buildAdvanced4-6 hours

Build a Chrome Extension That Fixes Your Pet Peeve

Maps to: Software Engineer · Product Designer · Founder

You're going to build a Chrome extension, an add-on that changes how a website looks or works in your browser, and fix something on the web that annoys you every day: a list of posts full of junk, comment chains that never end, a site that hides what you need. Try it on the real sites you use, then cut it to the one thing worth keeping and make that solid. Taking things away is the skill here. That's real software engineering, code that runs in other people's browsers doing one job well. You'll have an add-on real people install and use every day.

You're done when: An add-on that works on real sites, installed by a few real people (by hand from a folder, or from the Chrome store), cut to the one thing worth keeping. Taking things away is the work: not 'it loaded,' but 'it actually fixes the annoying thing, on real sites, for real people.'

How this shows up on a resume or college app

I built a Chrome extension that solves problem, cut it to the one thing worth keeping after testing on real sites, and got it installed by N people. I learned to build software that runs in real people's browsers every day, and that the discipline is taking things away, not piling them on.

When you finish, BuildMe drafts your Common App activity description from what you actually built.

Not sure yet? Play 5 minutes as a software engineer first and see how the work feels.

The plan

1
Step 1
Pick the thing that annoys you, and name the fix
Pick one real thing that bugs you while you're online: clearing the junk out of a list of posts, shortening long comment chains, capping your time on an app, rearranging a site you use daily. Write what the add-on does in one line. That's your target.
2
Steps 2-4
Build it, starting from one that already works
Build the add-on using Manifest V3, the rulebook Chrome makes every extension follow. Start from the smallest one that already works and change ONE thing at a time. The permissions list (what your add-on is allowed to touch) confuses everyone at first, so small steps beat starting over.
3
Step 5
Try it on real sites, then keep only one thing
Run your add-on on the real sites it's meant for. It'll break or get in the way in places. Decide the one thing worth keeping, delete the rest, and make that one thing solid.
4
Step 6
Get it onto friends' browsers (or into the store)
Get it into real browsers. Free way: zip up your add-on folder and have a few friends load it into Chrome by hand (no fee). Want it public? Putting it in the Chrome Web Store costs a one-time $5 fee. Then write down who is using it.