| name | chrome-account-align |
| description | Use whenever the Claude-in-Chrome extension reports "Browser extension is not connected" or list_connected_browsers returns empty, before retrying browser work — and when setting up a new machine's Chrome for Claude. Deterministically aligns Chrome's claude.ai login with the Claude Code CLI account via a pinned per-machine Chrome profile. |
chrome-account-align — one pinned Chrome profile, always the CLI's account
The Claude-in-Chrome extension registers under whatever account the CHROME PROFILE's
claude.ai session holds. The CLI session only sees extensions registered to ITS account
(~/.claude.json → .oauthAccount.emailAddress). With multiple claude.ai accounts and
Chrome profiles, these drift — the fix is a standing per-machine pin, not a per-incident
hunt. Estate doctrine: one Gmail end-to-end per machine ([[feedback-account-alignment]]).
The contract
Every machine pins ONE Chrome profile in ~/.claude/chrome-align.json
({"profileDir": "Profile 1"}). That profile's claude.ai login equals the CLI's
oauthAccount.emailAddress — signed in once, never touched by other accounts. All
Claude browser work happens in that profile; the other profiles' claude.ai logins
become irrelevant.
When the extension is invisible
- Run the aligner:
zsh ~/.claude/skills/chrome-account-align/scripts/align.sh
(Windows: scripts/align.ps1). No mapping yet → it enumerates profiles with their
identities and exits with the one-line pin command; run it and re-run the aligner.
- The aligner opens
claude.ai/chrome in the pinned profile and prints the contract
(CLI account vs pinned profile). If the opened page shows a different account,
switch it there — once; the pin makes it permanent.
- Wait ~20s, then re-check
list_connected_browsers. First-ever installs write a
native-messaging-host file Chrome only reads on startup — a full Chrome quit (⌘Q)
is REQUIRED then, and restarting Claude Code may be too (per
code.claude.com/docs/en/chrome). The operator can also run /chrome in the CLI →
"Reconnect extension" (fixes idle service workers; needs extension ≥1.0.36).
- Still empty after a sign-in-verified attempt + restarts → matches the known
stale-identity bug (anthropics/claude-code#24593, no official fix); report the exact
CLI email and pinned profile name to the operator; do not loop.
- Completion criterion:
list_connected_browsers shows a browser, or the mismatch
is reported with both identities named.
New machine setup
Run the aligner once (it guides the pin), sign claude.ai in as the CLI account inside
the pinned profile, install the extension there (claude.ai/chrome), fully restart
Chrome. Done — every future session self-heals via the steps above.
Deeper failure modes
Wrong-MACHINE bind (tools respond but act on another computer's Chrome) and the
stale-relay cleanup recipe live in [[feedback-account-alignment]] — run its
navigator.platform check via javascript_tool before trusting a connected browser,
and note some sessions need the claude --chrome flag for the tools to load at all.
Boundaries
The script never reads cookies or stored credentials and never signs in by itself —
sign-in is always the operator's click in the opened tab (credential handling is
prohibited for agents). It only reads profile NAMES/emails from Chrome's Preferences
JSON and the CLI email from ~/.claude.json, and launches Chrome into the pinned
profile.
