JavaScript APIs for WebExtensions can be used inside the extension's background scripts and in any other documents bundled with the extension, including browser action or page action popups, sidebars, options pages, or new tab pages. A few of these APIs can also be accessed by an extension's content scripts (see the list in the content script guide).
To use the more powerful APIs you need to request permission in your extension's manifest.json.
You can access the APIs using the browser namespace:
function logTabs(tabs) {
console.log(tabs);
}
browser.tabs.query({currentWindow: true}, logTabs);Many of the APIs are asynchronous, returning a Promise:
function logCookie(c) {
console.log(c);
}
function logError(e) {
console.error(e);
}
var setCookie = browser.cookies.set(
{url: "https://developer.mozilla.org/"}
);
setCookie.then(logCookie, logError);Note that this is different from Google Chrome's extension system, which uses the chrome namespace instead of browser, and which uses callbacks instead of promises for asynchronous functions. As a porting aid, the Firefox implementation of WebExtensions APIs supports chrome and callbacks as well as browser and promises. Mozilla has also written a polyfill which enables code that uses browser and promises to work unchanged in Chrome: https://github.com/mozilla/webextension-polyfill.
Firefox also implements these APIs under the chrome namespace using callbacks. This allows code written for Chrome to run largely unchanged in Firefox for the APIs documented here.
Microsoft Edge uses the browser namespace, but doesn't yet support promise-based asynchronous APIs. In Edge, for the time being, asynchronous APIs must use callbacks.
Not all browsers support all the APIs: for the details, see Browser support for JavaScript APIs.
alarms
Schedule code to run at a specific time in the future. This is like setTimeout() and setInterval(), except that those functions don't work with background pages that are loaded on demand.
bookmarks
The WebExtensions bookmarks API lets an extension interact with and manipulate the browser's bookmarking system. You can use it to bookmark pages, retrieve existing bookmarks, and edit, remove, and organize bookmarks.
browserAction
Adds a button to the browser's toolbar.
browserSettings
Promises are not supported in Edge. Use callbacks instead.
browsingData
Enables extensions to clear the data that is accumulated while the user is browsing.
commands
Listen for the user executing commands that you have registered using the commands manifest.json key.
contextMenus
Add items to the browser's context menu, to be displayed in the contexts you specify. For example, you can show the item only when the user clicks on an image, or on an editable element, or when part of a page is selected.
contextualIdentities
Work with contextual identities: list, create, remove, and update contextual identities.
cookies
Enables extensions to get and set cookies, and be notified when they change.
devtools.inspectedWindow
The devtools.inspectedWindow API lets a devtools extension interact with the window that the developer tools are attached to.
devtools.network
The devtools.network API lets a devtools extension get information about network requests associated with the window that the devtools are attached to (the inspected window).
devtools.panels
The devtools.panels API lets a devtools extension define its user interface inside the devtools window.
downloads
Enables extensions to interact with the browser's download manager. You can use this API module to download files, cancel, pause, resume downloads, and show downloaded files in the file manager.
events
Common types used by APIs that dispatch events.
extension
Utilities related to your extension. Get URLs to resources packages with your extension, get the Window object for your extension's pages, get the values for various settings. Note that the messaging APIs in this module are deprecated in favor of the equivalent APIs in the runtime module.
extensionTypes
Some common types used in other WebExtension APIs.
history
Use the history API to interact with the browser history.
i18n
Functions to internationalize your extension. You can use these APIs to get localized strings from locale files packaged with your extension, find out the browser's current language, and find out the value of its Accept-Language header.
identity
Use the identity API to get an OAuth2 authorization code or access token, which an extension can then use to access user data from a service which supports OAuth2 access (such as a Google or a Facebook account).
idle
Find out when the user's system is idle, locked, or active.
management
Get information about installed add-ons.
notifications
Display notifications to the user, using the underlying operating system's notification mechanism. Because this API uses the operating system's notification mechanism, the details of how notifications appear and behave may differ according to the operating system and the user's settings.
omnibox
Enables extensions to implement customised behavior when the user types into the browser's address bar.
pageAction
A page action is a clickable icon inside the browser's address bar.
permissions
Extensions need permissions to access many of the more powerful WebExtension APIs. They can ask for permissions at install time by including the permissions they need in the permissions manifest.json key. The main advantages of asking for permissions at install time are:
privacy
Access and modify various privacy-related browser settings.
proxy
Use the proxy API to register an extended Proxy Auto-Configuration (PAC) file, which implements a policy for proxying web requests. This implementation deviates from standard PAC design in several ways because the de-facto specification for PAC files hasn't changed since its initial implementation circa 1995. There is no standards body maintaining the specification.
runtime
This module provides information about your extension and the environment it's running in.
sessions
Use the sessions API to list, and restore, tabs and windows that have been closed while the browser has been running.
sidebarAction
Gets and sets properties of an extension's sidebar.
storage
Enables extensions to store and retrieve data, and listen for changes to stored items.
tabs
Interact with the browser's tab system.
theme
Enables browser extensions to update the browser theme.
topSites
Use the topSites API to get an array containing all the sites listed in the browser's "New Tab" page.
types
Defines the BrowserSetting type, which is used to represent a browser setting.
webNavigation
Add event listeners for the various stages of a navigation. A navigation consists of a frame in the browser transitioning from one URL to another, usually (but not always) in response to a user action like clicking a link or entering a URL in the location bar.
webRequest
Add event listeners for the various stages of making an HTTP request. The event listener receives detailed information about the request, and can modify or cancel the request.
windows
Interact with browser windows. You can use this API to get information about open windows and to open, modify, and close windows. You can also listen for window open, close, and activate events.