index.md

---

title: runtime.onInstalled
slug: Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/runtime/onInstalled
page-type: webextension-api-event
tags:
  - API
  - Add-ons
  - Event
  - Extensions
  - Non-standard
  - Reference
  - WebExtensions
  - onInstalled
  - runtime
browser-compat: webextensions.api.runtime.onInstalled

---

{{AddonSidebar()}}

Fired when the extension is first installed, when the extension is updated to a new version, and when the browser is updated to a new version.

Note that runtime.onInstalled is not the same as {{WebExtAPIRef("management.onInstalled")}}. The runtime.onInstalled event is fired only for your extension. The browser.management.onInstalled event is fired for any extensions.

Syntax

browser.runtime.onInstalled.addListener(listener)
browser.runtime.onInstalled.removeListener(listener)
browser.runtime.onInstalled.hasListener(listener)

Events have three functions:

• addListener(callback)

  • : Adds a listener to this event.

• removeListener(listener)

  • : Stop listening to this event. The listener argument is the listener to remove.

• hasListener(listener)

  • : Checks whether a listener is registered for this event. Returns true if it is listening, false otherwise.

addListener syntax

Parameters

• function

  • : The callback function called when this event occurs. The function will be passed the following arguments:

    • details

      • : An object with the following properties:

        • id {{optional_inline}}

          • : string. The ID of the imported shared module extension that updated. This is present only if the reason value is shared_module_update.

        • previousVersion {{optional_inline}}

          • : string. The previous version of the extension just updated. This is only present if the reason value is update.

        • reason

          • : An {{WebExtAPIRef('runtime.OnInstalledReason')}} value, stating the reason that this event is being dispatched.

        • temporary

          • : boolean. True if the add-on was installed temporarily. For example, using the "about:debugging" page in Firefox or using web-ext run. False otherwise.

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}

Examples

When the extension is installed, log the install reason and open https://example.com:

function handleInstalled(details) {
  console.log(details.reason);
  browser.tabs.create({
    url: "https://example.com"
  });
}

browser.runtime.onInstalled.addListener(handleInstalled);

{{WebExtExamples}}

Note: This API is based on Chromium's chrome.runtime API. This documentation is derived from runtime.json in the Chromium code.