Some browser profiles are missing

Problem

You have several profiles in Chrome (or another Chromium browser like Brave or Edge), but SupaSidebar only shows some of them in the profile picker. One or more profiles are missing when you try to link a profile to a space or open a link in a specific profile.

Cause

SupaSidebar does not guess your profiles. For Chromium browsers it reads them straight from the browser’s own Local State file, the same list Chrome uses for its profile menu. A profile only shows up in SupaSidebar if the browser has written it into that file.

A profile is usually missing for one of these reasons:

• The profile was created but never fully opened, so the browser hasn’t registered it yet.
• SupaSidebar scanned before the profile existed and hasn’t re-scanned since.
• The browser stores its data in a non-standard location (managed-device or portable installs that use a custom --user-data-dir).

Diagnostic: see exactly what the browser reports

This is the fastest way to tell whether the problem is on the browser’s side or SupaSidebar’s side. Ask the user to open Terminal and paste this (for Chrome):

python3 -c "import json,os; d=json.load(open(os.path.expanduser('~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Local State'))); [print(f'{k}  ->  {v.get(\"name\")}') for k,v in d['profile']['info_cache'].items()]"

It prints one line per profile the browser knows about, for example:

Default    ->  Personal
Profile 1  ->  Work
Profile 3  ->  Side project

For other browsers, swap the path in the command:

Now compare that list to what SupaSidebar shows:

• Profile is missing from the Terminal list too - the browser itself hasn’t registered it. This is a browser-side state, not a SupaSidebar bug. Open the profile once (see below) so the browser writes it to Local State.
• Profile is in the Terminal list but not in SupaSidebar - refresh the profile list in SupaSidebar. If it is still missing, include both lists when reporting the issue.

Solution

1. Open the missing profile once in the browser. Launch Chrome, switch into that profile, and let it load fully. This forces the browser to write the profile into Local State.
2. In 1.3.0 and later, click the link icon beside the space name, then use Refresh Profiles.
3. Follow any permission warning that appears. See Permissions.
4. Check whether the profile now appears. Using 1.2.x?

If the profile still doesn’t appear

If the diagnostic command lists the profile but SupaSidebar still does not show it after refreshing, email admin@supasidebar.com with:

• The browser name and version
• The output of the diagnostic command above
• A screenshot of SupaSidebar’s profile picker

Learn more

• Browser Profiles - Link a space to a specific browser profile
• Browser Profiles troubleshooting - Wrong browser launches, missing prompts, Live Tabs showing wrong tabs
• Permissions - Automation and Accessibility setup