Published extension doesn’t work with chrome API listeners inside onInstalled

by

This is a common problem: you’re using a non-persistent background script (e.g. a service worker in ManifestV3) and a chrome.runtime.onInstalled listener where you register some other listeners.

This is wrong because the onInstalled event is triggered only on installs/updates for a published extension and it happens asynchronously, which is a problem because chrome API listeners must be registered synchronously when using a non-persistent background script, otherwise the event that woke the background script won’t be dispatched to this listener i.e. the event will be lost.

It worked for you in developer mode only because reloading an extension is treated by Chrome as an update event reported in onInstalled. Or maybe you had devtools open for your background script which prevented it from unloading automatically.

Solution

Move the nested addListener registration outside of chrome.runtime.onInstalled:

chrome.runtime.onInstalled.addListener(function(info) {
  // code that should run on install/update
  // ...............
});

chrome.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(function(tab) {
  // code that should run on clicking the extension icon
  // ...............
});

More Related Contents:

  1. I’m trying to create a Google Chrome extension [closed]
  2. Chrome extension that enables chatting with users on same page [closed]
  3. Chrome Extension Message passing: response not sent
  4. Sending message from a background script to a content script, then to a injected script
  5. How to import ES6 modules in content script for Chrome Extension
  6. AngularJS changes URLs to “unsafe:” in extension page
  7. Enter data into a custom-handled input field
  8. How to detect page navigation on YouTube and modify its appearance seamlessly?
  9. window.localStorage vs chrome.storage.local
  10. Chrome Extension how to send data from content script to popup.html
  11. How do I auto-reload a Chrome extension I’m developing?
  12. Copy to Clipboard in Chrome Extension
  13. UserScripts & Greasemonkey: calling a website’s JavaScript functions
  14. Chrome Extension – Passing object from page to context script
  15. How to properly handle chrome extension updates from content scripts
  16. chrome.storage.local.get and set [duplicate]
  17. How do I redirect to a URL using a Google Chrome Extension & Content Script?
  18. Access variables and functions defined in page context using a content script
  19. Chrome New Tab Page extension steal focus from the address bar
  20. Cross-Origin XMLHttpRequest in chrome extensions
  21. Getting selected text in a Chrome extension
  22. chrome.runtime.onMessage response with async await
  23. tabs.executeScript – passing parameters and using libraries?
  24. How to develop Chrome extension for Gmail?
  25. monitoring history.pushstate from a chrome extension
  26. Chrome extension: Communication between content script and background.html
  27. Retrieving which tabs are open in Chrome?
  28. How to to initialize keyboard event with given char/keycode in a Chrome extension?
  29. Avoid dynamically injecting the same script multiple times when using chrome.tabs.executeScript(…)
  30. Link to chrome:// url from a webpage

Leave a Comment