Can I programmatically open the devtools from a Google Chrome extension?

Question

I have a chrome extension which hooks into the devtools. Ideally I want a badge that, when clicked, opens up the devtools on the new tab which I created. Is there any way to do this from the background page?

Downy

where you able to find an answer to the problem? – Buckles

This would still be really nice wouldn't it - any updates? – Ochoa

I've posted (and will be adding a bounty to) a related, but slightly different, question here: #16660825 – Plasterwork

See: #36311691 – Mortmain

In case you're curious like me what Chrome uses itself to open the devtools when you click the "backgroung page" link on an extension page, it's chrome.developerPrivate.openDevTools() – Squire

Answer 1

It seems unlikely that this is possible or will ever become possible,

check this: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=112277

which says: "We only allow explicit devtools opening."

Chapple

Indeed they recently re-confirmed the decision to not allow programmatic opening of the dev tools. – Jean

see also bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=445240 – Harakiri

Answer 2

Yes you can (or not) using the experimental APIs chrome.experimental.webInspector.
http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/experimental.html
You can even change the content and panels of it.
Note that you will not able submit extensions that use experimental APIs.

Yours

However, it's worth noting that you can host these outside of the extensions gallery if you are determined. Although this would mean that users would also have to use the dev channel and enable the Experimental Extension APIs flag. – Albumenize

experimental.webInspector is now called chrome.experimental.devtools. Some of the APIs are not experimental any more, and they are listed under chrome.devtools. Unfortunately, there is no way to automatically open the Dev tools via a Chrome extension. – Tarim

@Rob W, Didn't notice chrome.devtools.* APIs have become outside of experiment APIs. – Negligent

Answer 3

There is no way to do that.

The chrome://chromewebdata link only works if an instance of DevTools is already opened.

Altamirano

Answer 4

This is quite old but since I stumbled upon it now searching for a solution I figured others might have too. Since Chrome 28 you can use the devtools.* API. This allows you to open and manipulate DevTools panels. It is also notable no longer expirimental.

Wryneck

Do you remember what method is used to progammatically open the devtools from the background script? All other answers (from stackoverflow) seem to suggest that it's impossible... – Alleviate

@Sentero-esp12 just click right button on needed page and select "Inspect" from it) – Clance

This doesn't answer the question. The devtools.* APIs are for building extensions to the developer tools. They don't provide a way to launch it programatically. And the question was how to do it programmatically, so "just click right" isn't an answer. – Cappella

Answer 5

One could try

chrome.developerPrivate.openDevTools

Trichiasis

Answer 6

Perhaps, the extension could kick off a Selenium script and you could use the "send_keys()" function as something like this:

ActionChains(driver).key_down(Keys.CONTROL).key_down(Keys.SHIFT).\
            send_keys('J').key_up(Keys.CONTROL).key_up(Keys.SHIFT).perform()

... as "Ctrl+Shift+J" is the default keybind to open dev-tools (as of Jul 08, 2021)

Kantian

Could provide more details on this and how to use these scripts? – Geodesy

@Geodesy sure thing, sorry for the wait just saw this; selenium-python.readthedocs.io/index.html – Kantian

Answer 7

I tried to make a script that simulates a CRTL+ALT+J which opens the devtools but it didn't work. After that I found this: It is not possible due to security restrictions. Browsers do not allow scripts to programmatically open the console or trigger certain keyboard shortcuts for security reasons. These restrictions are in place to prevent malicious activities. If you need to interact with the console, you can do that only manually, or use the browser's developer tools.

Bothy

Answer 8

It's not impossible with side extension, but if the reason is that you've tired to click Ctrl + Shift + I again and again every time - you can simply open the right button menu on needed page and select "Inspect" from it, it'll open the console like extension button, and also you don't need to search for its icon every time you need it, which is more conviniently than using an extension.

Clance