Is it possible to check the code for a Google Chrome extension before installing it?

Question

Google Chrome extensions are a nice invention, but they can potentially interact with a lot of user information.

Is it possible to browse their manifest and/or their source code before installing them?

The reason I'm asking this on StackOverflow is that I've just developed my first extension. Since it's manipulating the CSS style for the websites you visit, just before the installation it will prompt:

"This extension will have access to your browsing history and private data on all websites"

Pretty scaring... I can imagine lot of users not installing the extension just because of this message. I would be really happy to show them what my extension is doing and how safe it is...

Answer 1

Google Chrome extensions are zip files with a different extension and some metadata. If you rename them to a .zip file and extract, you'll be able to get at the Javascript code and HTML behind them.

For more information, refer to the developer documentation.

Unfortunately, just because the user can look at the source code, doesn't mean they'll understand it.

Answer 2

There's an awesome extension for this very purpose.... https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bbamfloeabgknfklmgbpjcgofcokhpia#