How can I detect if a Chrome Extension has been enabled (after having been disabled)

Question

Let's say a user disables my extension and then later enables it.

How can I run a function when the extension gets re-enabled?

I tried doing something akin to running a function on-extension-install, using localStorage, but it does not appear to work for this on-extension-reenabled case because localStorage doesn't get cleared for the background-page when it is disabled.

if (!localStorage["isInstalled"]) {
onInstall();
localStorage["isInstalled"] = 1;
}

Answer 1

An extension on its own can't monitor when it gets disabled. You'd need a second extension to monitor this.

As a slight alternative, you could use sessionStorage["isInstalled"] = 1;, which would get cleared if the extension was disabled, but this would also be cleared if the user exited Chrome.

Answer 2

Have a look at the management API, which lets you respond to events like onEnabled, firing when an app or extension has been enabled.