Tutorial — setup
The SVG downloader extension, installed and working
One install, one pin, and a straight answer about what it can see. That last part is the bit worth reading — an extension that can read pages deserves the scrutiny.
Watch it — 17 seconds
From install to first download
The pin is the step people skip and then wonder where the button went — Chrome hides new extensions behind the puzzle-piece icon by default.
What the recording shows
- Install once from the Chrome Web Store
- Pin it, then click it on any page
- It asks for activeTab — this page, this click, nothing else
- Chrome, Edge and Brave all run it
- And it works the same in all three
Setup
Installing on Chrome, Edge or Brave
All three run Chromium, so it is one extension and one install flow. Anything on Chrome 88 or later works.
- Chrome. Open the Chrome Web Store listing and choose Add to Chrome, then confirm.
- Edge. Same listing. Edge will ask you to allow extensions from other stores the first time; agree, then install as normal.
- Brave. Same listing, no extra step — Brave installs from the Chrome Web Store directly.
Then pin it, which is the step that actually matters day to day: click the puzzle-piece icon in the toolbar, find SVG Downloader, and click the pin. Without that, Chrome tucks it away and you will click the puzzle piece every single time.
Install and first run
About forty seconds, most of which is the store page loading.
- Install from the Chrome Web Store. Choose Add to Chrome — or Edge, or Brave — and confirm the permission prompt.
- Pin it to the toolbar. Click the puzzle-piece icon, find SVG Downloader, click the pin. The button now sits in your toolbar permanently.
- Open a page with vectors on it and click the button. The popup opens and scans that tab. Nothing was watching the page before you clicked.
- Download one to confirm it works. Page to any icon, press Download current, and check your downloads folder. That is the install verified.
What each permission actually allows
Five permissions, and none of them is the broad one people worry about.
activeTab— it can read the page in the tab you are on, at the moment you click its button, and not before or after. This is the important one: there is no host permission, so it is not granted access to "all your data on all websites" and it is not running quietly in the background on every page you visit.downloads— writes files to your downloads folder. Unavoidable for a downloader.contextMenus— adds the "Save this as SVG" item to the right-click menu.scripting— injects the code that reads the page, on demand, when you have already clicked.storage— keeps your settings (filename prefix, ZIP name) locally on your machine.
On top of that, the extension's content security policy sets connect-src 'none', which means its pages are structurally forbidden from opening a network connection. It is not a promise not to phone home; it is a configuration under which phoning home does not work. And since it is MIT-licensed with public source, none of this has to be taken on faith.
Pages where it will not run
Browsers block extensions on their own pages, and no extension can override that: chrome:// and edge:// settings pages, the Chrome Web Store and other add-on galleries, and PDF documents. On those, the popup will tell you it cannot access the page rather than failing silently. For local file:// pages you can grant file access explicitly in the extension's details, if you need it.
Firefox and Safari
Not currently. This is a Manifest V3 Chromium extension; Firefox and Safari each need their own port and their own store review, which has not been done.
- Browsers
- Chrome 88+, Edge and Brave. Not Firefox or Safari.
- Key permission
activeTab— this tab, on your click. No host permission.- Network
connect-src 'none'— it structurally cannot phone home.- Source
- MIT-licensed on GitHub. Read it or build it yourself.
Good to know
Frequently asked
Which browsers does it work in?
Chrome 88 or later, Edge and Brave — all Chromium-based, one install from the same store listing. There is no Firefox or Safari version.
Where did the button go after I installed it?
Chrome hides new extensions behind the puzzle-piece icon. Click it, find SVG Downloader, and click the pin to keep it in the toolbar.
Can it read every page I visit?
No. It uses activeTab, which grants access to the current tab only at the moment you click its button. There is no host permission, so it is not running in the background on other pages.
Does it send anything to a server?
It cannot. Its content security policy sets connect-src to none, which forbids its pages from opening a network connection at all. The source is public if you want to verify that.
Why does the popup say it cannot access this page?
You are on a page browsers block extensions from — a chrome:// settings page, the Chrome Web Store or another add-on gallery, or a PDF. That restriction is enforced by the browser and cannot be worked around.
Install it, pin it, forget about it
Under a minute, and it only wakes up when you click it.