executable - Start an external application from a Google Chrome Extension?

Question

How to start an external application from a Google Chrome Extension?

So basically I have an executable file which does the job when you launch it. I need to be able to start it without a window (it is a console application) and pass the current URL to it in an argument,

Answer 1

Previously, you would do this through NPAPI plugins.

However, Google is now phasing out NPAPI for Chrome, so the preferred way to do this is using the native messaging API. The external application would have to register a native messaging host in order to exchange messages with your application.