General Question: How to publish extension publicly as a web developer

[inglesuniversal]

Hello, is there a way as a web developer, to make this extension public and share a link under chrome extension website to allow people to download it and install it?

I am signed up with google dev program, do I need any special credentials?

Regards

[MiHarsh]

Hey @inglesuniversal, For publishing the chrome extension publicly, we'll need to bundle up the extension, and then publish it to chrome Webstore. You can have a look at https://developer.chrome.com/docs/webstore/publish/

But the user needs to pay a one-time fee of 5$, which is compulsory.

Users have a way to pack the chrome extension (Go to extensions > pack extension) and then share the generated CRX file, but I wasn't able to do so, it says "Package is Invalid". Stackoverflow provides some ways, but in my case, nothing worked.

[inglesuniversal]

UPDATE:

I followed your detailed instructions and signed up for Google's Chrome Dev and I was able to upload your extension without any issues, just the ZIP file and all its components.

Today, I got an Email from google telling me that the main reason this extension was REJECTED has to do for asking for permissions which are not required at the moment. Could you kindly take a look at the following notes originated by Google and tell me how I can address this issue in order to RE-SUBMIT the extension?

Thanks

Violation(s):

Use of Permissions:

Violation reference ID: Purple Potassium
Violation: Requesting but not using the following permission(s):
    tabs
    notifications
    storage
    contextMenus
How to rectify: Remove the above permission(s)
Relevant section of the program policy:
    Request access to the narrowest permissions necessary to implement your Product's features or services. Don't attempt to "future proof" your Product by requesting a permission that might benefit services or features that have not yet been implemented

[MiHarsh]

Hey @inglesuniversal, actually, I had declared permissions for tabs, context menus, storage (for local caching, i.e. display recently used), and notifications. But I haven't implemented those features. The message was all about removing permissions that are not required. You can try it again. I have made the necessary changes. Kindly pull and zip again.

[inglesuniversal]

GREAT NEWS TRAVEL FAST!!!!

I was not able to do the PR ... I'm quite new to Github, if you briefly show me the steps I'll help you out.

Here is the best part....

THE EXTENSION WAS JUST ACCEPTED AND RELEASED ON THE CHROME STORE!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR AWESOME PROJECT

here is the link

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gmeet-custom-chat/jfahkmiabdjgbbncgnfcbllgmecbjgne/related?hl=en&authuser=0

[MiHarsh]

Hey @inglesuniversal, thanks for the great work. By publishing, you have reduced the hassle of cloning and then installing the extension. It will surely help other users.

Since you want to update the README -

1. Click of Fork button (This would clone the repository to your account).
   Below steps are to be followed on your fork -->
2. Click on README.md file > edit .
   Now make necessary changes and save it.
3. Now, it would say something like contribute / compare and pull request on your fork. Click on it.
   Make the PR :)

To learn more, you could follow https://www.better.dev/create-your-first-github-pull-request or some other tutorial.