Restricted Pages

Browser extensions are not allowed to access certain pages for security and privacy reasons. The following is a list of URLs and protocols that are restricted:

• chrome://
• chrome-extension://
• chrome-devtools://
• devtools://
• chrome-search://
• chrome-native://
• chrome-untrusted://
• chrome-distiller://
• chrome-error://
• chrome://new-tab-page
• edge://
• about:
• chrome.google.com
• view-source:
• file://
• brave://
• vivaldi://
• opera://
• https://chromewebstore.google.com

These restrictions are enforced to ensure that extensions do not interfere with the browser's internal pages or other sensitive areas.

Chrome Web Store

The Chrome Web Store is a special case because it is a trusted source for extensions. Extensions can access the Chrome Web Store to install, update, and manage other extensions. However, they cannot access the store's web pages directly. This is to prevent extensions from interfering with the store's functionality or displaying misleading information.

Technical Details

Extensions use match patterns to define which URLs they can access. A match pattern has three parts:

Match Pattern Structure

<scheme>://<host>/<path>

Valid Schemes

• http - Standard web pages
• https - Secure web pages
• file - Local files
• * - Matches http or https only

Host Format

• Full domain: www.example.com
• Subdomain wildcard: *.example.com
• Full wildcard: *

Path Format

• Specific path: /page
• Wildcard path: /* (recommended)

Examples

• https://*.google.com/* - All Google HTTPS pages
• http://example.org/* - All HTTP pages on example.org
• *://*.example.com/* - Both HTTP and HTTPS pages

Learn more about match patterns →