Chromedriver extension id does not match key in manifest.json

Question

I am testing a chrome extension using selenium webdriver.js and chromedriver. I've been able to successfully launch chrome, with my extension installed, but the extension id is randomly generated instead of matching the key property of my manifest.json. This makes it impossible to test extension pages like the options page.

manifest.json

// ...
"key": "pjnhffdkdckcagdmfmidafhppbomjdjg", // id from chrome web store
// ...

test.js

var webdriver = require('selenium-webdriver');
var chrome = require('selenium-webdriver/chrome');

// load unpacked extension
var chromeOptions = new chrome.Options();
chromeOptions.addArguments('load-extension=/path/to/my/extension');

var service = new chrome.ServiceBuilder().build();
var driver = chrome.createDriver(chromeOptions, service)
// this page is not available T_T
driver.get('chrome-extension://pjnhffdkdckcagdmfmidafhppbomjdjg/html/options.html');

My assumption is that the extension id would match the key (and it does when installing from the web store), but this does not seem to be true for loading the extension via chromedriver. Is there a way to get the loaded extension to have a consistent ID? Or should I take another approach?

Answer 1

The manifest key value is not the extension ID. You have to install the extension from the web store and look in the manifest.json file on your desk. Use they key value inside that file. The documentation describes how to find the install directory.