Google Chrome Extensions

chrome.commands

Warning: This API is still under development. It is only available for Chrome users on the dev early release channel and beta release channel.

The commands API allows you to add keyboard shortcuts that trigger actions in your extension. An action can be opening the browser action or page action popup or sending a command to the extension.

Manifest

You must set manifest_version to (at least) 2 to use this API.

Usage

The commands API allows you to define specific commands, and bind them to a default key combination. Each command your extension accepts must be listed in the manifest as an attribute of the 'commands' manifest key. Note: Combinations that involve Ctrl+Alt are not permitted in order to avoid conflicts with the AltGr key. Also note that on Mac 'Ctrl' is automatically converted to 'Command'. If you want 'Ctrl' instead, please specify 'MacCtrl'.

{
  "name": "My extension",
  ...
  "commands": {
    "toggle-feature-foo": {
      "suggested_key": {
        "default": "Ctrl+Shift+Y",
        "mac": "Command+Shift+Y"
      },
      "description": "Toggle feature foo"
    },
    "_execute_browser_action": {
      "suggested_key": {
        "windows": "Ctrl+Shift+Y",
        "mac": "Command+Shift+Y",
        "chromeos": "Ctrl+Shift+U",
        "linux": "Ctrl+Shift+J"
      }
    },
    "_execute_page_action": {
      "suggested_key": {
        "default": "Ctrl+E"
        "windows": "Alt+P",
        "mac": "Option+P",
      }
    }
  },
  ...
}

In your background page, you can bind a handler to each of the commands defined in the manifest (except for '_execute_browser_action' and '_execute_page_action') via onCommand.addListener. For example:

chrome.commands.onCommand.addListener(function(command) {
  console.log('Command:', command);
});

The '_execute_browser_action' and '_execute_page_action' commands are reserved for the action of opening your extension's popups. They won't normally generate events that you can handle. If you need to take action based on your popup opening, consider listening for an 'onDomReady' event inside your popup's code.

API Reference: chrome.commands

Events

onCommand

chrome.commands.onCommand.addListener(function(string command) {...});

Fired when a registered command is activated using a keyboard shortcut.

Listener Parameters

command ( string )

Sample Extensions that use chrome.commands

  • Keyboard Pin – Creates a keyboard shortcut (Alt + Shift + P) to toggle the pinned state of the currently selected tab