WhichProfile

Choose which Chrome profile opens a link on macOS.

Click a link in Slack, Mail, Notes or any other app and a small popup appears next to your cursor asking which profile? Pick one with the mouse or the number keys, and the link opens there. No more links landing in the wrong Google account.

Features

• A profile picker for every link. The popup appears at your cursor and stays on screen. WhichProfile lives in the menu bar with no Dock icon, so it is always ready.
• Private windows. Click the glasses on a row, or hold ⌥ while choosing, to open the link in a private window of that profile.
• Copy link. Copy the link instead of opening it (⌘C).
• Tracking removal. Strips utm_*, fbclid, gclid and similar parameters before the link opens, and tells you when it did. Turn it off in Settings.
• Remembers your last choice. The profile you used last is highlighted, so Return reopens it.
• Menu bar app. An icon in the menu bar shows it is running. Its menu opens Settings, shows default-browser status, toggles Open at login and quits.
• A settings window, not a config file. Rename, reorder, add and remove profiles, detect them from Chrome, and see at a glance whether it is your default browser.
• Private by design. No network access, no accounts, no analytics. Links are never stored or logged.
• Free and open source (MIT). Native Swift, no dependencies.

Install

WhichProfile is built from source (prebuilt releases are planned).

Requirements: Google Chrome and the Xcode command-line tools (xcode-select --install); full Xcode is not needed. The app targets macOS 12 or later, but has so far only been tested on a recent macOS release. Reports from other versions are welcome.

git clone https://github.com/arverma/WhichProfile.git
cd WhichProfile
./build.sh

This builds the app, signs it ad hoc, and installs it to ~/Applications/WhichProfile.app. If macOS blocks the first launch:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ~/Applications/WhichProfile.app

Quick start

Open WhichProfile from Spotlight. A menu bar icon appears (there is no Dock icon) and the settings window opens on the General tab, which walks you through three steps:

1. Make it your default browser (one button; macOS asks you to confirm).
2. Add your Chrome profiles in the Profiles tab, using Detect from Chrome or Add Profile….
3. Click a link in any other app.

Using the picker

Action	How
Open in a profile	Click it, or press 1–9
Move the selection	↑ / ↓, or hover
Open the selected profile	Return
Open in a private window	Click the glasses, or hold ⌥ with any of the above
Copy the link	Copy link button, or ⌘C
Edit your profiles	Edit profiles…, or ,
Dismiss	Esc, or click elsewhere

Links clicked inside Chrome never go through the default browser, so they are not intercepted.

Settings

Open the window from the menu bar icon (Settings…), or by opening WhichProfile again from Spotlight. It has four tabs: General (setup checklist and options), Profiles (rename by double-click or the pencil, drag to reorder, remove with the trash icon after a confirmation, Add Profile…, Detect from Chrome), Features (everything the app can do, with shortcuts) and About (version, privacy, links, copyable diagnostics). Changes save automatically.

Finding your profiles

macOS protects other apps' data, so WhichProfile may not be able to read Chrome's profile list on its own. You have three options:

1. Detect from Chrome in the Profiles tab. If macOS blocks the read, you are asked to select Chrome's data folder (~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome), which grants access.
2. Add Profile… and enter each profile's directory. In Chrome, open the profile, go to chrome://version and take the last part of "Profile Path" (for example Default or Profile 3).
3. Full Disk Access for the app (System Settings → Privacy & Security). This is a broad permission, so options 1 and 2 are preferred.

Configuration file

Settings are stored in ~/.config/whichprofile/config.json. You never need to edit it by hand, but you can. Every key is optional:

{
  "profiles": [
    { "dir": "Default",   "name": "Personal" },
    { "dir": "Profile 1", "name": "Work" }
  ],
  "rememberLast": true,
  "cleanLinks": true
}

Key	Meaning
profiles	The profiles to offer, in order. dir is Chrome's directory name
rememberLast	Pre-select the last-used profile (default true)
cleanLinks	Remove tracking parameters from links (default true)
hidden, order, labels	Older hand-written alternatives: hide profiles, reorder them, rename them. The settings window folds these into profiles the first time you change something

Environment variables for development: WHICHPROFILE_CONFIG (config path) and WHICHPROFILE_LOG (log path).

Command line

The app's executable has a few options, useful for debugging or when you prefer the terminal:

~/Applications/WhichProfile.app/Contents/MacOS/WhichProfile --list-profiles   # print the profiles it would show
~/Applications/WhichProfile.app/Contents/MacOS/WhichProfile --setup           # edit profiles in a terminal menu
~/Applications/WhichProfile.app/Contents/MacOS/WhichProfile --background      # start in the menu bar without the settings window
~/Applications/WhichProfile.app/Contents/MacOS/WhichProfile --help

Privacy

WhichProfile runs entirely on your Mac. It has no network access, no accounts, no analytics and no tracking. It stays running in the menu bar so the picker is instant, and does nothing while idle. The links you click are handed to Chrome and are never stored. Its log (~/Library/Logs/WhichProfile.log) records which profile was used, never the link. The whole app is under 2,000 lines of Swift, so you can read exactly what it does.

How it works

The app registers for http and https links. When one arrives it shows the popup at the mouse position and then runs:

open -na "Google Chrome" --args --profile-directory="Profile 1" [--incognito] "<link>"

The -n flag is what makes Chrome honour --profile-directory even when it is already running.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to try
Links open in Chrome without a popup	WhichProfile is not your default browser. Open it and use Make Default… on the General tab
The popup shows an orange "Add your profiles" note	It could not read Chrome's profile list. Add profiles in the Profiles tab
A private window does not open	Chrome profiles managed by an organisation can block private windows. Chrome decides, not WhichProfile
Do I need to start it at login?	Optional. Turn on Open at login in General (or the menu bar icon) for an instant picker after a restart. Without it, macOS starts WhichProfile the first time you click a link
I quit it from the menu bar	It starts again the next time you click a link, or when you open it from Spotlight
There is no Dock icon	By design. Use the menu bar icon to reach Settings
A profile does not open	Check its directory in chrome://version. Run --list-profiles and read ~/Library/Logs/WhichProfile.log

Still stuck? Open an issue and paste the text from About → Copy diagnostics (it contains no links or names).

Project layout

Sources/      app code: popup, settings window, profile list, link cleaning, launcher, setup
Resources/    Info.plist, app icon and settings icons
Scripts/      app icon generator
Tests/        dependency-free tests (Tests/run.sh)
docs/         screenshots
build.sh      build and install
VERSION       version number, stamped into the app by build.sh

Development

./Tests/run.sh   # logic tests
./build.sh       # build and install

The logic (profile parsing, config, link cleaning, launch arguments, the editable profile list and --setup) is covered by tests. The popup and settings window are not, so please try them by hand. See CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request.

License

MIT, see LICENSE. Chrome is a trademark of Google LLC. WhichProfile is an independent project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google.