# Thunderbird Add-Ons: Current state of the art 2016 / Beginner Question

**URL:** <https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/thunderbird-add-ons-current-state-of-the-art-2016-beginner-question/9986>\
**Category:** Development\
**Created:** [July 28, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/thunderbird-add-ons-current-state-of-the-art-2016-beginner-question/9986 "2016-07-28T20:48:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sewomedia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@sewomedia](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/sewomedia)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/thunderbird-add-ons-current-state-of-the-art-2016-beginner-question/9986/1 "2016-07-28T20:48:07Z")

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Hello Internet,

i need to develop an add-on for thunderbird and hope to get some help as i thought it would have better documentation…

There are 3 ways of developing a thunderbird extensions, right?

1. XUL
2. SDK  
3)WebExtensions

Which is the best and future-proofed way? WebExtensions and/or SDK?

Can you give me a good starting point and/or examples for thunderbird add-on development in 2016?

In Detail: my add-on should get the email-adress and text of an email and save some information about it in a database and it should change the language of the grammar tool after doing some logic? Is this even possible and can you give some tips or links on how to achieve?

Thank you all for much in advance

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**Author:** ![noitidart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9f8e36/32.png) [@noitidart](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/noitidart)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/thunderbird-add-ons-current-state-of-the-art-2016-beginner-question/9986/2 "2016-07-28T21:02:51Z")

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I don’t know much about Thunderbird addons. I do know that WebExtensions dont work in Thunderbird. I know some members here have extensive thunderbid addon experience - [http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum.php?f=19](http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum.php?f=19)

I helped this guy here who seems to be pretty versed in it, you can send him a PM - [http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3003617](http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3003617)

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**Author:** ![sewomedia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@sewomedia](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/sewomedia)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/thunderbird-add-ons-current-state-of-the-art-2016-beginner-question/9986/3 "2016-07-28T21:25:20Z")

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Thank you. i will try that links.

So if you say WebExtensions dont work… then I should choose a SDK based solution???

I could still use XUL overlays but how long will that work?

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**Author:** ![jorgev](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@jorgev](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/jorgev)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2016, 10:49pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/thunderbird-add-ons-current-state-of-the-art-2016-beginner-question/9986/4 "2016-08-01T22:49:22Z")

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For Thunderbird I suggest creating a XUL bootstrapped extension. Both the SDK and WebExtensions were designed with Firefox in mind.

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**Author:** ![sewomedia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@sewomedia](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/sewomedia)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2016, 12:38pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/thunderbird-add-ons-current-state-of-the-art-2016-beginner-question/9986/5 "2016-08-05T12:38:55Z")

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> [@jorgev](#):
>
> For Thunderbird I suggest creating a XUL bootstrapped extension. Both the SDK and WebExtensions were designed with Firefox in mind.

Is there some source which is saying something about thunderbird?

i only found this useful article abou the future of add-on dev for fiefox from 2015:

> **[The Future of Developing Firefox Add-ons – Mozilla Add-ons Community Blog](https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2015/08/21/the-future-of-developing-firefox-add-ons/)**
>
> Today we are announcing some major upcoming changes to Firefox add-ons. Our add-on ecosystem has evolved through incremental, organic growth over the years, but there are some modernizations to Firefox ...