What?

Reloads all unpacked extensions whenever a file is changed in an extension that is currently under development. You'll never need to go to chrome://extensions and smash reload again.

How

Extension tries to connect to socket.io server on http://localhost:8890 (yes, that port is random) and waits for file.change events to flow in. When an event is incoming, the extension reloads chrome://extensions automatically, which causes all unpacked extensions to reload and update (e.g. content scripts). If there is no open tab, currently opened at chrome://extensions, the extension creates and reloads one.

An example on how to send file change events to the extension can be found here: robin-drexler/chrome-extension-auto-reload-watcher

Installation

Download from the webstore or:

• Clone the repo
• load app folder as unpacked extension in Chrome
• start developing an unpacked extension
• don't forget to emit events when a file changes

Why...

...reloading the entire tab instead of just using the extensions management api too reload/re-enable extensions? Currently disabling and enabling extensions again causes any open inspection window (console log etc.) to close, which I found to be too annoying.

Development

npm install
npm install -g browserify

app/js is created from src/js by:

browserify src/js/background.js -o app/js/background.js