Introduction

webext-buildtools builder for packing and signing Chrome Web Extension for offline distribution built on base of crx package.

If you need a complete solution for Web Extension build/deploy, go to webext-buildtools-integrated-builder repo.

To read what are webext-buildtools and builders go to webext-buildtools-builder-types repo.

Installation

npm install webext-buildtools-chrome-crx-builder

Purpose

Builder allows you to build and sign your Web Extension for offline distribution. Read more details at Alternative Extension Distribution Options.

Usage example

const ChromeCrxBuilder = require('webext-buildtools-chrome-crx-builder').default;
const fs = require('fs-extra');

const options = { ... }; // see description below
const logMethod = console.log;
const builder = new ChromeCrxBuilder(options, logMethod);

// if you omit manifest it will be extracted from the zip buffer
builder.setInputManifest(await fs.readJson('./ext_dir/manifest.json'))
builder.setInputZipBuffer(await fs.readFile('./packed.zip'));

builder.requireCrxFile();
builder.requireUpdateXmlFile();

const buildResult = await builder.build();

Options

Options object described in declarations/options.d.ts

See how to get logMethod for pretty output.

Inputs

1. setInputManifest(...). Object with parsed extension's package.json. Required to produce update.xml file. If omitted, will be extracted from zip buffer.
2. setInputZipBuffer(...). Buffer with zipped extension dir. Required to produce packed crx file

You can use webext-buildtools-dir-reader-mw to generate needed inputs from extension directory.

Outputs

crx

packed and signed (using private key specified in options) crx file

Required options: privateKey or privateKeyFilePath, crxFilePath for file Require methods: requireCrxFile(), requireCrxBuffer() Assets: const buffer = buildResult.getAssets().crxBuffer.getValue() const crxFilePath = buildResult.getAssets().crxFile.getValue()

update.xml

updateXML for extensions hosted not on Chrome Web Store. This xml is used as response at url, specified in manifest's update_url key. See https://developer.chrome.com/docs/apps/autoupdate/#update_url for details.

Required options: updateXml.outFilePath (for not temporary file), updateXml.codebaseUrl Require methods: requireUpdateXmlFile(), requireUpdateXmlBuffer() Assets: const buffer = buildResult.getAssets().updateXmlBuffer.getValue() const xmlFilePath = buildResult.getAssets().updateXmlFile.getValue()