Add-ons

runtime.connect()

 

Make a connection between different contexts inside the extension.

You can call this:

  • in an extension's content scripts, to establish a connection with the extension's background scripts (or similarly privileged scripts, like popup scripts or options page scripts).
  • in an extension's background scripts (or similarly privileged scripts), to establish a connection with a different extension.

Note that you can't use this function to connect an extension to its content scripts. To do this, use tabs.connect().

Syntax

var port = browser.runtime.connect(
  extensionId, // optional string
  connectInfo  // optional object
)

Parameters

extensionIdOptional
string. The ID of the extension to connect to. The ID of the extension to send the message to. If the target has set an ID explicitly using the applications key in manifest.json, then extensionId should have this value. Otherwise it should be have the ID that was generated for the target.
connectInfoOptional
object. Details of the connection:
nameOptional
string. Will be passed into runtime.onConnect for processes that are listening for the connection event.
includeTlsChannelIdOptional
boolean. Whether the TLS channel ID will be passed into runtime.onConnectExternal for processes that are listening for the connection event.

Return value

runtime.Port. Port through which messages can be sent and received. The port's  onDisconnect event is fired if the extension does not exist.

Browser compatibility

ChromeEdgeFirefoxFirefox for AndroidOpera
Basic support26Yes454815

Examples

This content script:

  • connects to the background script and stores the Port in a variable called myPort.
  • listens for messages on myPort and logs them.
  • sends messages to the background script, using myPort, when the user clicks the document.
// content-script.js
var myPort = browser.runtime.connect({name:"port-from-cs"});
myPort.postMessage({greeting: "hello from content script"});
myPort.onMessage.addListener(function(m) {
  console.log("In content script, received message from background script: ");
  console.log(m.greeting);
});
document.body.addEventListener("click", function() {
  myPort.postMessage({greeting: "they clicked the page!"});
});

The corresponding background script:

  • listens for connection attempts from the content script.
  • when it receives a connection attempt:
    • stores the port in a variable named portFromCS.
    • sends the content script a message using the port.
    • starts listening to messages received on the port, and logs them.
  • sends messages to the content script, using portFromCS, when the user clicks the extension's browser action.
// background-script.js
var portFromCS;
function connected(p) {
  portFromCS = p;
  portFromCS.postMessage({greeting: "hi there content script!"});
  portFromCS.onMessage.addListener(function(m) {
    console.log("In background script, received message from content script")
    console.log(m.greeting);
  });
}
browser.runtime.onConnect.addListener(connected);
browser.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(function() {
  portFromCS.postMessage({greeting: "they clicked the button!"});
});

Example extensions

Acknowledgements

This API is based on Chromium's chrome.runtime API. This documentation is derived from runtime.json in the Chromium code.

Microsoft Edge compatibility data is supplied by Microsoft Corporation and is included here under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Document Tags and Contributors

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 Contributors to this page: andrewtruongmoz, wbamberg, Makyen, chrisdavidmills, TotalAMD
 Last updated by: andrewtruongmoz,