feat: add --profile-directory option to specify Chrome profile #753

Yasindu20 · 2026-01-12T08:08:23Z

Summary

Adds support for specifying which Chrome profile to use via a new --profile-directory CLI option.

Motivation

Users often need to:

Test with different browser profiles that have specific extensions installed
Maintain separate contexts for different projects
Use profiles with pre-configured settings or logged-in accounts

Currently, there's no way to specify which profile Chrome should use when launched by the MCP server.

Changes

✅ Added --profile-directory CLI option with kebab-case alias
✅ Updated BrowserOptions interface to include profileDirectory property
✅ Connected CLI argument to Chrome's --profile-directory launch flag
✅ Added documentation in README.md with usage examples
✅ Included in the auto-generated options documentation

Usage Example

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chrome-devtools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "chrome-devtools-mcp@latest",
        "--profile-directory=Profile 1"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Or via command line:

npx chrome-devtools-mcp --profile-directory="Profile 1"

Documentation generated correctly with npm run docs
format with npm run format

Related Issues

Fixes #694

Added a new CLI option to allow users to specify which Chrome profile to use when launching the browser. Changes: - Added --profile-directory CLI argument - Updated BrowserOptions interface - Connected CLI arg to Chrome launch flag - Added documentation in README.md

sebastianbenz

Looks good, one suggestion on the docs.

src/cli.ts

sebastianbenz · 2026-01-12T10:10:35Z

Did you test this with autoconnect? I just tested this by running Chrome in "Profile 1" and setting "--profile-directory=Profile 2". In this case, the MCP server still connected to Profile 1, but I would've expected the connection to fail. Or is this the intended behavior?

Co-authored-by: Sebastian Benz <[email protected]>

Yasindu20 · 2026-01-13T06:41:49Z

Did you test this with autoconnect? I just tested this by running Chrome in "Profile 1" and setting "--profile-directory=Profile 2". In this case, the MCP server still connected to Profile 1, but I would've expected the connection to fail. Or is this the intended behavior?

@sebastianbenz Yes, I tested this with autoconnect and saw the same behavior even when Chrome is running with “Profile 1”, the MCP server still connects successfully when --profile-directory=Profile 2 is specified. So, I add a validation step to detect a profile mismatch after connecting and fail fast instead of silently attaching to the wrong profile. The intention is to avoid surprising connections when a specific profile is explicitly requested. Let me know if you’d like me to add anything specific to the docs around the profile behavior.

tacsizkral546154 · 2026-01-13T06:43:37Z

- Yasindu, Chrome profilini belirtmek için yeni --profile-directory seçeneğini ekleyen bir çekme isteği başlattı. - Sebastian'ın otomatik bağlantı sırasındaki profil uyuşmazlığı endişeleri üzerine, Yasindu bir doğrulama adımı ekledi. 13 Oca 2026 Sal 09:42 tarihinde Yasindu Dasanga De Mel < ***@***.***> şunu yazdı:

…

*Yasindu20* left a comment (ChromeDevTools/chrome-devtools-mcp#753) <#753 (comment)> Did you test this with autoconnect? I just tested this by running Chrome in "Profile 1" and setting "--profile-directory=Profile 2". In this case, the MCP server still connected to Profile 1, but I would've expected the connection to fail. Or is this the intended behavior? @sebastianbenz <https://github.com/sebastianbenz> Yes, I tested this with autoconnect and saw the same behavior even when Chrome is running with “Profile 1”, the MCP server still connects successfully when --profile-directory=Profile 2 is specified. So, I add a validation step to detect a profile mismatch after connecting and fail fast instead of silently attaching to the wrong profile. The intention is to avoid surprising connections when a specific profile is explicitly requested. Let me know if you’d like me to add anything specific to the docs around the profile behavior. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#753 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BMNMCXR527L4IE7CKSWEF5D4GSHUHAVCNFSM6AAAAACRMMOQI2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTONBSGI3TAOBUHE> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

OrKoN · 2026-01-13T11:23:57Z

src/browser.ts

+
+  if (options.profileDirectory && options.userDataDir) {
+    try {
+      const portPath = path.join(options.userDataDir, 'DevToolsActivatePort');


such file does not exist, did you mean DevToolsPort. A single user data dir hosts multiple profiles so I am not sure if the check handles it correctly.

OrKoN · 2026-01-13T11:24:43Z

src/browser.ts

    );
  }
+
+  if (options.profileDirectory && options.userDataDir) {


I do not think this check should be in the connection code branch.

OrKoN · 2026-01-13T11:25:11Z

src/cli.ts

    default: true,
    describe: 'Set to false to exclude tools related to network.',
  },
+  profileDirectory: {


we probably should be using https://pptr.dev/api/puppeteer.browser.browsercontexts to locate the browser context for the profile (currently the default browser context is used)

… the connection path, switched to referencing browser.browserContexts()

Yasindu20 · 2026-01-13T15:31:31Z

@OrKoN I fixed the DevToolsActivePort from DevToolsActivatePort. Removed the profile validation logic since a single userDataDir can contain multiple profiles, and that check isn’t reliable. Also removed the profile-related checks from the connection path, add it to the function launch(). For profile handling, I switched to referencing browser.browserContexts() and added clear logging that we currently fall back to the default context. Proper profile → context mapping can be improved once Puppeteer exposes a cleaner way to do this.

OrKoN · 2026-01-13T15:34:28Z

src/browser.ts

+    logger(`Found ${contexts.length} browser context(s)`);
+
+    logger(
+      `Profile directory "${profileDirectory}" specified. ` +


I think this PR does not add anything useful without the implementation for finding the browser context that matches the profileDirectory name. Passing --profile-directory to Chrome is already possible via the --chrome-arg param. Would you be up to figuring out how to find the correct browser context? it might right changes on the CDP and Puppeteer side.

Yasindu20 · 2026-01-13T16:44:23Z

@OrKoN Puppeteer or CDP don’t currently expose profile directory info for browser contexts. Now I tried to implement it to open a temporary page in each context, reads chrome://version to get the profile path, and matches it to the requested --profile-directory. If no match is found, it falls back to the default context. This works with existing APIs and can be updated later if CDP/Puppeteer expose profile metadata. If need any changes let me know

OrKoN requested a review from sebastianbenz January 12, 2026 08:52

sebastianbenz reviewed Jan 12, 2026

View reviewed changes

src/cli.ts Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

Yasindu20 and others added 4 commits January 13, 2026 08:56

Update src/cli.ts

e15f5dc

Co-authored-by: Sebastian Benz <[email protected]>

Merge branch 'main' into support-multiple-chrome-profiles

0abdf77

added a validation step to detect a profile mismatch

08f98e4

Run the npm run docs to up to date the documentation

3d5da8b

OrKoN reviewed Jan 13, 2026

View reviewed changes

fixed the DevToolsActivePort, removed the profile-related checks from…

276f81a

… the connection path, switched to referencing browser.browserContexts()

OrKoN reviewed Jan 13, 2026

View reviewed changes

Probe each BrowserContext

6744657

Yasindu20 requested review from OrKoN and sebastianbenz January 14, 2026 13:52

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Yasindu20 commented Jan 12, 2026

Summary

Motivation

Changes

Usage Example

Related Issues

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