What Are Essential Chrome Extensions for Developers

Short answer

Essential Chrome extensions enhance productivity by adding features like color picking, responsive rulers, accessibility checks, and API testing directly in the browser.

How it works

Extensions run in the browser context and can manipulate the DOM, intercept network requests, or add side panels. Popular ones include: - Web Developer: Adds a toolbar with quick-disable options for JS, CSS, and images. - ColorZilla: Picks colors from any page. - Wappalyzer: Detects technologies used on a website. - Lighthouse: Runs audits without opening DevTools.

Example

Install the "JSON Viewer" extension to automatically format API responses in the browser, making them readable without copying to an external tool.

Why it matters

Extensions reduce context switching. Instead of opening separate apps for simple checks, you can perform them inside the browser where you already test your application.