runtime

In This Article

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.
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

	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Firefox for Android	Opera
`MessageSender`	26 *	Yes *	45 *	48 *	15 *
`OnInstalledReason`	Yes	Yes	45	48	Yes
`OnRestartRequiredReason`	Yes	No	45	48	Yes
`PlatformArch`	Yes	No	45	48	Yes
`PlatformInfo`	Yes	No	45 *	48 *	Yes
`PlatformNaclArch`	Yes	No	45	48	Yes
`PlatformOs`	Yes	No	45	48	Yes
`Port`	26 *	15 *	45 *	48 *	15 *
`RequestUpdateCheckStatus`	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
`connect`	26	Yes	45	48	15
`connectNative`	29	15	50	No	16
`getBackgroundPage`	22	Yes	45	48	15
`getBrowserInfo`	No	No	51	51	No
`getManifest`	22	Yes	45	48	15
`getPackageDirectoryEntry`	29	No	No	No	16
`getPlatformInfo`	29	No	45	48	16
`getURL`	22	Yes	45	48	15
`id`	22	Yes	45	48	15
`lastError`	Yes *	Yes	47	48	Yes *
`onBrowserUpdateAvailable`	27	No	No	No	15
`onConnect`	26	Yes	45	48	15
`onConnectExternal`	26	No	54	54	15
`onInstalled`	22	Yes	52 *	52 *	15
`onMessage`	26	Yes	45	48	15
`onMessageExternal`	26	No	54	54	15
`onRestartRequired`	29	No	No	No	16
`onStartup`	23	No	52	52	15
`onSuspend`	22	No	No	No	15
`onSuspendCanceled`	22	No	No	No	15
`onUpdateAvailable`	25	No	51	51	15
`openOptionsPage`	42	No	48	No	29
`reload`	25	15	51	51	15
`requestUpdateCheck`	25	No	No	No	15
`sendMessage`	26 *	Yes *	45 *	48 *	15 *
`sendNativeMessage`	29	15	50	No	16
`setUninstallURL`	41	15	47	48	28

Edge incompatibilities

Promises are not supported in Edge. Use callbacks instead.

Chrome incompatibilities

None.

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.

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Contributors to this page: andrewtruongmoz, abbycar, wbamberg, chrisdavidmills

Last updated by: andrewtruongmoz, Jul 13, 2017, 2:14:30 PM