MV3 Extension Kickstart Kit: Privacy-first Manifest V3 Chrome extension starter kit for shipping faster
If you are building a Chrome extension today, Manifest V3 changes the defaults, and a lot of starter templates feel either outdated or permission-heavy. I built the MV3 Extension Kickstart Kit as a privacy-first Manifest V3 starter kit for developers who want to ship faster with clean structure and minimal permission bloat. The point is to reduce setup time and make your baseline project feel production-ready before you write any product logic.
This Chrome extension starter kit is built around a local-first mindset. It’s for builders making productivity tools, utilities, and lightweight workflows where trust matters. Instead of spending your first day reorganizing files, redoing boilerplate, and second-guessing permissions, you start from a disciplined template and move straight into features. If you have ever built multiple extensions, you know the pain: you end up rewriting the same scaffolding every time.
I’d love feedback from anyone actively building on MV3: what templates or examples would save you the most time in a real project? Options pages, onboarding patterns, storage patterns, UI components, keyboard shortcuts, or something else. Gumroad link: judeh1l.gumroad.com/l/mv3-kickstart-kit
The "permission-bloat" problem is real. Users are getting more skeptical about extensions that request broad access, and the Chrome Web Store reviews reflect it. Starting minimal and adding permissions only when needed is the right default.
To your question about what patterns would save the most time:
Storage patterns are probably the most underrated. The MV3 service worker lifecycle (it can spin down anytime) makes state management trickier than it looks. Having pre-built patterns for chrome.storage.local vs session vs sync - plus clear guidance on when to use which - would save a lot of debugging.
Messaging patterns between contexts (popup ↔ service worker ↔ content script) is another area where most devs learn by trial and error. A clean example of bidirectional communication that handles the "service worker was asleep" edge case would be valuable.
Options page with settings persistence is table-stakes but often poorly implemented. The key is handling the sync between what's shown in the UI and what's actually stored - especially when users might have multiple tabs open.
One suggestion: consider including a "permission escalation" pattern - where the extension starts with minimal permissions and requests additional ones (like activeTab → broader host permissions) only when the user actually needs that feature. It's a better UX than asking for everything upfront.
What's your current customer profile for this? Solo devs shipping side projects, or teams building internal tools?