I recently published my first Chrome Extension. Not because I had a big idea I wanted to take to market — but because I wanted to explore something unfamiliar. And honestly, I think more developers should give it a try.
People often ask how I manage to stay across such a wide range of technologies. The truth is simple: I make a point of dabbling. Even when I know a certain tool or platform probably won’t end up in my day-to-day work, I still explore it. Not because I expect to use it, but because I want to understand what’s possible. That understanding lets me confidently rule things in or out — and that alone gives me an edge.
Take Chrome Extensions, for example. I might never need to build one professionally. But I’ve now seen what the platform allows, what it doesn’t, and how it fits into the broader ecosystem. So the next time someone floats the idea of solving a problem with a browser extension, I can speak from experience — without sending a team off to do a full POC just to answer a simple question.
The process was surprisingly straightforward. There’s a one-time $5 fee to get access to the Chrome Web Store dashboard. It’s framework-agnostic — you can publish plain JavaScript, or a React app if you want something more structured. You’ll need a privacy policy and a properly sized screenshot, and once everything’s in place, you submit your extension for review.
In most cases, the review takes 24–48 hours. If your extension requests sensitive permissions like tabs, expect it to take a bit longer.
Mine’s called lnkbrd. Nothing fancy, just something useful I wanted to build. If you’re curious, the full source is on GitHub.
Publishing it was a great reminder that learning doesn’t always need to be strategic. Sometimes it’s enough to be curious — and to follow that curiosity all the way to the Chrome Web Store.