I have a new browser extension I'm developing, which means that to make it publicly available on the Chrome Web Store, I must use manifest v3. My extension is a DevTools extension, which means that to communicate with the content script, I have to use a background service worker to proxy the messages. Unfortunately, the docs on DevTools extensions haven't been updated for manifest v3, and the technique they suggest for messaging between the content script and the DevTools panel via the background script won't work if the background worker is terminated.
I've seen some answers here and Chromium project issue report comments suggest that the only available workaround is to reset the connection every five minutes. That seems hacky and unreliable. Is there a better mechanism for this, something more event based than an arbitrary timer?
We can make the connection hub out of the devtools_page itself. This hidden page runs inside devtools for the current tab, it doesn't unload while devtools is open, and it has full access to all of chrome API same as the background script.
manifest.json:
"devtools_page": "devtools.html",
"content_scripts": [{
"matches": ["<all_urls>"],
"js": ["content.js"],
"run_at": "document_start"
}]
devtools.html:
<script src="devtools.js"></script>
devtools.js:
let portDev, portTab;
const tabId = chrome.devtools.inspectedWindow.tabId;
const onDevMessage = msg => portTab.postMessage(msg);
const onTabMessage = msg => portDev.postMessage(msg);
chrome.runtime.onConnect.addListener(port => {
if (+port.name !== tabId) return;
portDev = port;
portDev.onMessage.addListener(onDevMessage);
portTab = chrome.tabs.connect(tabId, {name: 'dev'});
portTab.onMessage.addListener(onTabMessage);
});
// chrome.devtools.panels.create...
panel.js:
const port = chrome.runtime.connect({
name: `${chrome.devtools.inspectedWindow.tabId}`,
});
port.onMessage.addListener(msg => {
// This prints in devtools-on-devtools: https://stackoverflow.com/q/12291138
// To print in tab's console see `chrome.devtools.inspectedWindow.eval`
console.log(msg);
});
self.onclick = () => port.postMessage('foo');
content.js:
let portDev;
const onMessage = msg => {
console.log(msg);
portDev.postMessage('bar');
};
const onDisconnect = () => {
portDev = null;
};
chrome.runtime.onConnect.addListener(port => {
if (port.name !== 'dev') return;
portDev = port;
portDev.onMessage.addListener(onMessage);
portDev.onDisconnect.addListener(onDisconnect);
});
P.S. Regarding the 5-minute timer reset trick, if you still need the background script to be persistent, in this case it is reasonably reliable because the tab is guaranteed to be open while devtools for this tab is open.
I would like to show an alert on Chrome's error page(see example at the bottom) when Chrome encounters a specific type of error for a specific url/domain.
I tried the below:
chrome.webNavigation.onErrorOccurred.addListener(details => {
if (
details.error === "net::ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT" &&
details.url.includes("ycombinator.com")
) {
chrome.scripting.executeScript(
{
target: { tabId: details.tabId },
files: ["alert.js"],
},
() => console.log("script executed")
)
}
})
but it throws an error:
Unchecked runtime.lastError: Cannot access contents of url "chrome-error://chromewebdata/". Extension manifest must request permission to access this host.
alert.js content
const blocked = () => alert('This website is blocked temporarily');
blocked()
In my manifest(v3), I have webNavigation, scripting and tabs in permissions and ["http:///", "https:///"] in host_permissions.
I tried adding "chrome-error://*/" to host_permissions but that didn't fix the error.
Example error page:
I'm developing a react app based chrome extension which uses Google's material design and has a couple of pages with navigation.
I want to inject the extension inside the browser tab when the extension is launched from the browser address toolbar. I've seen multiple extensions do so by injecting a div(inside the body of webpage) containing an iframe with src equal to the extension's pop-up HTML page.
I execute the following function when the extension is launched. Which basically injects the extension into the target webpage body but it appears multiple times inside the target web page.
function main() {
const extensionOrigin = "chrome-extension://" + chrome.runtime.id;
if (!location.ancestorOrigins.contains(extensionOrigin)) {
// Fetch the local React index.html page
fetch(chrome.runtime.getURL("index.html") /*, options */)
.then((response) => response.text())
.then((html) => {
const styleStashHTML = html.replace(
/\/static\//g,
`${extensionOrigin}/static/`
);
const body = document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0];
$(styleStashHTML).appendTo(body);
})
.catch((error) => {
console.warn(error);
});
}
}
See Image of Incorrect Injection
Any help or guidance would be very appreciated. Thanks!
I'm trying to test my chrome-extension using cypress.io
I can successfully load my extension by adding this to plugins/index.js:
module.exports = (on, config) => {
on('before:browser:launch', (browser = {}, args) => {
if (browser.name === 'chrome') {
args.push('--load-extension=../bananatabs/build')
return args
}
})
}
I can open my extension's index.html on the cypress browser by navigating to
chrome-extension://ewoifjflksdjfioewjfoiwe/index.html
But when I try to "visit" it in a test, like this:
context('visit bananatabs', () => {
beforeEach(() => {
cy.visit('chrome-extension://inbalflcnihklpnmnnbdcinlfgnmplfl/index.html')
})
it('does nothing', () => {
assert(true);
});
});
it doesn't work. page reads:
Sorry, we could not load:
chrome-extension://inbalflcnihklpnmnnbdcinlfgnmplfl/index.html
In the docs all the examples use http or https protocols, not chrome-extension.
UPDATE
I can see the test page is http://localhost:54493/__/#/tests/integration/visit.spec.js and it contains an iframe with the page I'm testing, which uses chrome-extension:// protocol. I'm not sure that would ever work.
Can this be done?
Not Currently, but I've opened an issue for just that.
Cypress puts an arbitrary restriction for http/https, and could easily add support for browser specific protocols such as chrome://, resource://, and chrome-extension://
Feel free to throw a :+1: on it!
Is it possible to create a Chrome extension that modifies HTTP response bodies?
I have looked in the Chrome Extension APIs, but I haven't found anything to do this.
In general, you cannot change the response body of a HTTP request using the standard Chrome extension APIs.
This feature is being requested at 104058: WebRequest API: allow extension to edit response body. Star the issue to get notified of updates.
If you want to edit the response body for a known XMLHttpRequest, inject code via a content script to override the default XMLHttpRequest constructor with a custom (full-featured) one that rewrites the response before triggering the real event. Make sure that your XMLHttpRequest object is fully compliant with Chrome's built-in XMLHttpRequest object, or AJAX-heavy sites will break.
In other cases, you can use the chrome.webRequest or chrome.declarativeWebRequest APIs to redirect the request to a data:-URI. Unlike the XHR-approach, you won't get the original contents of the request. Actually, the request will never hit the server because redirection can only be done before the actual request is sent. And if you redirect a main_frame request, the user will see the data:-URI instead of the requested URL.
I just released a Devtools extension that does just that :)
It's called tamper, it's based on mitmproxy and it allows you to see all requests made by the current tab, modify them and serve the modified version next time you refresh.
It's a pretty early version but it should be compatible with OS X and Windows. Let me know if it doesn't work for you.
You can get it here http://dutzi.github.io/tamper/
How this works
As #Xan commented below, the extension communicates through Native Messaging with a python script that extends mitmproxy.
The extension lists all requests using chrome.devtools.network.onRequestFinished.
When you click on of the requests it downloads its response using the request object's getContent() method, and then sends that response to the python script which saves it locally.
It then opens file in an editor (using call for OSX or subprocess.Popen for windows).
The python script uses mitmproxy to listen to all communication made through that proxy, if it detects a request for a file that was saved it serves the file that was saved instead.
I used Chrome's proxy API (specifically chrome.proxy.settings.set()) to set a PAC as the proxy setting. That PAC file redirect all communication to the python script's proxy.
One of the greatest things about mitmproxy is that it can also modify HTTPs communication. So you have that also :)
Like #Rob w said, I've override XMLHttpRequest and this is a result for modification any XHR requests in any sites (working like transparent modification proxy):
var _open = XMLHttpRequest.prototype.open;
window.XMLHttpRequest.prototype.open = function (method, URL) {
var _onreadystatechange = this.onreadystatechange,
_this = this;
_this.onreadystatechange = function () {
// catch only completed 'api/search/universal' requests
if (_this.readyState === 4 && _this.status === 200 && ~URL.indexOf('api/search/universal')) {
try {
//////////////////////////////////////
// THIS IS ACTIONS FOR YOUR REQUEST //
// EXAMPLE: //
//////////////////////////////////////
var data = JSON.parse(_this.responseText); // {"fields": ["a","b"]}
if (data.fields) {
data.fields.push('c','d');
}
// rewrite responseText
Object.defineProperty(_this, 'responseText', {value: JSON.stringify(data)});
/////////////// END //////////////////
} catch (e) {}
console.log('Caught! :)', method, URL/*, _this.responseText*/);
}
// call original callback
if (_onreadystatechange) _onreadystatechange.apply(this, arguments);
};
// detect any onreadystatechange changing
Object.defineProperty(this, "onreadystatechange", {
get: function () {
return _onreadystatechange;
},
set: function (value) {
_onreadystatechange = value;
}
});
return _open.apply(_this, arguments);
};
for example this code can be used successfully by Tampermonkey for making any modifications on any sites :)
Yes. It is possible with the chrome.debugger API, which grants extension access to the Chrome DevTools Protocol, which supports HTTP interception and modification through its Network API.
This solution was suggested by a comment on Chrome Issue 487422:
For anyone wanting an alternative which is doable at the moment, you can use chrome.debugger in a background/event page to attach to the specific tab you want to listen to (or attach to all tabs if that's possible, haven't tested all tabs personally), then use the network API of the debugging protocol.
The only problem with this is that there will be the usual yellow bar at the top of the tab's viewport, unless the user turns it off in chrome://flags.
First, attach a debugger to the target:
chrome.debugger.getTargets((targets) => {
let target = /* Find the target. */;
let debuggee = { targetId: target.id };
chrome.debugger.attach(debuggee, "1.2", () => {
// TODO
});
});
Next, send the Network.setRequestInterceptionEnabled command, which will enable interception of network requests:
chrome.debugger.getTargets((targets) => {
let target = /* Find the target. */;
let debuggee = { targetId: target.id };
chrome.debugger.attach(debuggee, "1.2", () => {
chrome.debugger.sendCommand(debuggee, "Network.setRequestInterceptionEnabled", { enabled: true });
});
});
Chrome will now begin sending Network.requestIntercepted events. Add a listener for them:
chrome.debugger.getTargets((targets) => {
let target = /* Find the target. */;
let debuggee = { targetId: target.id };
chrome.debugger.attach(debuggee, "1.2", () => {
chrome.debugger.sendCommand(debuggee, "Network.setRequestInterceptionEnabled", { enabled: true });
});
chrome.debugger.onEvent.addListener((source, method, params) => {
if(source.targetId === target.id && method === "Network.requestIntercepted") {
// TODO
}
});
});
In the listener, params.request will be the corresponding Request object.
Send the response with Network.continueInterceptedRequest:
Pass a base64 encoding of your desired HTTP raw response (including HTTP status line, headers, etc!) as rawResponse.
Pass params.interceptionId as interceptionId.
Note that I have not tested any of this, at all.
While Safari has this feature built-in, the best workaround I've found for Chrome so far is to use Cypress's intercept functionality. It cleanly allows me to stub HTTP responses in Chrome. I call cy.intercept then cy.visit(<URL>) and it intercepts and provides a stubbed response for a specific request the visited page makes. Here's an example:
cy.intercept('GET', '/myapiendpoint', {
statusCode: 200,
body: {
myexamplefield: 'Example value',
},
})
cy.visit('http://localhost:8080/mytestpage')
Note: You may also need to configure Cypress to disable some Chrome-specific security settings.
The original question was about Chrome extensions, but I notice that it has branched out into different methods, going by the upvotes on answers that have non-Chrome-extension methods.
Here's a way to kind of achieve this with Puppeteer. Note the caveat mentioned on the originalContent line - the fetched response may be different to the original response in some circumstances.
With Node.js:
npm install puppeteer node-fetch#2.6.7
Create this main.js:
const puppeteer = require("puppeteer");
const fetch = require("node-fetch");
(async function() {
const browser = await puppeteer.launch({headless:false});
const page = await browser.newPage();
await page.setRequestInterception(true);
page.on('request', async (request) => {
let url = request.url().replace(/\/$/g, ""); // remove trailing slash from urls
console.log("REQUEST:", url);
let originalContent = await fetch(url).then(r => r.text()); // TODO: Pass request headers here for more accurate response (still not perfect, but more likely to be the same as the "actual" response)
if(url === "https://example.com") {
request.respond({
status: 200,
contentType: 'text/html; charset=utf-8', // For JS files: 'application/javascript; charset=utf-8'
body: originalContent.replace(/example/gi, "TESTING123"),
});
} else {
request.continue();
}
});
await page.goto("https://example.com");
})();
Run it:
node main.js
With Deno:
Install Deno:
curl -fsSL https://deno.land/install.sh | sh # linux, mac
irm https://deno.land/install.ps1 | iex # windows powershell
Download Chrome for Puppeteer:
PUPPETEER_PRODUCT=chrome deno run -A --unstable https://deno.land/x/puppeteer#16.2.0/install.ts
Create this main.js:
import puppeteer from "https://deno.land/x/puppeteer#16.2.0/mod.ts";
const browser = await puppeteer.launch({headless:false});
const page = await browser.newPage();
await page.setRequestInterception(true);
page.on('request', async (request) => {
let url = request.url().replace(/\/$/g, ""); // remove trailing slash from urls
console.log("REQUEST:", url);
let originalContent = await fetch(url).then(r => r.text()); // TODO: Pass request headers here for more accurate response (still not perfect, but more likely to be the same as the "actual" response)
if(url === "https://example.com") {
request.respond({
status: 200,
contentType: 'text/html; charset=utf-8', // For JS files: 'application/javascript; charset=utf-8'
body: originalContent.replace(/example/gi, "TESTING123"),
});
} else {
request.continue();
}
});
await page.goto("https://example.com");
Run it:
deno run -A --unstable main.js
(I'm currently running into a TimeoutError with this that will hopefully be resolved soon: https://github.com/lucacasonato/deno-puppeteer/issues/65)
Yes, you can modify HTTP response in a Chrome extension. I built ModResponse (https://modheader.com/modresponse) that does that. It can record and replay your HTTP response, modify it, add delay, and even use the HTTP response from a different server (like from your localhost)
The way it works is to use the chrome.debugger API (https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/debugger/), which gives you access to Chrome DevTools Protocol (https://chromedevtools.github.io/devtools-protocol/). You can then intercept the request and response using the Fetch Domain API (https://chromedevtools.github.io/devtools-protocol/tot/Fetch/), then override the response you want. (You can also use the Network Domain, though it is deprecated in favor of the Fetch Domain)
The nice thing about this approach is that it will just work out of box. No desktop app installation required. No extra proxy setup. However, it will show a debugging banner in Chrome (which you can add an argument to Chrome to hide), and it is significantly more complicated to setup than other APIs.
For examples on how to use the debugger API, take a look at the chrome-extensions-samples: https://github.com/GoogleChrome/chrome-extensions-samples/tree/main/mv2-archive/api/debugger/live-headers
I've just found this extension and it does a lot of other things but modifying api responses in the browser works really well: https://requestly.io/
Follow these steps to get it working:
Install the extension
Go to HttpRules
Add a new rule and add a url and a response
Enable the rule with the radio button
Go to Chrome and you should see the response is modified
You can have multiple rules with different responses and enable/disable as required. I've not found out how you can have a different response per request though if the url is the same unfortunately.