Update your Chrome Web Store item
This page describes how to update an extension or theme ("item") that youpreviously published on the Chrome Web Store.
There are two key ways in which you can update your item:
- Upgrade the item, publishing a new version of the item onthe Chrome Web Store and pushing it to the user base.
- Update the % rollout for items that were previouslypublished with partial rollout. (Available to items with over 10,000seven-day active users)
These update options are described in the following sections.
Upgrade your item
To upgrade your item, use theChrome Developer Dashboard.
To upgrade an existing Chrome Web Store item, you need to upload a new zip filefor your item, including all changed and unchanged files; update any changedmetadata for your listing; and submit the item for a new review.
Note: Your upgrade will be published to the same channel (for example public or trusted testers) asprevious versions. Publishing to a different channel may require special steps, as described below.Use theDistribution tab to publish to a different channel.
- To move an item from testing to production, change your visibility fromPrivate to Public or to Unlisted and then republish.
- To move a published item back to private (for example, from production backto testing), you mustunpublish, change the visibility toPrivate, and then republish. The unpublishing step is necessary to move anitem "backwards" from production to testing. Note: making the extensionpublic again requires you to submit a new version of your extension. Thisnew version needs going through the review process again.
- To continue a testing program in parallel with a published version, you cancreate a separate Chrome Web Store item for yourtesting program.
Upload an updated zip file
If you're changing any code, the manifest, or other assets packaged with yourextension, you must make a new zip file and upload the new package. Make sureyou increment theversion number. Each new version must have a largerversion number than the previous version.
In the developer dashboard entry for your item, on the Package tab, use theUpload New Package button to upload the zip file:
Update the listing metadata
If you're changing anything about the Chrome Web Store listing for your item,its distribution, or details of your privacy policy, you must update theinformation on the developer dashboard. You update this information on the sametabs used for creating a new item:
- TheStore listing tab contains details of your listing andhow it should display in the Chrome Web Store.
- ThePrivacy practices tab is where you include declarationsabout how your item uses privacy and security related features.
- TheDistribution tab lets you declare in-app purchasesand control which countries will list your item and which set of users willsee it.
Set partial rollout percentage
If your item has a large user base (over 10,000), the distribution tab willinclude aPercentage rollout option to restrict the update only to afraction of the user base:
This lets you gradually roll out your item to ensure that any unexpectedproblems will have minimal impact.
Note: This is only available for new versions of analready-published itemwith over10,000 seven-day active users. The sectiondoes not appear untila new draft has been uploaded, and is disabled for drafts once they have beensubmitted for review.Once an item with partial rollout has been published, you can laterincreasethe percent rollout without resubmitting the item for review,until you eventually reach 100% of users.
Submit the update
When you submit an update for review, it doesn't yet affect your published item.Existing users will see no change and new users can continue to install thepreviously published, current version. Only when the item is later publishedwill these users be affected.
Key point: When an update requires additional permissions, users will be prompted to accept them or disablethe extension.To submit your update for review:
- Make sure you've completed the details on all the tabs described above.
- Click theSubmit for Review button.
- The following dialog appears, letting you confirm that you want to submitthe item for review.
Deferred publishing option
This dialog also lets you control the timing of your item's publishing. If youuncheck the checkbox, your item willnot be published immediately after itsreview is complete. Instead, after it passes the review your item will becomeready for you to publish. This lets you wait until you are ready (for example,with marketing announcements) and then manually publish it at a time of yourchoosing.
Once the review is complete, you will have up to30 days to publish. Afterthat period expires, the staged submission will revert to a draft which willhave to be submitted again for review. You can check when your staged submissionwill expire under the status of your item.
Review process
After you submit the item for review, it will undergo a review process. This isessentially the same review as new items receive; the time for this reviewdepends on the nature of your item and the extent of your changes. Seereviewtimes for more details.
Update your percent rollout
For items that you previously published withpartial rollout,you can update the percent rollout using the Package tab:
ThePublished item information appears in the right column. To increase therollout fraction, enter the increased percentage target in thePublished to apercentage of users field, and then clickUpdate.
Note: Changing the %rollout doesnot trigger a new review.Rollback to a previous version
If you've released an extension update with bugs and want to rollback to theearlier version immediately, use theWeb Storerollback.
Protect your package updates
You may add an additional layer of security to updates usingVerified CRXUploads underPackage. After opting in, all updates to your extensionpackage must be signed with a key you provide. This can prevent maliciousupdates if your developer account is compromised.
Create a signing key pair
You must use an RSA key pair. A 2048-bit RSA key pair can be generated from aterminal using the openssl tool:
opensslgenpkey-algorithmRSA-pkeyoptrsa_keygen_bits:2048-outprivatekey.pemAlternatively, Chrome can generate a key pair whensigning yourextension, if a private key file isn't provided.
Warning: Ensure that you keep your private key safe and secure. In particular:- Don't upload the private key to any public repository or other place
- Don't store your private key in your Google Account. This means someone with access to the Developer Dashboard through your Google Account could publish on your behalf.
- Consider storing your private key securely using a keystore like PKCS#12 or Java Keystore
Opt in to verified CRX uploads
Navigate toPackage on the developer dashboard and locate theVerified CRXUploads section.
After clickingOpt In, you must provide your public key, which can beextracted from the key pair you created:
opensslrsa-inprivatekey.pem-puboutSign your extension updates
Going forward, all package updates to your item must be signed with your signingkey, using the CRX file format. You can sign your extension in Chrome by goingtochrome://extensions, enablingDeveloper Mode, and clickingPack Extension. This can also be performed from a terminal:
google-chrome--pack-extension=/path/to/extension/root--pack-extension-key=privatekey.pemgoogle-chrome with the full path to your Chromeexecutable.Update your item by uploading the CRX file to Chrome Web Store using theUpload New Package button.
Additional resources
- Learn how tocheck on your item's review status.
- Understand theChrome Web Store Review Process.
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under theCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under theApache 2.0 License. For details, see theGoogle Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2020-12-03 UTC.