Skip to content

INSTALL.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
154 lines (111 loc) · 5.14 KB

INSTALL.md

File metadata and controls

154 lines (111 loc) · 5.14 KB
Raw

Installing MeetVcon

Step-by-step guide for installing, updating, and troubleshooting MeetVcon as an unpacked Chromium extension. For a one-paragraph summary, see the README.

The extension is not yet on the Chrome Web Store. Until then, it runs in developer mode from a local clone of this repository.

Requirements

  • Chrome, Edge, Brave, or any Chromium-based browser, version 120+ (required by manifest.json).
  • Git (recommended, so you can git pull to update). Download-zip works but skips the update path.
  • A reachable HTTPS webhook to receive vCon payloads. For local testing, see Webhook receiver: minimal example.

Install

  1. Clone the repo somewhere stable on disk — not a tmp directory, not a path that an IDE / sandbox may rewrite or delete. Chromium reads files from this directory every time the extension runs.

    git clone https://github.com/sippulse/meetvcon.git ~/code/meetvcon

  2. Open the extensions page:

    • Chrome: chrome://extensions
    • Edge: edge://extensions
    • Brave: brave://extensions

  3. Toggle Developer mode (top right corner).

  4. Click Load unpacked and select the directory you cloned into (the folder that contains manifest.json, not src/).

  5. Pin the extension from the toolbar puzzle-piece menu so the icon is always visible.

  6. Right-click the MeetVcon icon → Options. Paste your webhook URL, choose a delivery mode, click Save. Then click Send test payload to confirm the receiver gets a vCon.

That's it. The next time you open a Google Meet, MeetVcon will start capturing captions automatically.

Update

Because the extension is loaded from disk, Chromium does not auto-update it. To pick up a new release:

cd ~/code/meetvcon
git pull

Then go to chrome://extensions and click the Reload icon (⟳) on the MeetVcon row. Your saved configuration and meeting history persist across reloads.

If you cloned somewhere else, run git pull in that directory instead. The path that Chromium uses is shown under the extension name in chrome://extensions → Details.

Uninstall

chrome://extensions → Remove on the MeetVcon row. This deletes all stored config, the delivery queue, and the local meeting history.

To wipe local data without uninstalling, open the popup → click Remove on each meeting, or open the DevTools console on the popup and run:

chrome.storage.local.clear()

Troubleshooting

"File not found" when clicking the extension icon

The extension is loaded from a path that no longer exists. This happens when you reload Chromium after moving / renaming / deleting the source directory.

Fix:

  1. chrome://extensions → Remove on the MeetVcon row.
  2. Click Load unpacked again and select the current location of the cloned repo.

To confirm where Chromium is reading from: chrome://extensions → Details → Source.

"Errors" red badge on the extension row

Open chrome://extensions and click the red Errors button next to MeetVcon. The most common causes:

  • A file referenced by manifest.json was deleted or renamed locally. Run git status in the repo and discard any unintended local changes, then Reload the extension.
  • A syntax error after editing a JS file. The error message includes the filename and line.

Webhook returns HTTP 404 (visible next to each meeting)

The extension is fine — your webhook endpoint is returning 404. Confirm with curl:

curl -i -X POST \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/vcon+json' \
  -d '{"test":true}' \
  '<YOUR_WEBHOOK_URL>'

Common causes: missing path segment (e.g. /webhook), typo in path, endpoint deactivated, or a temporary URL (webhook.site, ngrok free) that expired.

Once you fix the URL in Options, click Resend on each affected meeting in the popup to re-deliver, or Remove to drop them.

Captions aren't being captured in Meet

Look at the in-call panel (bottom-right corner of the Meet tab). If it shows the watchdog is enabled but no utterances appear, Meet may have shipped a DOM change. Open an issue with your Chromium version, Meet language, and an excerpt from the DevTools console filtered for [MeetVcon].

The first place a maintainer will look is src/lib/selectors.js.

Permission denied for the webhook host

The extension requests host permission for the webhook origin the first time you save. If you denied it, reopen Options and click Save again to re-prompt. The permission is scoped to that specific origin — https://your.host/*.

Security notes

  • Webhook URL, bearer token, and HMAC secret are stored in chrome.storage.local on your machine only. They are never transmitted anywhere except as part of the configured webhook request.
  • The vCon payload includes any speaker name Meet exposes. Speaker emails are off by default (toggleable in Options). The capturer's Chrome profile email is on by default (toggleable).
  • For HMAC-signed delivery, the receiver should verify X-MeetVcon-Signature: sha256=<hex> against the raw request body before parsing.