Hosting and Updating

Hosting

Extensions must be uploaded through the Developer Dashboard and are distributed in the Chrome Web Store to protect users from malicious extensions. Allow users to add an extension through the web store from a designated website by enabling inline installation.

There are three exceptions to the Chrome Web Store hosting rule:

1. Extensions that are distributed through the enterprise policy.
2. Unpacked extension directories from a local machine while in developer mode.
3. Hosting for Linux installations.

Read more about the hosting policy.

Updating

Extensions are automatically updated without user intervention, just like the Chrome Browser.

To update an extension, the version number will need to increase in the manifest:

  {
    ...
    "version": "1.5",
    ...
    }
  }

  {
    ...
    "version": "1.6",
    ...
    }
  }

Re-package the updated extension and locate it in the Developer Dashboard. Select Edit, upload the new package, and hit Publish. The extension will automatically update for users after the new version is published.