buildAdvanced4-6 hours

Build a Chrome Extension That Fixes Your Pet Peeve

Maps to: Software Engineer · Product Designer · Founder

You're going to build a Chrome extension, an add-on that changes how a website looks or works in your browser, and fix something on the web that annoys you every day: a list of posts full of junk, comment chains that never end, a site that hides what you need. Try it on the real sites you use, then cut it to the one thing worth keeping and make that solid. Taking things away is the skill here. That's real programming work: writing one piece of code that runs inside someone else's browser and does one job well. You'll have an add-on real people install and use every day.

You're done when: An add-on (the small program you built that changes how a website looks or works) that works on real sites, installed by a few real people. You can do this yourself, walking them through loading your add-on's folder straight into Chrome, which just means trying out something you built without the official store, or you can put it in the Chrome Web Store, the official place people get add-ons. Cut down to the one thing worth keeping. Taking things away is the work: not 'it loaded,' but 'it actually fixes the annoying thing, on real sites, for real people.'

How this shows up on a resume or college app

I built a Chrome extension that solves problem, cut it to the one thing worth keeping after testing on real sites, and got it installed by N people. I learned to build software that runs in real people's browsers every day, and that the discipline is taking things away, not piling them on.

When you finish you have the thing itself, plus a Common App activity description Sidequest drafts from what you actually built.

Not sure yet? Play 5 minutes as a software engineer first and see how the work feels.

See what this career pays and what it takes to get in.

The plan

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Step 1
Pick the thing that annoys you, and name the fix
Pick one real thing that bugs you while you're online: clearing the junk out of a list of posts, shortening long comment chains, capping your time on an app so it warns or blocks you after a set amount, rearranging a site you use daily. Write down, in one sentence, exactly what your add-on, the small program you're building that changes how a website looks or works in Chrome (your browser, the app you use to visit websites), will do. That's the goal you're building toward.
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Steps 2-4
Build it, starting from one that already works
Build your add-on (the small program that changes how a website looks or works) using Manifest V3, the rulebook Chrome makes every add-on follow, which is really just a file where you write down what your add-on can do and how it's built. Start from the smallest one that already works and change ONE thing at a time. The permissions list, the list of what your add-on is allowed to see or touch on a page, confuses everyone at first, so small steps beat starting over.
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Step 5
Try it on the websites you actually use, then keep only one thing
Run your add-on on the real websites it's meant for. It'll break or get in the way in some places. Decide the one thing worth keeping, delete the rest, and make sure that one thing works really well every time.
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Step 6
Get it running in your friends' Chrome, or put it in the Chrome Web Store
Get your add-on (the small program you built) running in real people's Chrome. Free way: zip up the folder of code your add-on lives in (pack all your files into one compressed file you can send), send it to a few friends, and walk them through loading it into Chrome themselves: dropping that folder straight into Chrome instead of the official store, no store and no fee needed. Want it public so anyone can find it? Putting it in the Chrome Web Store, the official place people get add-ons, costs a one-time $5 fee. Then write down who is using it, a simple list of who actually tried it.