Is it possible to run Google Chrome in headless mode with extensions?

google-chrome google-chrome-extension google-chrome-headless
pau.moreno picture pau.moreno · Jul 28, 2017 · Viewed 29.5k times · Source

I cannot use my currently installed extensions in Google Chrome using headless mode. Is there any way to enable them?

An easy way to check if the extensions work is by adding, for example, the "Comic Sans Everything" extension.

So Google looks like that:

Google looks beautiful

However, if I take a screenshot of the page using the headless mode (google-chrome --headless --disable-gpu --screenshot https://www.google.com), the result is:

Google in headless mode

Answer

Graham King picture Graham King · Sep 28, 2017

You can run Chrome with extensions headless using Xvfb.

  1. Install Xvfb. On Fedora sudo dnf install xorg-x11-server-Xvfb
  2. xvfb-run google-chrome --remote-debugging-port=9222 --disable-gpu https://www.google.com
  3. Use chrome-remote-interface (or another Chrome Debug Protocol client) to trigger the screenshot.

More complicated, but it does work. It's what we use for headless chrome extension testing.

Related questions

Chrome sendrequest error: TypeError: Converting circular structure to JSON

I've got the following... chrome.extension.sendRequest({ req: "getDocument", docu: pagedoc, name: 'name' }, function(response){ var efjs = response.reply; }); which calls the following.. case "getBrowserForDocumentAttribute": alert("ZOMG HERE"); sendResponse({ reply: getBrowserForDocumentAttribute(request.docu,request.name) }); break; However, my code never …

Read More
Where does Chrome store extensions?

I looked in: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions for unpacked extensions, but that folder is empty for me. For newer versions, where does Chrome store the files?

Read More
Does mobile Google Chrome support browser extensions?

Can I create a plugin or an extension for Google Chrome MOBILE (Android Google Chrome)? If not, can I create an extension for Google Chrome (desktop), which will add a button in Google Chrome bar. This button will open the …

Read More