Can I programmatically open devtools from the Google Chrome extension?

Question

I have a chrome extension that intercepts devtools. Ideally, I want an icon that, when clicked, opens devtools in a new tab that I created. Is there any way to do this from the man page?

Answer 1

It seems unlikely that this is possible or will ever be possible,

check this out: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=112277

which states: "We allow the opening of explicit devtools."

Answer 2

Yes, you can (or not) using the experimental chrome.experimental.webInspector APIs.
http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/experimental.html
You can even change the content and panels of this.
Please note that you will not be able to submit extensions using the experimental APIs.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, there is no way to do this ...

The chrome: // chromewebdata link works only if the dev tools instance is already open ...

Answer 4

It's quite old, but since I stumbled upon it now, in search of a solution, I thought that others could too. Starting with Chrome 28 you can use devtools. * API. This allows you to open and manipulate DevTools panels. It is also noteworthy, no longer experimental.