Extensions are small code packages that you can add to your browser to extend its functionality. Want to add an e-mail notification window to the browser that brings up your latest mails form your preferred mail service? Want to tweet straight from the browser, replace all instances of the word “politics” on web pages with “fish”, or bring up translations of the current selection in a tooltip? Extensions are the way forward!
The Opera extensions API allows you to tap into many different features of the browser, giving you a lot options for extension functionality. This article will get you started, look at what is available, and provide links to further information.
Note: If you haven’t done so already, then head over to the Opera extensions catalog to download and get a feel for various extensions.
Already developed Chrome Extensions?
If you have already developed extensions for Chrome then you will feel right at home making extensions for Opera. Opera is based on Chromium, which means it is possible to run CRX files in Opera. For a list of which?chrome.*?APIs we support, please check the?API Docs section?in the sidebar of this page.
What’s next?
Check out the essential articles for getting started below. The navigation sidebar on the left has links to a number of tutorials on various aspects of making extensions.
Extension APIs Supported in Opera
This is a list of all the extension APIs supported by Opera.
Architecture Overview
We will take a look at the architecture of Opera extensions. This will cover the various building blocks of an extension and how they all fit together.
Getting Started
New to extensions in Opera? Let us see how to learn more about the platform. It is super-easy!