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Firefox Private Mode

You cannot run add-ons in Firefox Private Mode using the normal side-loading technique. This is because only they appear in the about:debugging page, which doesn’t give you the option to enable the extension in Private Mode.

As an alternative, you can install the development build as an unsigned add-on using the steps below.

Prerequisites​

  1. Install Firefox Developer Edition
  2. Configure Firefox Developer Edition:
    1. Open Firefox Developer Edition
    2. Navigate to about:config
    3. Set the xpinstall.signatures.required setting to false (add the setting if it’s not in the list already)

Steps​

  1. Open your local browser repository on the command line
  2. Build and package the browser extension with npm run dist:firefox
  3. Open Firefox Developer Edition and navigate to about:addons
  4. Click the cog in the top-right next to “Manage Your Extensions”
  5. Click “Install Add-on From File”
  6. Open dist/dist-firefox.zip in your local repository
  7. The extension will now be the about:addons page. Click on the name of the extension to expand it, and then toggle “Run in Private Windows”.