Notes on creating a Chrome extension

April 18, 2017

Needed

manifest.json is required. It's kinda like package.json in Node. manifest.json has info about your extension
The icon needs to be 19x19 pixels

Getting started

Create a new folder, create a manifest.json file inside
Load your extension in browser by going to Chrome > Extension > Enable Developer Mode > Load unpacked extension.. and point to the folder you created
Once you have the folder loaded, you can make edits in your code, refresh Chrome (Cmd+R) and the changes will reflect

code

{
  "manifest_version": 2,
  "name": "My Awesome Extension",
  "description": "This extension is an awesome extension",
  "version": "0.1"
}

The icon right to your address bar is called a browser action. It is set as default_icon under browser_action. The size needs to be 19x19 pixels

code

"browser_action": {
  "default_icon": "icon_19.png"
}

The icon that shows on the Extensions listing page is specified with 128 under icons. The size needs to be 128x128 pixels

code

"icons": {
  "128": "icon_128.png"
 }