chromium-migrate

Production-grade CLI to migrate Chromium browser profiles between browsers
Chrome · Brave · Arc · Edge · Vivaldi · Opera · Chromium · and more

Quick start · Features · Browsers · CLI · Architecture · Security · Contributing

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Why chromium-migrate?

Switching browsers usually means weeks of friction: lost bookmarks, dead sessions, re-typing passwords, and hunting down extensions.

chromium-migrate copies a full Chromium user profile from one browser to another — locally, safely, and verifiably.

Safe by default	Target profile is backed up before any write. Rollback in one command.
Secrets stay secret	Passwords & cookies are re-encrypted in memory. Never logged. Never written plaintext.
Browser-agnostic	Registry-driven paths for Chrome, Brave, Arc, Edge, Vivaldi, Opera, and more.
Production CLI	Progress UI, dry-run estimates, JSON/Markdown/HTML reports, batched SQLite I/O.

chromium-migrate migrate --from arc --to brave -y

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Features

Capability	Details
Bookmarks	Full folder tree, order, dates; Arc sidebar favorites imported when source is Arc
History & downloads	Large profiles (100k+ history rows) via batched SQLite
Passwords	Keychain / Safe Storage re-encryption on macOS
Cookies	Network/Cookies layout + encrypted value re-keying
Autofill	Addresses, form history, masked card metadata
Extensions	Packages + local/sync settings + compatibility notes
Sessions	Current / Last Session & Tabs
Permissions	Camera, mic, notifications, location, and more
Preferences	Compatible Chromium prefs (theme, startup, search, zoom, …)
Favicons / Top Sites	Databases copied and count-verified
Dry-run	Item counts, disk estimate, unsupported surface list — zero writes
Reports	JSON · Markdown · HTML under reports/

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Supported browsers

ID	Browser	Notes
chrome	Google Chrome
chrome-canary	Chrome Canary
chromium	Chromium
brave	Brave
arc	Arc	Spaces/Boosts not portable; sidebar → bookmarks
edge	Microsoft Edge
vivaldi	Vivaldi
opera	Opera
opera-gx	Opera GX
thorium	Thorium
dia	Dia	Experimental

chromium-migrate browsers    # paths for your OS
chromium-migrate profiles    # installed profiles + sizes

Add another Chromium browser with a single entry in src/browsers/registry.ts.

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Install

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22+
• Build tools for native modules (better-sqlite3, keytar)
• On macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools

git clone https://github.com/IshankDev/chromium-migrate.git
cd chromium-migrate
npm install
npm run build
npm link   # installs `chromium-migrate` and `cmigrate`

# without linking
node dist/cli.js --help
npm run dev -- profiles

# rebuild natives if install fails
npm rebuild better-sqlite3 keytar

The first password/cookie migration may prompt for OS keychain access — allow it for Safe Storage.

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Quick start

# 1. Discover
chromium-migrate profiles

# 2. Preview (no writes)
chromium-migrate dry-run --from arc --to brave

# 3. Migrate (terminates browsers, backs up target)
chromium-migrate migrate --from arc --to brave -y

# 4. Verify
chromium-migrate verify --from arc --to brave

# 5. Something wrong? roll back
chromium-migrate rollback

More examples

chromium-migrate migrate --from chrome --to brave -y
chromium-migrate migrate --from brave --to edge --source-profile "Profile 1"
chromium-migrate migrate --from edge --to vivaldi --no-passwords
chromium-migrate dry-run --from opera --to chrome
chromium-migrate backup create --browser brave -y

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CLI

Command	Description
migrate	Migrate --from → --to
verify	Compare source vs target counts
backup create / backup list	Snapshot a profile
rollback [id]	Restore the latest (or given) backup
dry-run	Estimate without writing
profiles	List discovered profiles
browsers	List supported browsers + expected paths
report	Show generated reports
clean	Prune old backups / logs / reports

Binaries: chromium-migrate · cmigrate · legacy arc2brave

Flags

Flag	Description
-f, --from <browser>	Source browser id
-t, --to <browser>	Target browser id
--source-profile / --target-profile	Profile folder (default Default)
--no-passwords / --no-cookies / …	Skip individual stages
--skip-backup	Skip target snapshot
-y, --terminate	Quit browsers without prompting
-v, --verbose	Debug logging

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Platform support

Platform	Discovery	DB copy	Password / cookie re-encrypt
macOS	✅	✅	✅ Keychain + AES-128-CBC
Linux	✅	✅	⚠️ via keytar; may copy blobs as-is
Windows	✅	✅	❌ DPAPI not yet — blobs copied as-is

Paths use portable {home} templates — never hardcoded to a username or machine.

export CHROMIUM_MIGRATE_HOME=/path/to/workdir   # logs, backups, reports

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Architecture

flowchart LR
  A[Source browser<br/>profile] --> B[Discovery & preflight]
  B --> C[Backup target]
  C --> D[Stage migrators]
  D --> E[Re-encrypt secrets]
  E --> F[Verify + reports]
  F --> G[Target browser<br/>profile]

Loading

src/
  browsers/     Registry · discovery · process control
  migration/    Stage migrators · orchestrator · verify
  services/     Backup · crypto / Safe Storage
  database/     Batched transactional SQLite helpers
  commands/     CLI (commander)
  reports/      JSON / Markdown / HTML
  utils/        Logging · progress UI · helpers

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Security

chromium-migrate is designed for local migration of your own profiles.

• Decrypt only in process memory for re-encryption
• Never print, log, or persist plaintext passwords / cookie values
• Redacted logging by default
• Prefer quitting browsers cleanly before migrate

See SECURITY.md to report vulnerabilities privately.

Not portable

• Browser-specific UI (Arc Spaces / Boosts, Vivaldi panels, Opera workspaces)
• Cloud sync / account session state
• Full credit-card PANs (masked / tokenized metadata only)

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Development

npm install
npm run typecheck
npm test
npm run build
npm run dev -- browsers

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Roadmap

• Windows DPAPI password/cookie re-encryption
• Stronger Linux secret-service integration
• Firefox → Chromium adapters (experimental)
• npm package publish + Homebrew formula
• Guided TUI mode

Vote with 👍 on issues — PRs welcome.

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Contributing

We welcome browser definitions, platform crypto work, tests, and docs.

1. Read CONTRIBUTING.md
2. Follow the Code of Conduct
3. Open a PR with clear test notes

⭐ Star the repo if this saved you a weekend of re-logins.

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License

MIT © chromium-migrate contributors