This page should perhaps be renamed from "overview" to "concepts". In any case, what I'd like to cover here is the conceptual underpinning of extensions, such as:

  • Zip file of web pages
  • All resources accessible with a URL scheme
  • How IDs are generated
  • The manifest
  • The background page, how extensions are typically structured
  • Process model
  • Content scripts (lightweight, link off to other page for details)
  • Asynchronous APIs
  • Extension IDs, how they are generated
  • How packaging works at a high level (lightweight, link off to other page for details)