topSites.get()

Gets an array containing information about pages that the user has visited often and recently.

Browsers keep a list of pages that the user visits often and recently. They use this list to help the user get back to these places easily. For example, Firefox by default provides a list of the most-visited pages in the "New Tab" page.

To determine which pages appear in the list, and the order in which they appear, the browser combines "frequency" - how often the user has visited the page - and "recency" - how recently the user visited the page.

The browser may then apply further filtering to this list before presenting it to the user. For example, in Firefox the "New Tab" page only lists one page per domain, and the user is able to block pages from appearing in the list.

The topSites.get() API enables an extension to get access to this list. Called without any options, it will provide the filtered list of pages - that is, the one that appears in the "New Tab" page. However, by providing various options it's possible for an extension to get the unfiltered list of pages.

This is an asynchronous function that returns a Promise.

To use the topSites API you must have the "topSites" API permission.

Syntax

var gettingTopSites = browser.topSites.get(
    options  // object
)

Parameters

options

object. Options to modify the list of pages returned. This may include any of the following properties:

includeBlocked Optional

Boolean. Include pages that the user has removed from the "New Tab" page. Defaults to false.

includeFavicon Optional

Boolean. Include favicons in the results, for pages where they are available. Defaults to false.

includePinned Optional

Boolean. Includes sites that the user has pinned to the Firefox new tab.
Defaults to false.

includeSearchShortcuts Optional

Boolean. Includes search shortcuts that appear on the Firefox new tab.
Defaults to false.

limit Optional

Integer. The number of pages to return. This must be a number between 1 and 100, inclusive. Defaults to 12.

newtab Optional

Boolean. If included, the method returns the list of pages returned when the user opens a new tab. If included, and set to true, the method ignores all other parameters except limit and includeFavicon. Defaults to false.

onePerDomain Optional

Boolean. Only include one page per domain. Defaults to true.

Return value

A Promise. This will be fulfilled with an array of MostVisitedURL objects, one for each page listed in the browser's "New Tab" page. If an error occurs, the promise will be rejected with an error message.

Browser compatibility

Examples

This code logs the title and URL for all pages in the "New Tab" page:

function logTopSites(topSitesArray) {
  for (topSite of topSitesArray) {
    console.log(`Title: ${topSite.title}, URL: ${topSite.url}`);
  }
}

function onError(error) {
  console.log(error);
}

var gettingTopSites = browser.topSites.get();
gettingTopSites.then(logTopSites, onError);

This code logs the title and URL for all top pages, including ones the user has blocked, and potentially including multiple pages in the same domain:

function logTopSites(topSitesArray) {
  for (topSite of topSitesArray) {
    console.log(`Title: ${topSite.title}, URL: ${topSite.url}`);
  }
}

function onError(error) {
  console.log(error);
}

var gettingTopSites = browser.topSites.get({
  includeBlocked: true,
  onePerDomain: false
});

gettingTopSites.then(logTopSites, onError);

Example extensions

• top-sites