Before you start
You'll need:
- A computer running Chrome (any OS)
- A PlugThis account (sign up free)
- A clear idea of what your extension should do
That's it. No editor. No Node.js. No Chrome documentation tabs open. The whole process happens in your browser.
Step 1 — Describe what you want
Open PlugThis. In the chat input, describe your extension. The more specific you are, the less iteration you'll need. Good descriptions answer:
- What does it do? (the core action)
- Which sites does it run on? (or all sites?)
- What does the user interact with? (popup? sidebar? button injected on the page?)
- What does it remember between uses? (settings? data? nothing?)
- Does it talk to any external services? (an API? an LLM? a database?)
Example of a good prompt:
Build a Chrome extension that adds a "Summarize" button to the top right of every news article on bbc.com, cnn.com, and nytimes.com. When clicked, it sends the article text to OpenAI GPT-4 and shows a 3-bullet summary in a small overlay on the page. Remember the user's OpenAI API key in extension storage. Settings page to enter the key. Permissions: storage, activeTab, host permissions for the three news sites and openai.com.
That's a complete description. PlugThis can build this directly.
Step 2 — Wait 60–90 seconds
PlugThis generates the full extension. While it works, it shows you the files being created — manifest, content scripts, popup HTML, service worker, icons. You don't have to do anything.
Step 3 — Download the zip
When the build finishes, download the extension as a zip. Extract it to a folder on your computer.
Step 4 — Load it into Chrome
- Open Chrome
- Go to
chrome://extensions(paste this into the address bar) - Toggle "Developer mode" on, top right corner
- Click "Load unpacked"
- Select the folder you extracted in Step 3
The extension installs. The icon appears in your Chrome toolbar.
Step 5 — Use it. Iterate if needed.
Test the extension. If it works, you're done. If something's off — wrong styling, missing feature, edge case — go back to PlugThis and describe what to change. PlugThis remembers context within a build session and iterates.
After 1–3 iterations, most extensions reach "this is what I wanted" state.
Optional Step 6 — Publish to the Chrome Web Store
Want others to install your extension with one click? Publish it.
- Go to the Chrome Web Store Developer Dashboard
- Pay the one-time $5 developer fee
- Upload your zip
- Fill in store listing — description, screenshots, category, privacy info
- Submit for review
Most submissions are approved in 1–7 days. After approval, your extension is live on the Web Store and anyone can install it.