feat: make Chrome extensions work on custom protocols by nikwen · Pull Request #49951 · electron/electron

nikwen · 2026-02-25T19:25:13Z

Description of Change

Adds an allowExtensions privilege to protocol.registerSchemesAsPrivileged() to enable Chrome extensions on custom protocols.

Implementation details:

electron_api_web_request.cc also uses URLPattern. I have spent a lot of time on verifying that those usages still work as expected. I've also added tests to ensure they will continue to work going forward.
The part of the patches that can be upstreamed has been upstreamed in https://crrev.com/c/7639311. The rest cannot be upstreamed, unfortunately. For the details, see the description of the Chromium patch file.

Checklist

PR description included
I have built and tested this PR
npm test passes
tests are changed or added
relevant API documentation, tutorials, and examples are updated and follow the documentation style guide
PR release notes describe the change in a way relevant to app developers, and are capitalized, punctuated, and past tense.

Release Notes

Notes: Added allowExtensions privilege to protocol.registerSchemesAsPrivileged() to enable Chrome extensions on custom protocols.

nikwen · 2026-03-05T21:01:08Z

+-    if (scheme == kValidSchemes[i] && (valid_schemes_ & kValidSchemeMasks[i])) {
+-      return true;
+    if (scheme == kValidSchemes[i]) {
+      return valid_schemes_ & kValidSchemeMasks[i];


These lines have been upstreamed in https://crrev.com/c/7639311.

jkleinsc

The documentation needs to be updated to reflect this item:
"Once enabled, the feature cannot be disabled again until the app is restarted (due to how Chromium's code is written)."

I'm surprised there isn't a way to make this dynamic, though I suppose most people would either want it on or off.

nikwen · 2026-03-11T21:11:58Z

@jkleinsc Thanks for the review! Documentation line added.

release-clerk · 2026-03-27T00:00:55Z

Release Notes Persisted

Added allowExtensions privilege to protocol.registerSchemesAsPrivileged() to enable Chrome extensions on custom protocols.

trop · 2026-03-27T00:01:03Z

I was unable to backport this PR to "40-x-y" cleanly;
you will need to perform this backport manually.

trop · 2026-03-27T00:01:22Z

I have automatically backported this PR to "41-x-y", please check out #50529

trop · 2026-03-27T00:01:29Z

I have automatically backported this PR to "42-x-y", please check out #50530

tmm1 · 2026-03-27T00:03:21Z

🎉

Nantris · 2026-03-27T00:43:46Z

Sorry to be comment spam but a simple thumbs up does not adequately convey my appreciation for this PR. Thank you to all involved!

nikwen · 2026-03-27T13:39:49Z

my appreciation for this PR. Thank you to all involved!

Thanks! Appreciate the kind words. :)

trop · 2026-03-30T22:40:21Z

@nikwen has manually backported this PR to "40-x-y", please check out #50588

nikwen added semver/minor backwards-compatible functionality wip ⚒ labels Feb 25, 2026

electron-cation Bot added the new-pr 🌱 PR opened recently label Feb 25, 2026

electron-cation Bot removed the new-pr 🌱 PR opened recently label Mar 4, 2026

nikwen force-pushed the nikwen/extensions-custom-protocols branch from 346d31f to cbd6983 Compare March 5, 2026 20:57

nikwen commented Mar 5, 2026

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nikwen added target/40-x-y PR should also be added to the "40-x-y" branch. target/41-x-y PR should also be added to the "41-x-y" branch. and removed wip ⚒ labels Mar 5, 2026

nikwen marked this pull request as ready for review March 5, 2026 21:20

nikwen requested a review from a team as a code owner March 5, 2026 21:20

electron-cation Bot added the api-review/requested 🗳 label Mar 5, 2026

nikwen requested review from codebytere and samuelmaddock March 5, 2026 21:20

nikwen mentioned this pull request Mar 5, 2026

Support Extensions in custom protocols #26812

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electron-cation Bot added the new-pr 🌱 PR opened recently label Mar 5, 2026

nikwen force-pushed the nikwen/extensions-custom-protocols branch from cbd6983 to 3741b3b Compare March 11, 2026 12:41

jkleinsc reviewed Mar 11, 2026

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jkleinsc previously requested changes Mar 11, 2026

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nikwen requested a review from jkleinsc March 11, 2026 21:13

jkleinsc reviewed Mar 12, 2026

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Comment thread shell/renderer/renderer_client_base.cc Outdated

nikwen requested a review from jkleinsc March 12, 2026 14:45

electron-cation Bot removed the new-pr 🌱 PR opened recently label Mar 12, 2026

github-actions Bot added the target/42-x-y PR should also be added to the "42-x-y" branch. label Mar 13, 2026

samuelmaddock reviewed Mar 19, 2026

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Comment thread spec/fixtures/extensions/custom-protocol-panel/main.js Outdated

erickzhao reviewed Mar 19, 2026

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reitowo reviewed Mar 20, 2026

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Comment thread patches/chromium/feat_allow_enabling_extensions_on_all_protocols.patch Outdated

Comment thread patches/chromium/feat_allow_enabling_extensions_on_all_protocols.patch Outdated

nikwen force-pushed the nikwen/extensions-custom-protocols branch from 8ce4a25 to 1c2c562 Compare March 21, 2026 18:52

nikwen requested a review from reitowo March 21, 2026 19:13

VerteDinde approved these changes Mar 26, 2026

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jkleinsc approved these changes Mar 26, 2026

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jkleinsc merged commit 4eff8f2 into main Mar 27, 2026
116 of 117 checks passed

jkleinsc deleted the nikwen/extensions-custom-protocols branch March 27, 2026 00:00

trop Bot added needs-manual-bp/40-x-y and removed target/40-x-y PR should also be added to the "40-x-y" branch. labels Mar 27, 2026

This was referenced Mar 27, 2026

feat: make Chrome extensions work on custom protocols #50529

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feat: make Chrome extensions work on custom protocols #50530

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trop Bot added in-flight/41-x-y and removed target/41-x-y PR should also be added to the "41-x-y" branch. labels Mar 27, 2026

trop Bot added in-flight/42-x-y and removed target/42-x-y PR should also be added to the "42-x-y" branch. labels Mar 27, 2026

nikwen mentioned this pull request Mar 30, 2026

feat: make Chrome extensions work on custom protocols #50588

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trop Bot added in-flight/40-x-y merged/41-x-y PR was merged to the "41-x-y" branch. merged/42-x-y PR was merged to the "42-x-y" branch. merged/40-x-y PR was merged to the "40-x-y" branch. and removed needs-manual-bp/40-x-y in-flight/41-x-y in-flight/42-x-y in-flight/40-x-y labels Mar 30, 2026

nikwen mentioned this pull request May 7, 2026

blog: Electron 42 blog post electron/website#1110

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Description of Change

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nikwen commented Feb 25, 2026 •

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