Working on a web extension can be kinda wild — on one side you’re essentially just coding a website, on the other side you’re limited to what the browser says you can do in the extension execution environment. One change in that environment is coming January 2023 — pushing extensions to move to manifest version 3. I recently got curious about whether other popular extensions had completed the version 3 update.
Executing the following command in the background page (manifest version 2) or service worker (version 3) will provide you the extension’s manifest:
chrome.runtime.getManifest()
The getManifest call returns a large object detailing the extension’s manifest. Here’s what you’d see for the MetaMask browser extension:
{
"author": "https://metamask.io",
"background": {
"page": "background.html",
"persistent": true
},
"browser_action": {
"default_icon": {
"16": "images/icon-16.png",
"19": "images/icon-19.png",
"32": "images/icon-32.png",
"38": "images/icon-38.png",
"64": "images/icon-64.png",
},
"default_popup": "popup.html",
"default_title": "MetaMask"
},
"commands": {
"_execute_browser_action": {
"suggested_key": {
"chromeos": "Alt+Shift+M",
"linux": "Alt+Shift+M",
"mac": "Alt+Shift+M",
"windows": "Alt+Shift+M"
}
}
},
"content_scripts": [
{
"all_frames": true,
"js": [
"disable-console.js",
"globalthis.js",
"lockdown-install.js",
"lockdown-run.js",
"lockdown-more.js",
"contentscript.js"
],
"matches": [
"file://*/*",
"http://*/*",
"https://*/*"
],
"run_at": "document_start"
}
],
"current_locale": "en_US",
"default_locale": "en",
"description": "An Ethereum Wallet in your Browser",
"externally_connectable": {
"ids": [
"*"
],
"matches": [
"https://metamask.io/*"
]
},
"icons": {
"16": "images/icon-16.png",
"19": "images/icon-19.png",
"32": "images/icon-32.png",
"38": "images/icon-38.png",
"48": "images/icon-48.png",
"64": "images/icon-64.png",
},
"manifest_version": 2,
"minimum_chrome_version": "66",
"name": "MetaMask",
"permissions": [
"storage",
"unlimitedStorage",
"clipboardWrite",
"http://localhost:8545/",
"https://*.infura.io/",
"https://lattice.gridplus.io/*",
"activeTab",
"webRequest",
"*://*.eth/",
"notifications"
],
"short_name": "MetaMask",
"update_url": "https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx",
"version": "10.16.1"
}
Many of web extensions are still using manifest version 2, so many extension developers are pushing to finish manifest version 3 work!
