, callback: function)

Removes all occurrences of the given URL from the history.

Parameters

details
UrlDetails
callback
function
The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:
() => {...}

getVisits

chrome.history.getVisits(details: UrlDetails, callback: function)

Retrieves information about visits to a URL.

Parameters

details
UrlDetails
callback
function
The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:
(results: VisitItem[]) => {...}
- results
  VisitItem[]

search

chrome.history.search(query: object, callback: function)

Searches the history for the last visit time of each page matching the query.

Parameters

query
object
- endTime
  number optional
  Limit results to those visited before this date, represented in milliseconds since the epoch.
- maxResults
  number optional
  The maximum number of results to retrieve. Defaults to 100.
- startTime
  number optional
  Limit results to those visited after this date, represented in milliseconds since the epoch. If not specified, this defaults to 24 hours in the past.
- text
  string
  A free-text query to the history service. Leave empty to retrieve all pages.
callback
function
The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:
(results: HistoryItem[]) => {...}
- results
  HistoryItem[]

Events

onVisitRemoved

chrome.history.onVisitRemoved.addListener(listener: function)

Fired when one or more URLs are removed from the history service. When all visits have been removed the URL is purged from history.

Event

listener
function
The listener parameter should be a function that looks like this:
(removed: object) => {...}
- removed
  object
  allHistory
  boolean
  True if all history was removed. If true, then urls will be empty.
  urls
  string[] optional

onVisited

chrome.history.onVisited.addListener(listener: function)

Fired when a URL is visited, providing the HistoryItem data for that URL. This event fires before the page has loaded.

Event

listener
function
The listener parameter should be a function that looks like this:
(result: HistoryItem) => {...}
- result
  HistoryItem