Why Chrome picks the wrong profile
macOS sends a clicked link to your default browser, and Chrome receives it without knowing which profile it belongs in. It opens the link in the profile whose window was in front last. If you were just reading personal mail, your work link opens in your personal profile, where you're signed out.
Chrome itself doesn't let you choose a profile per site, so the fix has to come from outside Chrome.
One link: the Terminal command
Each Chrome profile has a folder name, such as Default or Profile 1. To find it, open chrome://version in that profile and look at the last part of Profile Path. Then open a link in that profile with:
open -na "Google Chrome" --args --profile-directory="Profile 1" "https://github.com"It's handy in scripts and shortcuts, but it doesn't help with links you click in other apps.
Links from other apps: a link router with rules
A link router becomes your default browser, receives every clicked link and hands it to the browser and profile you set. In rule-based routers such as Finicky (free, rules in JavaScript), Velja and Choosy you write one rule per site: github.com goes to Work, notion.so goes to Personal.
This works well if you have few sites and they rarely change. Each new site needs a new rule, and a site you use in both profiles, like Google Docs, needs a prompt.
Without rules: pick the profile you're signed in to
Profile Porter is a link router that needs no rules. It reads what's already in your browsers, on your Mac: which profiles have sign-in cookies for the site, where you visit it most, where its password is saved. Each link opens in the profile you use that site in.
- When two profiles are about even, it shows a picker; your pick teaches it for next time.
- A wrong guess is one Undo away, in the notice that shows where it opened.
- For a site that should always go to one profile, add a rule in Settings › Sites.
- It works the same for Arc, Brave, Edge, Firefox (profiles and containers) and Safari profiles.
Setup takes about a minute: allow Full Disk Access so it can read your browsers, then make it your default browser. See the guide.
Get Profile Porter for €12, once.
Everything included, no account, and a full refund within 14 days if it isn't for you. macOS 14 or later; Windows is coming to the Microsoft Store.