# GoogleChrome/chrome-launcher

Launch Google Chrome with ease from node.

Repository: https://github.com/GoogleChrome/chrome-launcher
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/chrome-launcher
Homepage: https://www.npmjs.com/package/chrome-launcher
Language: TypeScript
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-06-30T19:51:12+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 69/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 90, release rhythm 25, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3291, "days_push": 64, "days_rel": 342, "gap_med": 141, "n_releases_24m": 2}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1358, forks 204 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:29.648455+00:00)

## What it is
A Node.js library from GoogleChrome that launches Google Chrome with the DevTools remote-debugging port open, automatically locating the Chrome binary and managing a fresh profile per launch. It is intended for automation and measurement tools that then interact with the browser over the DevTools protocol.

## Use cases
- launch chrome from a node script for automation
- open chrome with remote debugging port enabled
- run headless chrome for testing or scraping
- spin up a clean chrome profile for each automated run
- find the installed chrome binary cross-platform
- build a browser automation tool on the devtools protocol

## When to choose
- you need fine-grained control over how Chrome is launched (flags, prefs, port) from Node.js
- you're building tooling like Lighthouse that talks to Chrome via the DevTools protocol
- you want automatic Chrome binary detection and profile cleanup

## When to avoid
- you just want to drive a browser in tests — Puppeteer or Playwright are higher-level and handle launching themselves
- you need to automate browsers other than Chrome
- you're not working in a Node.js environment

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: developer-tools, workflow-automation
- domain: developer-tools, web-development, testing
- platform: cross-platform
- tags: chrome, browser-automation, devtools-protocol, headless-browser, npm-package, nodejs

## Member repositories
- GoogleChrome/chrome-launcher (main) score 69

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:29.648455+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:41:44.743414+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/GoogleChrome/chrome-launcher (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:29.648455+00:00, sha ae2a96f83ea2)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/chrome-launcher (fetched 2026-08-29T11:59:57.768690+00:00, sha d68d492f5e29)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.