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Write Chrome Extensions in Python (Part 1)

In Python?!! That’s right, and it’s pretty painless with PyScript…

4 min readNov 11, 2022

Screenshot by author: Chrome in dark mode with an extension written in Python/PyScript

PyScript has been around for a while now and provides a remarkably easy way to embed Python code directly into HTML pages. But until now, the creation of browser extensions in Python has been something of a closed door — a private members’ club exclusively for JavaScript developers. Well, not any more!

I was lucky enough to enlist the help of PyScript’s Engineering Manager and finally worked out how to run a Python script as a Chrome Extension, displaying output and providing interaction via a Popup box (see the screenshot above). This throws the doors wide open to all sorts of other Python/PyScript possibilities, building on the foundations which I’m about to share…

Create Your Extension Files

Create a new folder for your Extension and download or clone the following repository into it:

GitHub - PFython/pyscript-local-runtime

This repository provides a template for running PyScript and all its runtime dependencies locally. You'd typically want…

github.com

Add your own Python code in between the <py-script> tags and/or <py-repl>in popup.html .

Interesting. But is there any way using Pyscript to interact with the tab's DOM using a content-script? I can't think of any use for an extension that has no ability to interact with the DOM or a background script.

This article on how to write Chrome extensions in Python was really interesting. As someone who's familiar with Python but new to Chrome extensions, it was helpful to see how the two can be combined to create powerful tools.

PythonIQ

Write Chrome Extensions in Python (Part 1)

In Python?!! That’s right, and it’s pretty painless with PyScript…

Create Your Extension Files

GitHub - PFython/pyscript-local-runtime

This repository provides a template for running PyScript and all its runtime dependencies locally. You'd typically want…

Written by Pete Fison

Published in PythonIQ

Responses (5)

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