Extension API

Cat Catch exposes an external API via chrome.runtime.onMessageExternal. Other extensions or web pages can send messages to Cat Catch to retrieve the captured media data.

Sending a Message

chrome.runtime.sendMessage(EXTENSION_ID, { action: "getData" }, (response) => {
  console.log(response);
});

EXTENSION_ID is the ID of the Cat Catch extension, which can be found on the browser's extension management page.

Supported Actions

Messages are objects, and the action field determines the operation:

getData — Get All Data

Returns the media data captured from all tabs, as an object keyed by tabId.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
tabId	string/number	No	When specified, only the data of that tab is returned (null if not found)

// Get data from all tabs
chrome.runtime.sendMessage(EXTENSION_ID, { action: "getData" }, (response) => {
  // response: { "<tabId>": media data, ... }
});

// Get data from a specific tab
chrome.runtime.sendMessage(EXTENSION_ID, { action: "getData", tabId: 123456 }, (response) => {
  // response: the media data of that tab, or null if not found
});

getCurrentTabData — Get Current Tab Data

Returns the media data captured from the current tab (the tab Cat Catch is currently watching).

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
tabId	string/number	No	Defaults to the current tab when omitted; behaves the same as getData with a specified tabId

chrome.runtime.sendMessage(EXTENSION_ID, { action: "getCurrentTabData" }, (response) => {
  // response: the media data of the current tab, or null if nothing was captured
});

WARNING

If action is not one of the above, Cat Catch will not respond and response will be undefined. Make sure the Cat Catch extension is installed and enabled before calling.