Library Detector for Chrome is an MIT-licensed Chrome extension, published on the Chrome Web Store and on npm as js-library-detector, that inspects the pages a user visits and reports which JavaScript libraries each page loads by displaying the corresponding icons in the Chrome menu — built for web developers, QA engineers and technology researchers who need to read a site's front-end stack without digging through its source.

What it is

Library Detector for Chrome is a browser extension written in JavaScript that runs inside Google Chrome, examines the web pages a user opens, and reports which JavaScript libraries those pages are using by showing the matching library icons in the Chrome menu. It lives in the browser-extension ecosystem rather than in a build toolchain: it is distributed through the Chrome Web Store under the extension ID cgaocdmhkmfnkdkbnckgmpopcbpaaejo, and the detection logic is also published to npm as js-library-detector. The project is developed in the open on GitHub under the MIT license, where it has attracted 680 stars and 114 forks.

The concrete problem it solves is front-end stack discovery without manual inspection. Working out whether a page loads jQuery or Zepto, AngularJS or Angular, Handlebars or Marko normally means opening developer tools, scanning the network panel, or searching through bundled source. The extension replaces that manual routine with a one-click readout: recognized libraries appear as icons by the Chrome menu, so a visitor can identify the frameworks, charting libraries and content-management platforms behind a page at a glance.

Key capabilities

• Detects front-end frameworks and libraries, including jQuery, jQuery UI, jQuery Mobile, Angular, AngularJS, Backbone, Ember.js, Knockout, Dojo, Ext JS, and React projects identified through Create React App.
• Identifies charting and data-visualization packages such as Chart.js, Chartist, D3, DC.js, ECharts, Highcharts, AmCharts, ApexCharts, FusionCharts, FlotCharts and Google Maps.
• Recognizes content-management and site-generation platforms, among them Drupal, Joomla, Magento and Gatsby.
• Reports utility, UI and mapping libraries, including Lo-Dash, Moment Timezone, Handlebars, Modernizr, Bootstrap, Material Design Lite, Hammer.js, Isotope and Leaflet.
• Surfaces the results as icons in the Chrome menu, keeping the detection visible without keeping developer tools open.
• Is published both as a Chrome Web Store listing carrying version, download, star and rating-count badges, and as the npm package js-library-detector.
• Maintains a long, explicitly enumerated support list running from $mol_view and AMP through GreenSock, lit-html, LitElement and Matter.js.

Who uses it and how

• Front-end developers use it to confirm which framework or library a live page actually ships, which matters when the delivered source is minified or bundled.
• QA and release engineers open a staging or production page and check that the intended libraries loaded, without attaching a debugger or reading the network panel.
• Technology researchers and competitive-analysis teams use the Chrome menu icons as a fast way to characterize another organization's front-end stack.
• Agencies auditing third-party sites get a page-level inventory spanning application frameworks alongside embedded charting, mapping and CMS packages.
• Because it installs as an ordinary extension from the Web Store, it fits individual analyst workflows rather than server-side crawling pipelines.

Getting started

Install the extension from its Chrome Web Store listing under the extension ID cgaocdmhkmfnkdkbnckgmpopcbpaaejo, or consume the detection logic programmatically through the npm package js-library-detector. No server, database or configuration step is involved.

How it compares

The facts available here name no comparable detection tools, paid or otherwise, so this entry stands alone in this registry and should be judged on its own Chrome Web Store listing and its supported-library list. Any comparison with other stack-detection approaches would have to be made outside the material recorded here.

When to use it — and when not to

Use it when the question is what a given page is running and the answer needs to be quick, visual and confined to Chrome; there is nothing to operate, because the extension is client-side and self-contained. It is a poor fit for automated, large-scale crawling, since the reporting surface described is the Chrome menu rather than an export format or an API, and it does not serve anyone who needs a browser other than Chrome. The clearest weakness in the facts is documentation depth: the README is dominated by the supported-library list, and the repository carried 17 open issues at the time of writing, so expect to read the source for build and contribution details.