Prevent browser tabs from `auto-reloading` on manual extension load or code changes
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- Dominant language
- TypeScript
- Stars
- 10.5k
- Forks
- 564
- PR merge metrics
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Description
Feature Request
My content script runs across <all_urls>. Currently, when I manually load my extension or update the content or background scripts, all open browser tabs automatically reload. This wasn’t an issue with the Plasmo framework.
Is your feature request related to a bug?
N/A
What are the alternatives?
A more flexible approach would be to reload only the currently active tab, rather than refreshing all tabs. If a developer needs to reload other tabs, they can manually do so as needed.
Additional context
I recently migrated my extension from Plasmo to WXT. Plasmo didn't have this reload issue. While I had an important process running in another tab, manually loading my extension caused every tab to refresh, and the ongoing process was lost. It would be helpful if we could prevent automatic reloading for all tabs. Amazing framework, by the way! 💯
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by tracing WXT's reload behavior when an extension is manually loaded or its content/background scripts change. Compare the current all-tab reload with the requested active-tab-only alternative; done means these events no longer refresh every open tab while developers can still reload other tabs manually.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- typescript
- Domain
- developer-experience, tooling
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100