Working on a web extension can be kinda wild — on one side you’re essentially just coding a website, on the other side you’re limited to what the browser says you can do in the extension execution environment. One change in that environment is coming January 2023 — pushing extensions to move to manifest version 3. I recently got curious about whether other popular extensions had completed the version 3 update.

Executing the following command in the background page (manifest version 2) or service worker (version 3) will provide you the extension’s manifest:

chrome.runtime.getManifest() 

The getManifest call returns a large object detailing the extension’s manifest. Here’s what you’d see for the MetaMask browser extension:

{     "author": "https://metamask.io",     "background": {         "page": "background.html",         "persistent": true     },     "browser_action": {         "default_icon": {             "16": "images/icon-16.png",             "19": "images/icon-19.png",             "32": "images/icon-32.png",             "38": "images/icon-38.png",             "64": "images/icon-64.png",         },         "default_popup": "popup.html",         "default_title": "MetaMask"     },     "commands": {         "_execute_browser_action": {             "suggested_key": {                 "chromeos": "Alt+Shift+M",                 "linux": "Alt+Shift+M",                 "mac": "Alt+Shift+M",                 "windows": "Alt+Shift+M"             }         }     },     "content_scripts": [         {             "all_frames": true,             "js": [                 "disable-console.js",                 "globalthis.js",                 "lockdown-install.js",                 "lockdown-run.js",                 "lockdown-more.js",                 "contentscript.js"             ],             "matches": [                 "file://*/*",                 "http://*/*",                 "https://*/*"             ],             "run_at": "document_start"         }     ],     "current_locale": "en_US",     "default_locale": "en",     "description": "An Ethereum Wallet in your Browser",     "externally_connectable": {         "ids": [             "*"         ],         "matches": [             "https://metamask.io/*"         ]     },     "icons": {         "16": "images/icon-16.png",         "19": "images/icon-19.png",         "32": "images/icon-32.png",         "38": "images/icon-38.png",         "48": "images/icon-48.png",         "64": "images/icon-64.png",     },     "manifest_version": 2,     "minimum_chrome_version": "66",     "name": "MetaMask",     "permissions": [         "storage",         "unlimitedStorage",         "clipboardWrite",         "http://localhost:8545/",         "https://*.infura.io/",         "https://lattice.gridplus.io/*",         "activeTab",         "webRequest",         "*://*.eth/",         "notifications"     ],     "short_name": "MetaMask",     "update_url": "https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx",     "version": "10.16.1" } 

Many of web extensions are still using manifest version 2, so many extension developers are pushing to finish manifest version 3 work!

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