Execute a program from a Chrome Extension

Question

The Google Chrome NPAPI is being phased out.

Without using NPAPI, is there any way to allow an extension to execute a command on the local system?

Render

possible duplicate of Start an external application from a Google Chrome Extension? – Sandlin

The above mentioned possible duplicate isn't as up-to-date as this one. The duplicate talks about using NPAPI which this question is talking about how to replace. – Overhasty

Answer 1

There is chrome.runtime.sendNativeMessage which can be used to send a message to a native application and chrome.runtime.connectNative which allows for a more persistent connection.

So, you can't directly execute a command, but you can have a native app do it for you.

You can find more info on Native Messaging in the docs.

Contrabass

The links in the solution are not working anymore, please refer to the new url: developer.chrome.com/docs/apps/nativeMessaging – Kuban