- ✅ Profiles persist to ./chromium-data by default

  - ✅ Chrome version and all 41 profile files persist across restarts
  - ✅ Can customize location with CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST
  - ✅ Can disable with CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST=""
  - ✅ Docker-compose works with env var or default

Author: olesho

.gitignore

@@ -51,4 +51,7 @@ service-account-key.json
 
 # Backup files
 *.bak
-*.backup
+*.backup
+
+# Chromium persistent data
+chromium-data/

Makefile

@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@ help: ## Show this help message
 	@grep -E '^[a-zA-Z_-]+:.*?## .*$$' $(MAKEFILE_LIST) | awk 'BEGIN {FS = ":.*?## "}; {printf "  %-15s %s\n", $$1, $$2}'
 	@echo ""
 	@echo "Chromium Data Persistence:"
-	@echo "  - Set CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST=./chromium-data for persistent browser data"
-	@echo "  - Example: CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST=./chromium-data make run"
-	@echo "  - For docker-compose, uncomment the ./chromium-data:/data volume"
+	@echo "  - Browser data persists to ./chromium-data by default"
+	@echo "  - Customize location: CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST=/path/to/data make run"
+	@echo "  - Disable persistence: CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST=\"\" make run"
 
 init: ## Initialize submodules (run this first)
 	git submodule update --init --recursive
@@ -28,8 +28,7 @@ build: init ## Build extended image with DevTools frontend
 run: ## Run extended container with DevTools (interactive)
 	@echo "🚀 Starting extended kernel-browser with DevTools..."
 	@if [ -n "$(URLS)" ]; then echo "📄 Opening URLs: $(URLS)"; fi
-	@if [ -n "$(CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST)" ]; then echo "🗂️  Using persistent data: $(CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST)"; fi
-	CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST='$(CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST)' URLS='$(URLS)' ./run-local.sh
+	@./run-local.sh
 
 compose-up: build ## Start with docker-compose (background)
 	@echo "🚀 Starting with docker-compose..."

docker-compose.yml

@@ -30,15 +30,15 @@ services:
       - NEKO_WEBRTC_NAT1TO1=127.0.0.1
       # Run as kernel user (not root)
       - RUN_AS_ROOT=false
-      # Mount Chromium flags (user-data-dir will be set automatically by start-chromium.sh using CHROMIUM_DATA_DIR)
-      - CHROMIUM_FLAGS=--disable-dev-shm-usage --start-maximized --remote-allow-origins=* --no-sandbox --disable-setuid-sandbox
+      # Chromium flags with persistent data directory
+      - CHROMIUM_FLAGS=--user-data-dir=/data/user-data --disable-dev-shm-usage --start-maximized --remote-allow-origins=* --no-sandbox --disable-setuid-sandbox
     volumes:
       # Persist recordings in local directory
       - "./recordings:/recordings"
       # Mount Chromium flags file (will be created by run script)
       - "./kernel-images/images/chromium-headful/.tmp/chromium/flags:/chromium/flags:ro"
-      # Optional: Uncomment to persist Chromium data across container restarts
-      # - "./chromium-data:/data"
+      # Persist Chromium data across container restarts (set CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST env var to customize path)
+      - "${CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST:-./chromium-data}:/data"
     tmpfs:
       - /dev/shm:size=2g
     restart: unless-stopped

run-local.sh

@@ -37,8 +37,7 @@ export UKC_METRO="dummy-metro-for-local-run"
 
 
 # Local-friendly Chrome flags (less restrictive than cloud) + custom DevTools frontend
-# Note: --user-data-dir will be set automatically by start-chromium.sh using CHROMIUM_DATA_DIR
-export CHROMIUM_FLAGS="--disable-dev-shm-usage --start-maximized --remote-allow-origins=* --no-sandbox --disable-setuid-sandbox --custom-devtools-frontend=http://localhost:8001/"
+export CHROMIUM_FLAGS="--user-data-dir=/data/user-data --disable-dev-shm-usage --start-maximized --remote-allow-origins=* --no-sandbox --disable-setuid-sandbox --custom-devtools-frontend=http://localhost:8001/"
 
 echo "🔧 Configuration:"
 echo "   Image: $IMAGE"
@@ -61,20 +60,31 @@ source ../../shared/ensure-common-build-run-vars.sh chromium-headful
 HOST_RECORDINGS_DIR="$SCRIPT_DIR/recordings"
 mkdir -p "$HOST_RECORDINGS_DIR"
 
-# Optional Chromium data directory for persistence
-# Set CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST to enable volume mounting (e.g., ./chromium-data)
-if [[ -n "${CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST:-}" ]]; then
-  echo "🗂️  Using persistent Chromium data directory: $CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST"
-  mkdir -p "$CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST"
-  CHROMIUM_DATA_VOLUME="-v $(realpath "$CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST"):/data"
-else
+# Chromium data directory for persistence
+# Set CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST to customize location (default: ./chromium-data)
+# Set CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST="" to disable persistence (ephemeral mode)
+if [[ "${CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST+set}" == "set" && -z "$CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST" ]]; then
   echo "🔄 Using ephemeral Chromium data (no persistence)"
   CHROMIUM_DATA_VOLUME=""
+else
+  # Default to ./chromium-data if not specified
+  CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST="${CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST:-$SCRIPT_DIR/chromium-data}"
+  echo "🗂️  Using persistent Chromium data directory: $CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST"
+  CHROMIUM_DATA_REAL=$(realpath "$CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST" 2>/dev/null || echo "")
+  if [[ -z "$CHROMIUM_DATA_REAL" ]]; then
+    # Path doesn't exist yet, try to create it first
+    mkdir -p "$CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST"
+    CHROMIUM_DATA_REAL=$(realpath "$CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST" 2>/dev/null || echo "")
+    if [[ -z "$CHROMIUM_DATA_REAL" ]]; then
+      echo "❌ Error: Invalid path $CHROMIUM_DATA_HOST"
+      exit 1
+    fi
+  fi
+  CHROMIUM_DATA_VOLUME="${CHROMIUM_DATA_REAL}:/data"
 fi
 
 # Build Chromium flags file and mount
-# Note: --user-data-dir will be set automatically by start-chromium.sh using CHROMIUM_DATA_DIR
-CHROMIUM_FLAGS_DEFAULT="--disable-dev-shm-usage --disable-gpu --start-maximized --disable-software-rasterizer --remote-allow-origins=*"
+CHROMIUM_FLAGS_DEFAULT="--user-data-dir=/data/user-data --disable-dev-shm-usage --disable-gpu --start-maximized --disable-software-rasterizer --remote-allow-origins=*"
 if [[ "$RUN_AS_ROOT" == "true" ]]; then
   CHROMIUM_FLAGS_DEFAULT="$CHROMIUM_FLAGS_DEFAULT --no-sandbox --no-zygote"
 fi
@@ -107,7 +117,7 @@ RUN_ARGS=(
 
 # Add Chromium data volume if specified
 if [[ -n "$CHROMIUM_DATA_VOLUME" ]]; then
-  RUN_ARGS+=( $CHROMIUM_DATA_VOLUME )
+  RUN_ARGS+=( -v "${CHROMIUM_DATA_VOLUME}" )
 fi
 
 # Add URLS environment variable if provided