Use chrome.identity.launchWebAuthFlow to get an OAuth token

https://developer.chrome.com/apps/identity#method-launchWebAuthFlow

var CALLBACK_URL = 'https://'+chrome.runtime.id+'.chromiumapp.org';
var AUTH_URL = 'https://github.com/login/oauth/authorize/?client_id='+CLIENT_ID+'&redirect_uri='+CALLBACK_URL+'&scope=notifications';
...
// Opens a window to initiate GitHub OAuth, fires callback
// with token in the URL.
chrome.identity.launchWebAuthFlow({
  url: AUTH_URL,
  interactive: true,
}, function(redirectURL) {
  var q = redirectURL.substr(redirectURL.indexOf('#')+1);
  var parts = q.split('&');
  for (var i = 0; i < parts.length; i++) {
    var kv = parts[i].split('=');
    if (kv[0] == 'access_token') {
      token = kv[1];
      console.log('token is', token);
    }
  }
});

This would remove the need for users to generate a personal access token and copy/paste it in themselves.

[sindresorhus]

CLIENT_ID → 1053844927102-lb8knf98gq6o26bu4v5a3kpqpapj6tkl.apps.googleusercontent.com

[notlmn]

Well, that can just be an optional permission, right?

I already did that, the code is almost complete and is at https://github.com/notlmn/notifier-for-github/tree/identity-flow.

I closed it because it was making the extension more complex by adding more code to an otherwise simple extension.

And the other reason being adding additional permissions, which were recently removed in #161, and people were getting concerned about it.