This module provides information about your extension and the environment it's running in.
It also provides messaging APIs enabling you to:
- Communicate between different parts of your extension. For advice on choosing between the messaging options, see Choosing between one-off messages and connection-based messaging.
- Communicate with other extensions.
- Communicate with native applications.
Types
runtime.Port
- Represents one end of a connection between two specific contexts, which can be used to exchange messages.
runtime.MessageSender
-
Contains information about the sender of a message or connection request.
runtime.PlatformOs
- Identifies the browser's operating system.
runtime.PlatformArch
- Identifies the browser's processor architecture.
runtime.PlatformInfo
- Contains information about the platform the browser is running on.
runtime.RequestUpdateCheckStatus
- Result of a call to
runtime.requestUpdateCheck()
. runtime.OnInstalledReason
- The reason that the
runtime.onInstalled
event is being dispatched. runtime.OnRestartRequiredReason
- The reason that the
runtime.onRestartRequired
event is being dispatched.
Properties
runtime.lastError
- This value is set when an asynchronous function has an error condition that it needs to report to its caller.
runtime.id
- The ID of the extension.
Functions
runtime.getBackgroundPage()
- Retrieves the Window object for the background page running inside the current extension.
runtime.openOptionsPage()
-
Opens your extension's options page.
runtime.getManifest()
- Gets the complete manifest.json file, serialized as an object.
runtime.getURL()
- Given a relative path from the manifest.json to a resource packaged with the extension, returns a fully-qualified URL.
runtime.setUninstallURL()
- Sets a URL to be visited when the extension is uninstalled.
runtime.reload()
- Reloads the extension.
runtime.requestUpdateCheck()
- Checks for updates to this extension.
runtime.connect()
- Establishes a connection from a content script to the main extension process, or from one extension to a different extension.
runtime.connectNative()
-
Connects the extension to a native application on the user's computer.
runtime.sendMessage()
- Sends a single message to event listeners within your extension or a different extension. Similar to
runtime.connect
but only sends a single message, with an optional response. runtime.sendNativeMessage()
- Sends a single message from an extension to a native application.
runtime.getPlatformInfo()
- Returns information about the current platform.
runtime.getBrowserInfo()
- Returns information about the browser in which this extension is installed.
runtime.getPackageDirectoryEntry()
- Returns a DirectoryEntry for the package directory.
Events
runtime.onStartup
- Fired when a profile that has this extension installed first starts up. This event is not fired when an incognito profile is started.
runtime.onInstalled
- Fired when the extension is first installed, when the extension is updated to a new version, and when the browser is updated to a new version.
runtime.onSuspend
- Sent to the event page just before the extension is unloaded. This gives the extension an opportunity to do some cleanup.
runtime.onSuspendCanceled
- Sent after
runtime.onSuspend
to indicate that the extension won't be unloaded after all. runtime.onUpdateAvailable
- Fired when an update is available, but isn't installed immediately because the extension is currently running.
runtime.onBrowserUpdateAvailable
- Fired when an update for the browser is available, but isn't installed immediately because a browser restart is required.
runtime.onConnect
- Fired when a connection is made with either an extension process or a content script.
runtime.onConnectExternal
- Fired when a connection is made with another extension.
runtime.onMessage
- Fired when a message is sent from either an extension process or a content script.
runtime.onMessageExternal
- Fired when a message is sent from another extension. Cannot be used in a content script.
runtime.onRestartRequired
- Fired when the device needs to be restarted.
Browser compatibility
The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.
Desktop | Mobile | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MessageSender | Chrome Full support 26 | Edge Full support 14 | Firefox
Full support
45
| Opera Full support 15 | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android
Full support
48
|
OnInstalledReason | Chrome
Full support
Yes
| Edge
Full support
14
| Firefox Full support 45 | Opera
Full support
Yes
| Safari
Full support
14
| Firefox Android Full support 48 |
OnRestartRequiredReason | Chrome Full support Yes | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 45 | Opera Full support Yes | Safari No support No | Firefox Android Full support 48 |
PlatformArch | Chrome Full support Yes | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 45 | Opera Full support Yes | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android Full support 48 |
PlatformInfo | Chrome Full support Yes | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 45 | Opera Full support Yes | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android Full support 48 |
PlatformNaclArch | Chrome Full support Yes | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 45 | Opera Full support Yes | Safari No support No | Firefox Android Full support 48 |
PlatformOs | Chrome Full support Yes | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 45 | Opera Full support Yes | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android Full support 48 |
Port | Chrome Full support 26 | Edge Full support 15 | Firefox Full support 45 | Opera Full support 15 | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android Full support 48 |
RequestUpdateCheckStatus | Chrome Full support Yes | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox No support No | Opera Full support Yes | Safari No support No | Firefox Android No support No |
connect | Chrome Full support 26 | Edge Full support 14 | Firefox Full support 45 | Opera Full support 15 | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android Full support 48 |
connectNative | Chrome Full support 29 | Edge Full support 15 | Firefox Full support 50 | Opera Full support 16 | Safari
Full support
14
| Firefox Android No support No |
getBackgroundPage | Chrome Full support 22 | Edge Full support 14 | Firefox
Full support
45
| Opera Full support 15 | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android
Full support
48
|
getBrowserInfo | Chrome No support No | Edge No support No | Firefox Full support 51 | Opera No support No | Safari No support No | Firefox Android Full support 51 |
getManifest | Chrome Full support 22 | Edge Full support 14 | Firefox Full support 45 | Opera Full support 15 | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android Full support 48 |
getPackageDirectoryEntry | Chrome Full support 29 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox No support No | Opera Full support 16 | Safari No support No | Firefox Android No support No |
getPlatformInfo | Chrome Full support 29 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 45 | Opera Full support 16 | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android Full support 48 |
getURL | Chrome Full support 22 | Edge Full support 14 | Firefox Full support 45 | Opera Full support 15 | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android Full support 48 |
id | Chrome Full support 22 | Edge Full support 14 | Firefox Full support 45 | Opera Full support 15 | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android Full support 48 |
lastError | Chrome
Full support
Yes
| Edge Full support 14 | Firefox Full support 47 | Opera
Full support
Yes
| Safari
Full support
14
| Firefox Android Full support 48 |
onBrowserUpdateAvailable | Chrome Full support 27 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox No support No | Opera Full support 15 | Safari No support No | Firefox Android No support No |
onConnect | Chrome Full support 26 | Edge Full support 14 | Firefox Full support 45 | Opera Full support 15 | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android Full support 48 |
onConnectExternal | Chrome Full support 26 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 54 | Opera Full support 15 | Safari No support No | Firefox Android Full support 54 |
onInstalled | Chrome Full support 22 | Edge Full support 14 | Firefox
Full support
52
| Opera Full support 15 | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android
Full support
52
|
onMessage | Chrome Full support 26 | Edge Full support 14 | Firefox Full support 45 | Opera Full support 15 | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android Full support 48 |
onMessageExternal | Chrome Full support 26 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 54 | Opera Full support 15 | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android Full support 54 |
onRestartRequired | Chrome Full support 29 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox No support No | Opera Full support 16 | Safari No support No | Firefox Android No support No |
onStartup | Chrome Full support 23 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 52 | Opera Full support 15 | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android Full support 52 |
onSuspend | Chrome Full support 22 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox No support No | Opera Full support 15 | Safari No support No | Firefox Android No support No |
onSuspendCanceled | Chrome Full support 22 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox No support No | Opera Full support 15 | Safari No support No | Firefox Android No support No |
onUpdateAvailable | Chrome Full support 25 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 51 | Opera Full support 15 | Safari No support No | Firefox Android Full support 51 |
openOptionsPage | Chrome Full support 42 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox Full support 48 | Opera Full support 29 | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android Full support 57 |
reload | Chrome Full support 25 | Edge Full support 15 | Firefox Full support 51 | Opera Full support 15 | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android Full support 51 |
requestUpdateCheck | Chrome Full support 25 | Edge Full support 79 | Firefox No support No | Opera Full support 15 | Safari No support No | Firefox Android No support No |
sendMessage | Chrome Full support 26 | Edge
Full support
14
| Firefox Full support 45 | Opera Full support 15 | Safari Full support 14 | Firefox Android Full support 48 |
sendNativeMessage | Chrome Full support 29 | Edge Full support 15 | Firefox Full support 50 | Opera Full support 16 | Safari
Full support
14
| Firefox Android No support No |
setUninstallURL | Chrome Full support 41 | Edge Full support 15 | Firefox Full support 47 | Opera Full support 28 | Safari
Partial support
14
| Firefox Android Full support 48 |
Legend
- Full support
- Full support
- Partial support
- Partial support
- No support
- No support
- Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.
- Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.
- Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.
- Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.
- See implementation notes.
- See implementation notes.
Example extensions
Acknowledgements
This API is based on Chromium's chrome.runtime
API. This documentation is derived from runtime.json
in the Chromium code.
Microsoft Edge compatibility data is supplied by Microsoft Corporation and is included here under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
// Copyright 2015 The Chromium Authors. All rights reserved. // // Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without // modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are // met: // // * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright // notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. // * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above // copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer // in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the // distribution. // * Neither the name of Google Inc. nor the names of its // contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from // this software without specific prior written permission. // // THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS // "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT // LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR // A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT // OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, // SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT // LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, // DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY // THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT // (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE // OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.