webRequest

Add event listeners for the various stages of making an HTTP request, which includes websocket requests on ws:// and wss://. The event listener receives detailed information about the request and can modify or cancel the request.

Each event is fired at a particular stage of the request. The typical sequence of events is like this:

onErrorOccurred can be fired at any time during the request. Also, note that sometimes the sequence of events may differ from this: for example, in Firefox, on an HSTS upgrade, the onBeforeRedirect event will be triggered immediately after onBeforeRequest.

All events—except onErrorOccurred—can take three arguments to addListener():

  • the listener itself
  • a filter object, so you can only be notified for requests made to particular URLs or for particular types of resource
  • an optional extraInfoSpec object. You can use this to pass additional event-specific instructions.

The listener function is passed a details object containing information about the request. This includes a request ID, which is provided to enable an add-on to correlate events associated with a single request. It is unique within a browser session and the add-on's context. It stays the same throughout a request, even across redirections and authentication exchanges.

To use the webRequest API for a given host, an extension must have the "webRequest" API permission and the host permission for that host. To use the "blocking" feature, the extension must also have the "webRequestBlocking" API permission.

To intercept resources loaded by a page (such as images, scripts, or stylesheets), the extension must have the host permission for the resource as well as for the main page requesting the resource. For example, if a page at https://developer.mozilla.org loads an image from https://mdn.mozillademos.org, then an extension must have both host permissions if it is to intercept the image request.

Modifying requests

On some of these events, you can modify the request. Specifically, you can:

To do this, you need to pass an option with the value "blocking" in the extraInfoSpec argument to the event's addListener(). This makes the listener synchronous.

In the listener, you can then return a BlockingResponse object, which indicates the modification you need to make: for example, the modified request header you want to send.

Accessing security information

In the onHeadersReceived listener you can access the TLS properties of a request by calling getSecurityInfo(). To do this you must also pass "blocking" in the extraInfoSpec argument to the event's addListener().

You can read details of the TLS handshake, but can't modify them or override the browser's trust decisions.

Modifying responses

To modify the HTTP response bodies for a request, call webRequest.filterResponseData, passing it the ID of the request. This returns a webRequest.StreamFilter object that you can use to examine and modify the data as it is received by the browser.

To do this, you must have the "webRequestBlocking" API permission as well as the "webRequest" API permission and the host permission for the relevant host.

Types

webRequest.BlockingResponse

An object of this type is returned by event listeners that have set "blocking" in their extraInfoSpec argument. By setting particular properties in BlockingResponse, the listener can modify network requests.

webRequest.CertificateInfo
An object describing a single X.509 certificate.
webRequest.HttpHeaders
An array of HTTP headers. Each header is represented as an object with two properties: name and either value or binaryValue.
webRequest.RequestFilter
An object describing filters to apply to webRequest events.
webRequest.ResourceType
Represents a particular kind of resource fetched in a web request.
webRequest.SecurityInfo
An object describing the security properties of a particular web request.
webRequest.StreamFilter
An object that can be used to monitor and modify HTTP responses while they are being received.
webRequest.UploadData
Contains data uploaded in a URL request.

Properties

webRequest.MAX_HANDLER_BEHAVIOR_CHANGED_CALLS_PER_10_MINUTES
The maximum number of times that handlerBehaviorChanged() can be called in a 10 minute period.

Methods

webRequest.handlerBehaviorChanged()
This method can be used to ensure that event listeners are applied correctly when pages are in the browser's in-memory cache.
webRequest.filterResponseData()
Returns a webRequest.StreamFilter object for a given request.
webRequest.getSecurityInfo()
Gets detailed information about the TLS connection associated with a given request.

Events

webRequest.onBeforeRequest
Fired when a request is about to be made, and before headers are available. This is a good place to listen if you want to cancel or redirect the request.
webRequest.onBeforeSendHeaders
Fired before sending any HTTP data, but after HTTP headers are available. This is a good place to listen if you want to modify HTTP request headers.
webRequest.onSendHeaders
Fired just before sending headers. If your add-on or some other add-on modified headers in onBeforeSendHeaders, you'll see the modified version here.
webRequest.onHeadersReceived
Fired when the HTTP response headers associated with a request have been received. You can use this event to modify HTTP response headers.
webRequest.onAuthRequired
Fired when the server asks the client to provide authentication credentials. The listener can do nothing, cancel the request, or supply authentication credentials.
webRequest.onResponseStarted
Fired when the first byte of the response body is received. For HTTP requests, this means that the status line and response headers are available.
webRequest.onBeforeRedirect
Fired when a server-initiated redirect is about to occur.
webRequest.onCompleted
Fired when a request is completed.
webRequest.onErrorOccurred
Fired when an error occurs.

Browser compatibility

Desktop Mobile
Chrome Edge Firefox Internet Explorer Opera Safari WebView Android Chrome Android Firefox for Android Opera Android Safari on IOS Samsung Internet
BlockingResponse
Yes
14
45
?
Yes
No
?
?
48
?
?
?
CertificateInfo
No
No
62
?
No
No
?
?
62
?
?
?
HttpHeaders
Yes
14
45
?
Yes
14
?
?
48
?
?
?
MAX_HANDLER_BEHAVIOR_CHANGED_CALLS_PER_10_MINUTES
Yes
14
45
?
Yes
No
?
?
48
?
?
?
RequestFilter
Yes
If a filter contains unrecognized values in its types property, addListener() throws an exception.
14
If a filter contains unrecognized values in its types property, addListener() throws an exception.
45
["From Firefox 78 onwards, if a filter contains unrecognized values in its types property, then these values are ignored and addListener() proceeds.", "Before Firefox 78, if a filter contains unrecognized values in its types property, addListener() throws an exception."]
?
Yes
If a filter contains unrecognized values in its types property, addListener() throws an exception.
14
?
?
48
If a filter contains unrecognized values in its types property, addListener() throws an exception.
?
?
?
ResourceType
44
79
45
?
31
No
?
?
48
?
?
?
SecurityInfo
No
No
62
?
No
No
?
?
62
?
?
?
StreamFilter
No
No
57
?
No
No
?
?
57
?
?
?
UploadData
Yes
14
45
?
Yes
No
?
?
48
?
?
?
filterResponseData
No
No
57
?
No
No
?
?
57
?
?
?
getSecurityInfo
No
No
62
?
No
No
?
?
62
?
?
?
handlerBehaviorChanged
Yes
14
45
?
Yes
No
?
?
48
?
?
?
onAuthRequired
Yes
14
54
To handle a request asynchronously, return a Promise from the listener.
?
Yes
14
extraInfoSpec options are not supported.
?
?
54
To handle a request asynchronously, return a Promise from the listener.
?
?
?
onBeforeRedirect
Yes
14
46
?
Yes
14
extraInfoSpec options are not supported.
?
?
48
?
?
?
onBeforeRequest
Yes
Asynchronous event listeners are not supported.
14
Asynchronous event listeners are not supported.
46
Asynchronous event listeners are supported from version 52.
?
Yes
Asynchronous event listeners are not supported.
14
extraInfoSpec options are not supported.
?
?
48
Asynchronous event listeners are supported from version 52.
?
?
?
onBeforeSendHeaders
Yes
Asynchronous event listeners are not supported.
14
Asynchronous event listeners are not supported.
45
Asynchronous event listeners are supported from version 52.
?
Yes
Asynchronous event listeners are not supported.
14
extraInfoSpec options are not supported.
?
?
48
Asynchronous event listeners are supported from version 52.
?
?
?
onCompleted
Yes
14
45
?
Yes
14
extraInfoSpec options are not supported.
?
?
48
?
?
?
onErrorOccurred
Yes
14
45
?
Yes
14
extraInfoSpec options are not supported.
?
?
48
?
?
?
onHeadersReceived
Yes
Asynchronous event listeners are not supported.
14
Asynchronous event listeners are not supported.
45
["Modification of the 'Content-Type' header is supported from version 51.", "Asynchronous event listeners are supported from version 52."]
?
Yes
Asynchronous event listeners are not supported.
14
extraInfoSpec options are not supported.
?
?
48
["Modification of the 'Content-Type' header is supported from version 51.", "Asynchronous event listeners are supported from version 52."]
?
?
?
onResponseStarted
Yes
14
45
?
Yes
14
extraInfoSpec options are not supported.
?
?
48
?
?
?
onSendHeaders
Yes
14
45
?
Yes
14
extraInfoSpec options are not supported.
?
?
48
?
?
?

Extra notes on Chrome incompatibilities.

Example extensions

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

Microsoft Edge compatibility data is supplied by Microsoft Corporation and is included here under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

© 2005–2021 MDN contributors.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/webRequest