Have you ever built a Chrome Extension?
Published: 2024-01-08 08:00:00

Good morning, everyone, and welcome back to MonDev!☕

I hope these Christmas holidays went well! Have you finished digesting the various lunches and dinners, or have you put the process in the background, waiting for it to finish? And in all of this, did you find some time for coding? Despite a few days of the flu, I've still set aside some content that I can't wait to share with you, so let's get back to it right away!

Have you ever created a Chrome extension? I haven't, but I probably will soon, especially because I found a tool that I resonate with, and shortly you'll understand why! Let me introduce [create-chrome-ext](https://github.com/guocaoyi/create-chrome-ext), a JS tool launchable both via npx and installable locally, allowing you to create a boilerplate in seconds to build your extension!

With just a few seconds of setup, asking you to choose whether to use JS or TypeScript and whether to work in Vanilla or use your favorite framework for your extension, you'll have a small project that defaults to calling a popup in the upper right corner of the browser, calling in the sidebar, showing the app when opening a new tab, and a window in the inspector. Of course, the choice of which ones to keep active and which ones to deactivate is entirely up to the developer, who can enable or disable the various components inside the `src/manifest` file, where all are initially configured as active.

This tool is as easy to use (just three setup steps, and you'll be ready to work) as it is powerful in providing a starting point for an unusual and interesting side project or just to get inspiration on how to start developing an extension.

Do you think you'll try it? I already have a couple of ideas that I want to try out; let's see what comes out of it! As always, my experiments are all public on my [GitHub profile](https://github.com/Giuliano1993) 💪 If you create something with this tool, let me know; I'm really curious to discover your creations! 😄

## Similar Tools
This tool I've talked about is very much in line with my developer spirit. By now, you'll know that I have a soft spot for tools that help developers work better. Besides, its structure also reminds me a lot of make-js-component, in addition to supporting a large number of front-end frameworks!! I really enjoy the little things, but this gives me the opportunity to remind you, when you return to your computers, that for those who want to start the new year contributing to an Open Source project, [Make-js-component](https://github.com/guocaoyi/create-chrome-ext) is always happy to welcome new contributors! Multiple component creation will soon be added, and the ability to create web components will also be included!
So, as always, the suggestion is: try it, and if you like it and/or find it useful, try contributing with code or opening issues for critical points or improvements you'd like to see!

## Small Extra for Romantics
For developer tools today, we're done, but there's a small New Year extra that I'd like to share with you. Having recently passed New Year's Eve, many of us made many resolutions for the coming year, both work-related and personal. These resolutions often get lost over the months; some are achieved, others are not. At the end of the year, it would be nice to have a brief discussion with oneself from a year ago and see what they would have to say to us at that moment. This is where [Futureme.org](https://www.futureme.org/) comes in, a small online service that allows you to write a letter to your future self, or in other words, write a small email and choose when to have it delivered. In my opinion, it could be really nice to read in a year what we wanted to achieve in the coming months, partly to celebrate successes and partly to reflect on what was not achieved, whatever the reason.
So, this was precisely a non-technical addition but more for the romantics of the newsletter, once a year it can be done!

Today, I lingered a bit to welcome you back! From now on, we return to the normal schedule. We'll see each other on the various social channels, and then next Monday for our weekly appointment!
Have a great start to the week, Happy Coding 0_1