Installing Chrome extensions manually from GitHub is a great way to pass around extensions if they are a work-in-progress or otherwise don't need to be in the Chrome store.
Here are the three steps to make it happen.
1. Clone Repo or Download Zip
Use either technique to get the folder onto your local machine. Use whichever technique fits your workflow and comfort level.
If you clone or fork the repo, you'll only have to git pull every time you want changes. You will still have to manually "refresh" the extension to see the changes, explained later.
2. Visit chrome://extensions/ and turn on "Developer mode"
3. Click "Load unpacked" button and navivigate to the folder you downloaded from GitHub
That's it π
If you pull down new changes or make a change to the extension's files locally, you'll need to hit the "refresh" icon in chrome://extensions/ in order to run the new functionality...
You do not have to understand how to develop Chrome extensions in order to download and use one, but if you are interested in getting started, here is a nice post...
For more info on working with Chrome extensions in general, search DEV for "chrome extension" and find a lot of great resources. π
Top comments (3)
Nice!
You can also fetch the source for extensions which are published on the Chrome Web Store by using the Chrome extension source viewer.
It basically downloads the ZIP file for you.
I use it sometimes to find inspiration.
Nice tip!
Very useful π π