testland/manifest-v3-test-surface-reference

Pure-reference catalog of the Manifest V3 test surface for Firefox + Chromium browser extensions. Maps each manifest field that changed from MV2 (manifest_version, background.service_worker vs background.scripts, action vs browser_action / page_action, host_permissions split, web_accessible_resources object-form, content_security_policy object-form), the runtime restrictions service workers impose (no DOM, no XMLHttpRequest, no localStorage, ephemeral lifecycle, synchronous listener registration, alarms instead of setTimeout), and the Firefox-vs-Chrome key matrix (browser_specific_settings.gecko, externally_connectable / offline_enabled gaps, MV2-only user_scripts manifest key); references/ carry Mozilla's web-ext CLI (lint via addons-linter, run on firefox-desktop / firefox-android / chromium targets, deterministic build, AMO sign). Use as the manifest-surface reference when authoring extension tests across both browsers, or when driving Firefox runs / AMO signing with web-ext.

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web-ext - Mozilla's CLI for Firefox WebExtension testing

Name: testland/manifest-v3-test-surface-reference
Rating: 69.6 (1 reviews)
Author: testland

Companion reference for manifest-v3-test-surface-reference. Consult when the extension targets Firefox (signing is mandatory for distribution) or when cross-browser test runs need a single CLI that drives both Firefox and Chromium against the same source tree.

web-ext is Mozilla's reference CLI for WebExtension development. Per the mozilla/web-ext README it bundles run, lint, sign, build, and docs; v8 added dump-config and reworked signing to use the AMO submission API by default (per the web-ext command reference). --source-dir / -s is a global option; --artifacts-dir (default ./web-ext-artifacts) controls where build / sign write zips.

Install

npm install --save-dev web-ext    # per-project, preferred for CI determinism

Mozilla recommends the current Node LTS (per we-readme). A web-ext-config.cjs file pins flags per run; web-ext dump-config (v8, per we-cmd) prints the resolved configuration as JSON for diffing.

Lint

web-ext lint wraps mozilla/addons-linter and emits AMO-compatible warnings. CI-friendly invocation:

web-ext lint \
  --source-dir ./dist \
  --output json \
  --pretty \
  --warnings-as-errors > lint-report.json

--warnings-as-errors / -w is the right CI default - per we-cmd it escalates lint warnings (unsupported manifest fields, MV2-only APIs flagged for MV3) into a non-zero exit code. Other flags: --metadata, --self-hosted (disables AMO-related messages - never on AMO-bound builds), --boring.

Output shape: { "count", "summary": { "errors", "notices", "warnings" }, "metadata", "errors": [{ "code", "message", "file", "line", "column" }], ... } (per addons-linter; spot-check its changelog before pinning a parser). Parse with jq '.summary.errors + .summary.warnings'.

Run

web-ext run builds the extension, installs it into a fresh temporary Firefox profile, then watches the source directory and reloads on edit (per we-cmd):

web-ext run \
  --source-dir ./dist \
  --firefox=firefox \
  --start-url 'about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox'

--firefox aliases (per we-cmd): firefox, beta, nightly, deved / firefoxdeveloperedition, or a binary path. To pin a profile: --firefox-profile=qa-profile --profile-create-if-missing --keep-profile-changes (the last persists profile modifications across runs per we-cmd).

Targets (per we-cmd --target): firefox-desktop, firefox-android (wired via the --adb-* flag family), and chromium:

web-ext run --source-dir ./dist --target chromium --chromium-binary "$(which chromium)"

The chromium target is the lowest-effort parity smoke-test; deep Chromium test surface lives in playwright-extension-fixtures.

Build

web-ext build -s ./dist -a ./build/artifacts --overwrite-dest \
  --filename 'my-extension-{version}.zip'

Per we-cmd, --filename defaults to {name}-{version}.zip; --overwrite-dest is required when the artefact path already exists. Build runs lint first and exits non-zero on lint failure.

Sign

Per we-cmd, web-ext sign v8 uses the AMO submission API by default and --channel is required:

export WEB_EXT_API_KEY='user:12345:1'
export WEB_EXT_API_SECRET='abcdef...'

web-ext sign -s ./dist --channel listed \
  --amo-metadata ./amo-metadata.json \
  --upload-source-code ./source.tar.gz

Channel semantics (quoted from we-cmd): with listed the extension "gets submitted for public listing"; with unlisted it "gets submitted for signing for self-distribution." Key flags: --api-key / --api-secret (JWT for the AMO API), --amo-metadata (required for a first listed version), --timeout (default 300000 ms), --approval-timeout (default 900000 ms, v8) - AMO can take longer in queue, requiring follow-up polling. Update submissions require an extension ID in the manifest (browser_specific_settings.gecko.id) per we-cmd. The signed .xpi lands in --artifacts-dir.

Anti-patterns

Anti-pattern	Why it fails	Fix
`web-ext sign` without `--channel`	v8 requires it per we-cmd; command refuses to run	Always specify `listed` or `unlisted`
Re-using a profile without `--keep-profile-changes`	Profile changes lost between runs; tests appear non-deterministic	Add the flag per we-cmd
`web-ext lint` without `-w` in CI	Warnings silently pass; AMO submission still rejects	`--warnings-as-errors`
Signing without an extension ID in the manifest	Update submission fails per we-cmd	Add `browser_specific_settings.gecko.id` (see SKILL.md matrix)
Committing `web-ext-artifacts/`	Repo bloats with binaries	`.gitignore` + CI artefact upload

Limitations

Linter is not tests. web-ext lint catches manifest issues and AMO policy violations; it does not exercise behaviour - pair with playwright-extension-fixtures.
Chromium target is run-only. No AMO-style signing path for Chrome; the Chrome Web Store has its own publishing flow.
No Firefox MV3 parity check. web-ext lint does not warn when a key is MV3-supported in Chrome but not Firefox (or vice versa); cross-reference the SKILL.md matrix manually.

References

Mozilla web-ext README - we-readme.
Extension Workshop web-ext v8 command reference (every flag on every subcommand) - we-cmd.
Mozilla addons-linter (what web-ext lint wraps) - https://github.com/mozilla/addons-linter

.tessl-plugin

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