explaingit

googlechrome/chrome-extensions-samples

★ 17,528JavaScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · easy

TLDR

Official collection of sample Chrome extensions from Google, organized into focused API examples and complete functional extensions you can load directly into Chrome.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((chrome-extensions-samples))
    Inputs
      Manifest files
      JavaScript code
      HTML pages
    Outputs
      Working extensions
      Reference code
    Use Cases
      Learn extension APIs
      Copy starter code
      Test API behavior
    Tech Stack
      JavaScript
      HTML
      Chrome APIs
      Manifest V3
Click or tap to explore — scroll the page freely

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Copy a sample to bootstrap a new Chrome extension that uses a specific API

USE CASE 2

Study working code for tabs, notifications, bookmarks, and other Chrome APIs

USE CASE 3

Load an unpacked sample in Chrome to see an API behave before writing your own

Tech stack

JavaScriptHTMLCSSChrome

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Just clone and use Load Unpacked Extension in chrome://extensions, no build step required.

Apache 2.0 lets you use, modify, and ship the code in commercial products, as long as you keep the license notice and credit attribution.

In plain English

This is the official collection of sample Chrome extensions maintained by Google. It is a reference library aimed at developers who want to learn how to build browser extensions for Chrome. The repository is organized into two main sections: API samples, which are small focused examples that demonstrate a single Chrome extension API (like notifications, bookmarks, or tabs), and functional samples, which are more complete extensions that show how multiple APIs work together to build real features. There is also an archive section containing older examples from the deprecated Chrome Apps platform and an older manifest format. You would use this when you are starting to build a Chrome extension and want to see working code for a specific API or behavior. Rather than reading through documentation alone, you can clone this repository and load any example directly into Chrome using the "Load Unpacked Extension" feature in the browser's developer tools. The samples are written in JavaScript and are licensed under the Apache License. They are authored and maintained by Google's Chrome team.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Pick the chrome-extensions-samples example closest to a clipboard manager and walk me through adapting it
Prompt 2
Show me how to load an unpacked sample from this repo into Chrome and inspect its background page
Prompt 3
Compare the api-samples and functional-samples folders and tell me which one fits a side panel extension
Prompt 4
Help me port one of the Manifest V2 archive samples to Manifest V3
Open on GitHub → Explain another repo

← googlechrome on gitmyhub — every repo by this author, as a profile.

Verify against the repo before relying on details.