Skip review for eligible changes

For extensions using the Declarative Net Request API, the Chrome Web Store lets you publish updates meeting certain criteria without needing review. Changes will usually go live within a few minutes.

Eligibility

Drafts are eligible if all of the following conditions are met:

  • The extension has declarativeNetRequest as a required permission.
  • The only changes are to files referenced in the rule_resources manifest key.
  • Any new rules added, updated or removed from the static rulesets are safe rules.
  • No rulesets have been added or removed from the manifest declaration.
  • No other changes have been made to your item, such as to the description or visibility.

You must increment the version field in your manifest to submit a new draft. Changes to this field are ignored when determining eligibility.

Metadata

It is often desirable to include metadata alongside Declarative Net Request rules.

If possible, fetch these remotely following an update using your extension version as part of the URL path. This avoids users needing to download the data if they don't have a ruleset enabled.

Otherwise, add an additional field such as _metadata to rules in your ruleset files. Unrecognized keys within a ruleset file don't impact eligibility.

Exceptions

In some cases, an extension which meets the eligibility requirements may not qualify for expedited review. This includes:

  • Your item has been taken down or warned for a policy violation.
  • Your item is unpublished.

In these cases, your item won't qualify for expedited review (see opt in).

Opt-in

You must declare if you want to skip review so that you can be warned if your item does not qualify.

Upload your draft as normal in the Chrome Web Store Developer Dashboard. When submitting your item for review, check "My item update only contains changes to safe static rules for declarativeNetRequest, and I would like to skip review".

Submit for review dialog in the Developer Dashboard
"Submit for review" dialog in the Developer Dashboard

If your item is not eligible, you will be shown a warning and asked if you want to proceed:

Warning for non-eligible submissions
Warning for non-eligible submissions

Use the API

You can also opt-in to expedited review using the Chrome Web Store Publish API.