Chrome 136+ cannot be driven over CDP with the default user-data-dir profile

If browser-use cannot attach to your real Chrome profile on Chrome 136+, copy your Default profile folder into a different directory and pass that new path as the user data dir in the browser config. Do not point it at the live default profile - Chrome refuses the CDP connection when another instance owns it. Close all existing Chrome instances before starting in debug mode, and use plain Chromium if you do not need the saved profile (cookies, logins, cache).

Context: Issue browser-use/browser-use#1520 (closed, 36 comments): Chrome v136 and newer can no longer be driven over CDP while using the default user-data-dir profile, so browser-use fails to connect to a real Chrome profile with a connection-refused style error. It works with plain Chromium. A maintainer confirmed the team is working on profile support and gave the interim workaround.

Source: Issue browser-use/browser-use#1520 (closed, 36 comments): Chrome v136 and newer can no longer be driven over CDP while using the default user-data-dir profile, so browser-use fails to connect to a real Chrome profile with a connection-refused style error. It works with plain Chromium. A maintainer confirmed the team is working on profile support and gave the interim workaround.

Verified resolution: If browser-use cannot attach to your real Chrome profile on Chrome 136+, copy your Default profile folder into a different directory and pass that new path as the user data dir in the browser config. Do not point it at the live default profile - Chrome refuses the CDP connection when another instance owns it. Close all existing Chrome instances before starting in debug mode, and use plain Chromium if you do not need the saved profile (cookies, logins, cache).

Source URL: https://github.com/browser-use/browser-use/issues/1520