Chrome/Edge Profiles Plugin

Switch the agent's browser tools between multiple Chrome or Microsoft Edge instances via CDP (Chrome DevTools Protocol). Each profile maps to a browser instance with its own user data directory, cookies, and authenticated sessions.

Supports both Google Chrome (--user-data-dir) and Microsoft Edge (--profile-directory).

How it works

The plugin registers a single tool: browser_profile(name).

When called, it:

1. Looks up the named profile in config.yaml
2. Local profiles — checks if browser is running on the configured port. If not, launches it with the correct arguments (--user-data-dir for Chrome, --profile-directory for Edge) and --remote-debugging-port. Waits for the port to come up.
3. Remote profiles — checks if host:port is reachable. Fails immediately if not (no launch attempt).
4. Sets BROWSER_CDP_URL in the running process so all subsequent browser tool calls (browser_navigate, browser_click, browser_snapshot, browser_vision, etc.) go through that browser instance.
5. Flushes any stale browser sessions from previous connections.

Calling browser_profile() with no arguments lists all available profiles and which one is currently active.

Configuration

Copy the example config and edit it:

cp config.yaml.example config.yaml

Then edit config.yaml to match your setup:

# Optional: global Chrome binary path (overrides PATH auto-detection)
# chrome_binary: /opt/google/chrome/google-chrome

profiles:
  work:
    type: local
    port: 9250
    data_dir: ~/.config/chrome-work

  personal:
    type: local
    port: 9251
    data_dir: ~/.config/chrome-personal
    # Optional: per-profile Chrome binary override
    # chrome_binary: /usr/bin/google-chrome-beta

  # Microsoft Edge profile (no data_dir, uses profile_directory)
  devsu:
    type: local
    browser_type: edge
    port: 9223
    profile_directory: "Default"

  remote-server:
    type: remote
    host: 192.168.1.100
    port: 9250

Profile fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
type	local or remote	Yes	Local profiles can auto-launch browser. Remote profiles only check reachability.
port	integer	Yes	Browser remote debugging port.
browser_type	chrome, edge, or auto	No	Browser type. auto tries Chrome then Edge. Default: auto.
data_dir	string	Chrome local	Path to Chrome user data directory. Supports ~ expansion.
profile_directory	string	Edge local	Edge profile name (e.g., Default). Required for Edge profiles.
host	string	Remote only	Hostname or IP of the remote browser instance.
chrome_binary	string	No	Absolute path to Chrome executable. Overrides global and PATH detection.
edge_binary	string	No	Absolute path to Edge executable. Overrides global and PATH detection.

Browser binary resolution (local profiles)

When a local profile needs to launch a browser, the binary is resolved based on browser_type:

For Chrome profiles:

1. Profile-level chrome_binary field
2. Top-level chrome_binary field
3. Auto-detect from PATH: google-chrome, google-chrome-stable, google-chrome-beta, chromium-browser, chromium

For Edge profiles:

1. Profile-level edge_binary field
2. Top-level edge_binary field
3. Auto-detect from PATH: microsoft-edge, microsoft-edge-stable, edge

For browser_type: auto: Tries Chrome first, then Edge.

Config reloading

config.yaml is re-read on every browser_profile() call. Edit the file and the next call picks up changes — no restart needed.

Usage examples

From the agent's perspective (these are tool calls the LLM makes):

# List all profiles
browser_profile()

# Switch to work profile (auto-launches Chrome if needed)
browser_profile(name="work")

# Now all browser tools use that Chrome instance:
browser_navigate(url="https://mail.google.com")
browser_snapshot()

# Switch to a different profile
browser_profile(name="personal")
browser_navigate(url="https://github.com")

# Connect to Chrome on another machine
browser_profile(name="remote-server")

Installation

Drop this directory into ~/.hermes/plugins/ or install with:

hermes plugins install anpicasso/hermes-plugin-chrome-profiles

The installer will automatically copy config.yaml.example to config.yaml for you.

Files

~/.hermes/plugins/chrome-profiles/
├── plugin.yaml          # Plugin manifest
├── config.yaml.example  # Configuration template
├── config.yaml          # Your configuration (created on install, gitignored)
├── __init__.py          # Tool registration and logic
└── README.md            # This file