From Zero to Chrome Extension - LinkedIn Post Generator
The Power of AI-Assisted Development
Building a Chrome extension for LinkedIn content generation without prior extension development experience might sound ambitious. But with AI assistance and a documentation-first approach, that's exactly what I accomplished. Here's the journey.
Why This Extension?
As a daily consumer of technical content, I've made sharing insights on LinkedIn a core part of my professional routine. The challenge wasn't just in reading and understanding valuable content - it was in crafting engaging, well-structured summaries that would resonate with my network. I found myself repeatedly:
Copying key passages from articles
Restructuring information to fit LinkedIn's format
Adding context and insights for my audience
Managing character limits and formatting
Ensuring consistent posting structure
What started as a personal productivity tool quickly evolved into something more significant. I realized many professionals face the same challenge: they want to share valuable insights but get bogged down in the content creation process.
The Build Process: When AI Takes the Wheel
What makes this project fascinating isn't just the speed - it's how thoroughly the AI agent took control of the development process once I provided clear specifications. Unlike my experiences with other AI coding assistants (like Cursor or WindSurf), Cline Dev's agent demonstrated remarkable end-to-end development capabilities.
Here's what happened after I detailed my requirements:
Complete Environment Setup:
The agent automatically generated the manifest.json, understanding all the necessary permissions and configurations for a modern Chrome extension
It created a proper directory structure following Chrome extension best practices
Without prompting, it handled the creation of multiple icon sizes using ImageMagick via command line - something I wouldn't have known to do myself
Development Automation:
Generated all necessary HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files
Implemented the content scraping logic with proper error handling
Set up API integration with ChatGPT, including secure key storage
Created a clean, responsive popup interface
Deployment Preparation:
Automatically zipped the files in the correct format for Chrome Web Store submission
Generated installation instructions for local development
Created a GitHub repository structure with appropriate .gitignore and README files
What impressed me most was how the agent handled the full development lifecycle. I didn't need to context-switch between different tools or environments - Cline Dev managed everything from file system operations to command line tools, browser interactions to deployment packaging.
The Power of Documentation-First Approach
Having previously written about documentation-first design (read more here), I applied those principles here. The key difference? AI transformed my documentation from a mere blueprint into an active development guide, demonstrating how well-structured requirements can accelerate AI-assisted development.
Tool Selection and Implementation
My choice of Cline Dev wasn't arbitrary - it came from extensive experience with various AI coding assistants (detailed in my comparison here). The tool's ability to understand and implement documentation-driven development proved crucial for this rapid development cycle.
Open Source and Available
The extension is open-sourced at github.com/BioInfo/summshare-chrome. Whether you're looking to streamline your LinkedIn content creation or explore AI-assisted development, you can install and use it today. Chrome Web Store release is pending.
Key Takeaways:
AI tools can effectively bridge knowledge gaps in new development areas
Documentation-first approach becomes even more powerful with AI assistance
Solving personal workflow challenges often leads to valuable tools for others