Can I programmatically open the devtools from a Google Chrome extension?

I have a chrome extension which hooks into the devtools. Ideally I want a badge that, when clicked, opens up the devtools on the new tab which I created. Is there any way to do this from the background page?

Solution 1:

It seems unlikely that this is possible or will ever become possible,

check this: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=112277

which says: "We only allow explicit devtools opening."

Solution 2:

Yes you can (or not) using the experimental APIs chrome.experimental.webInspector.
http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/experimental.html
You can even change the content and panels of it.
Note that you will not able submit extensions that use experimental APIs.

Solution 3:

This is quite old but since I stumbled upon it now searching for a solution I figured others might have too. Since Chrome 28 you can use the devtools.* API. This allows you to open and manipulate DevTools panels. It is also notable no longer expirimental.

Solution 4:

Unfortunately, There is no way to do that...

The chrome://chromewebdata link only works if an instance of dev tools is already opened...