chrome.userScripts
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Description
Use the userScripts API to execute user scripts in the User Scripts context.
Permissions
userScripts
To use the User Scripts API, chrome.userScripts, add the "userScripts" permission to your manifest.json and "host_permissions" for sites you want to run scripts on.
{"name":"User script test extension","manifest_version":3,"minimum_chrome_version":"120","permissions":["userScripts"],"host_permissions":["*://example.com/*"]}
Availability
Chrome 120+
MV3+
Concepts and usage
A user script is a snippet of code injected into a web page to modify its appearance or behavior. Unlike other extension features, such as Content Scripts and the chrome.scripting API, the User Scripts API lets you run arbitrary code. This API is required for extensions that run scripts provided by the user that cannot be shipped as part of your extension package.
Enable usage of the userScripts API
After your extension receives the permission to use the userScripts API, users
must enable a specific toggle to allow your extension to use the API. The
specific toggle required, and the API's behavior when disabled, vary by Chrome
version.
Use the following check to determine which toggle the user needs to enable, for
example, during new user onboarding:
letversion=Number(navigator.userAgent.match(/(Chrome|Chromium)\/([0-9]+)/)?.[2]);if(version>=138){// Allow User Scripts toggle will be used.}else{// Developer mode toggle will be used.}
The following sections describe the different toggles and how to enable them.
Chrome versions prior to 138 (Developer mode toggle)
AAs an extension developer, you already have Developer
mode enabled in your installation of Chrome. Your
users must also enable Developer mode.
You can copy and paste the following
instructions into your extension's documentation for your users
Go to the Extensions page by entering chrome://extensions in a new tab. (By design chrome:// URLs are not linkable.)
We recommend the following check to determine if the userScripts API is enabled,
as it works in all Chrome versions. This check attempts to call a
chrome.userScripts() method that should always succeed when the API is
available. If this call throws an error, the API is not available:
functionisUserScriptsAvailable(){try{// Method call which throws if API permission or toggle is not enabled.chrome.userScripts.getScripts();returntrue;}catch{// Not available.returnfalse;}}
Work in isolated worlds
Both user and content scripts can run in an isolated world or in the main world. An isolated world is an execution environment that isn't accessible to a host page or other extensions. This lets a user script change its JavaScript environment without affecting the host page or other extensions' user and content scripts. Conversely, user scripts (and content scripts) are not visible to the host page or the user and content scripts of other extensions. Scripts running in the main world are accessible to host pages and other extensions and are visible to host pages and to other extensions. To select the world, pass "USER_SCRIPT" or "MAIN" when calling userScripts.register().
To configure a content security policy for the USER_SCRIPT world, call userScripts.configureWorld():
Like content scripts and offscreen documents, user scripts communicate with other parts of an extension using messaging (meaning they can call runtime.sendMessage() and runtime.connect() as any other part of an extension would). However, they're received using dedicated event handlers (meaning, they don't use onMessage or onConnect). These handlers are called runtime.onUserScriptMessage and runtime.onUserScriptConnect. Dedicated handlers make it easier to identify messages from user scripts, which are a less-trusted context.
Before sending a message, you must call configureWorld() with the messaging argument set to true. Note that both the csp and messaging arguments can be passed at the same time.
User scripts are cleared when an extension updates. You can add them back by running code in the runtime.onInstalled event handler in the extension service worker. Respond only to the "update" reason passed to the event callback.
Example
This example is from the userScript sample in our samples repository.
Register a script
The following example shows a basic call to register(). The first argument is an array of objects defining the scripts to be registered. There are more options than are shown here.
The JavaScript world for a user script to execute within.
Enum
"MAIN" Specifies the execution environment of the DOM, which is the execution environment shared with the host page's JavaScript.
"USER_SCRIPT" Specifies the execution environment that is specific to user scripts and is exempt from the page's CSP.
InjectionResult
Chrome 135+
Properties
documentId
string
The document associated with the injection.
error
string optional
The error, if any. error and result are mutually exclusive.
frameId
number
The frame associated with the injection.
result
any optional
The result of the script execution.
InjectionTarget
Chrome 135+
Properties
allFrames
boolean optional
Whether the script should inject into all frames within the tab. Defaults to false. This must not be true if frameIds is specified.
documentIds
string[] optional
The IDs of specific documentIds to inject into. This must not be set if frameIds is set.
frameIds
number[] optional
The IDs of specific frames to inject into.
tabId
number
The ID of the tab into which to inject.
RegisteredUserScript
Properties
allFrames
boolean optional
If true, it will inject into all frames, even if the frame is not the top-most frame in the tab. Each frame is checked independently for URL requirements; it will not inject into child frames if the URL requirements are not met. Defaults to false, meaning that only the top frame is matched.
excludeGlobs
string[] optional
Specifies wildcard patterns for pages this user script will NOT be injected into.
excludeMatches
string[] optional
Excludes pages that this user script would otherwise be injected into. See Match Patterns for more details on the syntax of these strings.
id
string
The ID of the user script specified in the API call. This property must not start with a '_' as it's reserved as a prefix for generated script IDs.
includeGlobs
string[] optional
Specifies wildcard patterns for pages this user script will be injected into.
The list of ScriptSource objects defining sources of scripts to be injected into matching pages. This property must be specified for ${ref:register}, and when specified it must be a non-empty array.
matches
string[] optional
Specifies which pages this user script will be injected into. See Match Patterns for more details on the syntax of these strings. This property must be specified for ${ref:register}.
The JavaScript execution environment to run the script in. The default is `USER_SCRIPT`.
worldId
string optional
Chrome 133+
Specifies the user script world ID to execute in. If omitted, the script will execute in the default user script world. Only valid if world is omitted or is USER_SCRIPT. Values with leading underscores (_) are reserved.
ScriptSource
Properties
code
string optional
A string containing the JavaScript code to inject. Exactly one of file or code must be specified.
file
string optional
The path of the JavaScript file to inject relative to the extension's root directory. Exactly one of file or code must be specified.
UserScriptFilter
Properties
ids
string[] optional
getScripts only returns scripts with the IDs specified in this list.
UserScriptInjection
Chrome 135+
Properties
injectImmediately
boolean optional
Whether the injection should be triggered in the target as soon as possible. Note that this is not a guarantee that injection will occur prior to page load, as the page may have already loaded by the time the script reaches the target.
The JavaScript "world" to run the script in. The default is USER_SCRIPT.
worldId
string optional
Specifies the user script world ID to execute in. If omitted, the script will execute in the default user script world. Only valid if world is omitted or is USER_SCRIPT. Values with leading underscores (_) are reserved.
WorldProperties
Properties
csp
string optional
Specifies the world csp. The default is the `ISOLATED` world csp.
messaging
boolean optional
Specifies whether messaging APIs are exposed. The default is false.
worldId
string optional
Chrome 133+
Specifies the ID of the specific user script world to update. If not provided, updates the properties of the default user script world. Values with leading underscores (_) are reserved.
Injects a script into a target context. By default, the script will be run at document_idle, or immediately if the page has already loaded. If the injectImmediately property is set, the script will inject without waiting, even if the page has not finished loading. If the script evaluates to a promise, the browser will wait for the promise to settle and return the resulting value.
Resets the configuration for a user script world. Any scripts that inject into the world with the specified ID will use the default world configuration.
Parameters
worldId
string optional
The ID of the user script world to reset. If omitted, resets the default world's configuration.
Contains a list of user scripts to be updated. A property is only updated for the existing script if it is specified in this object. If there are errors during script parsing/file validation, or if the IDs specified do not correspond to a fully registered script, then no scripts are updated.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025年08月11日 UTC."],[],[]]