Chrome Extension CLI

The CLI for your next Chrome Extension. 🚀

Quick Overview

npm install -g chrome-extension-cli
chrome-extension-cli my-extension
cd my-extension
npm run watch

Then follow these instructions to see your extension:

1. Open chrome://extensions
2. Check the Developer mode checkbox
3. Click on the Load unpacked extension button
4. Select the folder my-extension/build

When you're ready to publish to Chrome Web Store, create a minified bundle with npm run build and zip it with npm run pack. Or you can zip the build folder manually.

Get Started Immediately

You don’t need to install or configure Webpack. Webpack comes in preconfigured, so that you can focus on the code.

Just create a project, and you’re good to go.

Creating an Extension

Installation

npm install -g chrome-extension-cli

Usage

chrome-extension-cli <project-name>

Example:

chrome-extension-cli my-extension

It will create a directory called my-extension inside the current folder. Inside that directory, it will generate the initial project structure and install the transitive dependencies:

my-extension
├── README.md
├── node_modules
├── package.json
├── .gitignore
├── config                    // Webpack with minimal configurations
│   ├── paths.js
│   ├── webpack.common.js
│   └── webpack.config.js
├── public
│   ├── icons
│   │   ├── icon_16.png
│   │   ├── icon_32.png
│   │   ├── icon_48.png
│   │   ├── icon_128.png
│   ├── *.html                // HTML files will vary depending on extension type
│   └── manifest.json
└── src
    ├── *.css                 // CSS files will vary depending on extension type
    └── *.js                  // JS files will vary depending on extension type

Once the installation is done, you can open your project folder:

cd my-extension

Inside the newly created project, you can run some built-in commands:

npm run watch

Runs the app in development mode. Then follow these instructions to see your app:

1. Open chrome://extensions
2. Check the Developer mode checkbox
3. Click on the Load unpacked extension button
4. Select the folder my-extension/build

npm run build

Builds the app for production to the build folder. Run npm run pack to zip the build folder and your app is ready to be published on Chrome Web Store. Or you can zip it manually.

npm run pack

Packs the build folder into a zip file under release folder.

npm run repack

Rebuilds and packs the app into a zip file. It is a shorthand for npm run build && npm run pack.

npm run format

Formats all the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, TypeScript and JSON files.

What's included?

Your environment will have everything you need to build a Chrome Extension:

• ES6 syntax support.
• A watch script to listen file changes and build automatically.
• A build script to bundle JS, CSS, and images for production.

Extension types

With Chrome Extension CLI you can built any of the below extensions:

Popup

Add features to Active Tab.

Override page

Override default page like New Tab, Bookmarks, or History page.

DevTools

Add features to Chrome Developer Tools.

Side Panel

Add features to Chrome Side Panel.

More information about templates.

CLI options

chrome-extension-cli my-extension --override-page

Creates an extension that overrides default New Tab page. You can also pass other values to --override-page option to override other default pages like Bookmarks and History page.

chrome-extension-cli my-extension --override-page              // Override New Tab page
chrome-extension-cli my-extension --override-page=bookmarks    // Override Bookmarks page
chrome-extension-cli my-extension --override-page=history      // Override History page

chrome-extension-cli my-extension --devtools

Creates a Panel inside developer tools.

chrome-extension-cli my-extension --side-panel

Creates a Panel in the browser's side panel alongside the main content of a webpage.

chrome-extension-cli my-extension --language

Creates an extension for supported languages like JavaScript and TypeScript. By default extension is created for JavaScript language and you can also pass other value to --language option to create extension for TypeScript.

chrome-extension-cli my-extension                          // Language JavaScript (default)
chrome-extension-cli my-extension --language=javascript    // Language JavaScript
chrome-extension-cli my-extension --language=typescript    // Language TypeScript

Contributing

See the contribution guide and join the contributors!

FAQs

See the FAQs.

License

Chrome Extension CLI is open source software licensed as MIT.

Many thanks to create-react-app for the inspiration with this readme file.

Jupiter Icon used in templates made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com.