Heavy permissions are optional

Requesting every permission upfront means users see the full warning list before they have any reason to trust the extension, which reduces install rates and raises legitimate privacy concerns. CWE-250 applies: permissions that only support optional features run with unnecessary privilege during all other extension operations. Chrome's optional_permissions API lets you defer scary permission requests — bookmarks, downloads, history — until the user opts into the specific feature that needs them, which dramatically increases trust-to-request ratio and keeps your surface area small when those features are unused.

Move non-core permissions to optional_permissions in manifest.json and request them at runtime when the user enables the relevant feature.

// src/features/export.js
chrome.permissions.request({ permissions: ['downloads'] }, (granted) => {
  if (granted) { startExport(); }
});

Declare the set in manifest so Chrome knows they are valid optional targets, but do not grant them at install time.