Before we can configure anything, we need to understand how the BEX is structured. A BEX can be one (or more) of the following:
- Runs in its own tab in the browser
- Runs in the Developer Tools window.
- Runs in a Popup window.
- Runs as Options window.
- Runs in the context of a web page (injected into a website)
You do not need a new Quasar App per BEX type above as a single Quasar Application can run in all of the instances above. You can find out more about these in the types section.
quasar.config file
// should you wish to change default files
sourceFiles: {
bexManifestFile?: 'src-bex/manifest.json',
}bex: {
/**
* The list of extra scripts (js/ts) not in your bex manifest that you want to
* compile and use in your browser extension. Maybe dynamic use them?
*
* Each entry in the list should be a relative filename to /src-bex/
*
* @example [ 'my-script.ts', 'sub-folder/my-other-script.js' ]
*/
extraScripts?: string[];
/**
* Extend the Esbuild config that is used for the bex scripts
* (background, content scripts, dom script)
*/
extendBexScriptsConf?: (config: EsbuildConfiguration) => void;
/**
* Should you need some dynamic changes to the Browser Extension manifest file
* (/src-bex/manifest.json) then use this method to do it.
*/
extendBexManifestJson?: (json: object) => void;
}UI in /src
Should you want to tamper with the Webpack config for UI in /src you have two options:
build: {
extendWebpack(webpackCfg) { ... },
chainWebpack(webpackChain) { ... }
}The UI files will be injected and available as www folder when you build (or develop) the browser extension.
Manifest.json
The most important config file for your BEX is /src-bex/manifest.json. It is recommended that you read up on this file before starting your project.
When you first add the BEX mode, you will notice that the manifest file contains three root props: all, chrome & firefox. The manifest for chrome is deeply merged from all+chrome, while the firefox one is generated from all+firefox. You could even have different manifest versions for each target:
{
"all": {
"manifest_version": 3,
"icons": {
"16": "icons/icon-16x16.png",
"48": "icons/icon-48x48.png",
"128": "icons/icon-128x128.png"
},
"permissions": [
"storage",
"tabs"
],
"host_permissions": [ "*://*/*" ],
"content_security_policy": {
"extension_pages": "script-src 'self'; object-src 'self';"
},
"web_accessible_resources": [
{
"resources": [ "*" ],
"matches": [ "*://*/*" ]
}
],
"action": {
"default_popup": "www/index.html"
},
"content_scripts": [
{
"matches": [ "<all_urls>" ],
"css": [ "assets/content.css" ],
"js": [ "my-content-script.ts" ]
}
]
},
"chrome": {
"background": {
"service_worker": "background.ts"
}
},
"firefox": {
"background": {
"scripts": [ "background.ts" ]
}
}
}For TS devs
Your background and content scripts have the .ts extension. Use that extension in the manifest.json file as well! Examples: “background.ts”, “my-content-script.ts”. While the browser vendors do support only the .js extension, Quasar CLI will convert the file extensions automatically.
Background And Content Scripts
Behind every BEX is a content script and a background script (manifest v2) / service-worker (manifest v3+). It’s a good idea to understand what each of these are before writing your first BEX.
In summary:
- Background Script - runs in the context of the BEX itself and can listen to all available browser extension events.
- Content Script - runs in the context of the web page. There will be a new content script instance per tab running the extension.
TIP
Given content scripts run in the web page context, this means that only BEX’s that interact with a web page can use content scripts. Popups, Options and Devtools will not have a content script running behind them. They will all however have the background script.
WARNING
In Chrome with Manifest v3 your background script is actually a Service Worker. This does not currently apply to Firefox with Manifest v3 (yet).
CSS
Any styles you want to be made available to your web page (not your Quasar App) should be included as a file in src-bex/assets/<name>.css. When adding such a file, please make sure that you reference it from your /src-bex/manifest.json around the content scripts that need it:
// example linking /src-bex/assets/content.css
"content_scripts": [
{
"matches": [ "<all_urls>" ],
"css": [ "assets/content.css" ],
"js": [ /*...*/ ]
}
]WARNING
This must be native CSS as it’s not preprocessed via Sass.
Dynamic/other scripts
Should you need other scripts to be dynamically loaded or compiled for your BEX, you can add them by editing your quasar.config file:
bex: {
/**
* The list of extra scripts (js/ts) not in your bex manifest that you want to
* compile and use in your browser extension. Maybe dynamic use them?
*
* Each entry in the list should be a relative filename to /src-bex/
*
* @example [ 'my-script.ts', 'sub-folder/my-other-script.js' ]
*/
extraScripts?: string[];
}