Open new Chrome window with different profile from command line

Question

I want to run a command line that opens a new chrome window with another profile.

I tested the following commands:

Preconditions:

• I have two profiles: Profile 1 and Profile 2

• Chrome is already running with Profile 1

open -a "Google Chrome.app" --args --profile-directory="Profile 2"

The above command does nothing other than bringing focus to the currently running chrome with Profile 1

I also tried:

open -a "Google Chrome.app" --args --profile-directory="Profile 2" --new-window

The effect is the same.

I want to run a command line that opens a new chrome window with Profile 2 while there is already a Chrome window running with Profile 1

Answer 1

Pass the arguments to the Google Chrome's executable directly, instead of routing them via open --args.

Set an alias to the executable inside Chrome app. (right click > show package contents)

alias chrome_cli="/Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome"
chrome_cli --profile-directory="Profile 1" --new-window
chrome_cli --profile-directory="Profile 2" --new-window

Even append --new-window to the alias if that's used a lot.

For more help, run

chrome_cli --help

To remove alias,

unalias chrome_cli

• https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/3773/how-to-pass-parameters-to-an-alias