Two ways to run it

Chrome cannot use the Vite dev server as a New Tab page. Vite is only a live preview.

Command	What it is for
`npm run dev`	Preview at `http://127.0.0.1:5173` while you edit. Not the real New Tab.
`npm run build`	Writes a static extension into `dist/`. Load that folder in Chrome. No Vite process needed after this.

Preview while developing

1npm install
2npm run dev

Open http://127.0.0.1:5173. Hot reload works here. Your real New Tab still uses whatever you last loaded from dist/.

Load the extension locally (no Vite)

1npm install
2npm run build

Then in Chrome:

Open chrome://extensions
Turn on Developer mode
Click Load unpacked
Choose the dist folder in this repo

Every new tab opens dist/index.html as a normal page so Chrome does not draw the “Customise Chrome” footer under the dock. Rebuild and click Reload on the extension card when source changes. Allow the extra permissions if Chrome asks.

The extension icon (public/icons/) is copied into dist/icons/ on build and shows on chrome://extensions.