Install CleverNode

About a minute: download the ZIP and drop it onto Chrome's extensions page. No account needed to install. Also works in Edge, Brave and other Chromium browsers.

CleverNode Extension v2.10.4

A ZIP file with the extension inside. Drop it onto Chrome's extensions page and you're done - the steps below walk through it.

Chrome, Edge, Brave Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS Under 100 KB
Download v2.10.4

InstallationFive steps. Chrome's labels are shown exactly as they appear on screen.

  1. Download the ZIP

    Click the download button above. Leave the file zipped - Chrome unpacks it itself in step 4. It lands in your Downloads folder unless you chose somewhere else.

  2. Open Chrome's extensions page

    Copy this into the address bar and press Enter (a normal link can't open it):

    chrome://extensions click to copy

    Or use the menu: ExtensionsManage Extensions. In Edge the address is edge://extensions, in Brave brave://extensions.

  3. Turn on Developer mode

    It's a switch in the top-right corner of the extensions page. When it's on, a row of new buttons appears under the search box - and the page will accept a dropped file.

  4. Drag the ZIP onto the page

    Find the ZIP you downloaded, then drag it from your file window and drop it anywhere on the extensions page. Chrome says Drop to install as you hover, unpacks the file into its own storage, and CleverNode appears as a card. You can delete the ZIP afterwards.

    Prefer not to drag? Unzip it and use Load unpacked

    Windows: right-click the ZIP and choose Extract All…, then Extract. Mac: double-click the ZIP. ChromeOS: double-click it, then drag the folder out into My files.

    Then click Load unpacked and choose the folder you just made - the one with manifest.json directly inside it. If Chrome complains about the manifest, you picked the folder one level too high.

    With this route Chrome loads the extension from that folder every time it starts, so keep the folder somewhere permanent (Documents, say). Delete or move it and the extension stops working. It does have one advantage: updating later keeps your sign-in and settings - see Updating.

  5. Pin it, sign in, add credits

    Click the puzzle-piece Extensions icon at the right of the address bar and pin CleverNode Assistant so it's always one click away. Click it, sign in with Google, then buy credits or pick a monthly plan - one credit answers one question.

    That's it. Open a quiz in Canvas, WebAssign or Pearson Mastering, click a question, and the answer appears beside it.

Good to know

  • "Managed by your organization" is normal. Chrome shows it for any extension installed this way. Nothing about your Chrome has changed.
  • It doesn't update itself. Extensions installed outside the Web Store can't. The popup tells you when a new version is out - see Updating below.
  • Not on the Chrome Web Store yet. The listing is in progress. Until then this page is the only download.

Updating to a new versionWhen the popup says OUTDATED. Which route depends on how you installed.

If you dragged the ZIP in

  1. Remove the old one

    On chrome://extensions, click Remove on the CleverNode card. Two copies side by side would both try to answer.

  2. Drag the new ZIP onto the page

    Exactly as in step 4 above. Chrome treats it as a fresh install, so you'll sign in again - your credits are on your account, not in the browser, and come straight back.

If you used Load unpacked

  1. Replace the folder's contents

    Unzip the new download and copy everything inside over the files in your existing CleverNode folder, replacing them. Same folder, same place - so Chrome still finds it.

  2. Reload the extension

    On chrome://extensions, click the circular reload button on the CleverNode card. The version number on the card changes, and your sign-in and settings are kept.

Troubleshooting

I dropped the ZIP and nothing happened

Almost always Developer mode is off - it's the switch in the top-right corner of chrome://extensions, and the page only accepts files while it's on. Turn it on and drop again; you should see Drop to install as you hover.

Make sure you're dropping onto the extensions page itself, not the tab strip or another tab. And drop the ZIP, not a folder you unzipped - for a folder, use Load unpacked instead.

I don't see a "Load unpacked" button

Developer mode is off. It's the switch in the top-right corner of chrome://extensions - turn it on and the button appears.

"Manifest file is missing or unreadable"

That's the Load-unpacked route with the wrong folder chosen. Chrome needs the folder that contains manifest.json directly - not a folder that only contains another folder. Open the unzipped folder: if the first thing you see is another folder with the same name, that inner one is the one to choose.

Or skip the unzipping altogether and drag the ZIP onto the page.

The icon isn't in my toolbar

It's hidden behind the puzzle-piece Extensions icon. Click that, then click the pin beside CleverNode Assistant.

Nothing happens when I click a question

Check three things: you're on a supported site (Canvas, WebAssign or Pearson Mastering - the full list), you're signed in to the extension with credits available, and the extension is switched on at chrome://extensions.

If the page was already open when you installed, reload it - the extension only attaches to pages loaded after it starts.

It stopped working after I cleaned up my Downloads folder

This happens with the Load-unpacked route: the extension runs from the folder you unzipped, so deleting or moving it leaves Chrome nothing to load. Remove the dead entry on chrome://extensions, download the ZIP again, and this time just drag it onto the page - Chrome keeps its own copy, and the download can go.

"Managed by your organization" appeared in my Chrome menu

Chrome shows this for every extension installed from a folder. It is a label, not a change - no organization has access to your browser.

Chrome turned the extension off on its own

Chrome occasionally disables extensions that aren't from its store and asks you to confirm. On chrome://extensions, switch CleverNode back on. If it also offers to remove it, choose to keep it.

Still stuck? support@clevernode.org - say which step and what the screen said.