0.2.0

Hardened for managed computers, where containers hold other organizations' admin sessions.

Behaviour changes when you update: containers now sign out when Chrome closes, after 4 hours without use, and when the computer locks. To stay signed in across restarts, turn on Settings → Stay signed in after Chrome closes. Sync is now off by default, and turning it off removes the extension's data from your Google account.

New

• Settings an administrator can lock: every security setting can be set through Chrome policy (Google Admin console or the Windows registry). Locked settings show Set by your organization. See the configuration guide.
• Keys in memory: by default each container's encryption key is kept only while Chrome is open.
• Idle sign-out after 4 hours (adjustable), counting only real use: switching to a tab, clicking, typing or scrolling. Pages that refresh themselves in the background no longer keep a container signed in.
• Sign out when the computer locks.
• Sign out of all containers in Settings, for a lost or handed-over computer or offboarding.
• Device sign-in settings: removing Windows' Microsoft device sign-in and Device Bound Session Credentials from container tabs is now a setting each (both still on).

Safer

• Websites can no longer load or frame the "Open in…?" page, so they can't use it to move a tab into a container.
• Backup files are checked entry by entry before import, and refused whole if anything is wrong. Export and import can be turned off.
• Sync is off by default.

Docs

• The README's new Security model section says what's encrypted (container cookies), what's only kept apart (site storage), and what isn't separated (IndexedDB used from Web Workers, the HTTP cache).
• New administrator's configuration and hardening guide.

Install

Download containers-0.2.0.zip below, unzip it over your previous folder (or to a new one), and press reload on the extension's card in chrome://extensions (or Load unpacked for a new install).

0.1.0

First release. Containers for Chrome: stay signed in to several accounts on the same site, side by side in one window.

Early release: used daily with Gmail, Discord and GitHub and covered by automated tests, but not yet tried on every site. Not on the Chrome Web Store yet.

What's in it

• Containers as tab groups: each container is a named, coloured tab group with its own cookies, localStorage, sessionStorage and IndexedDB.
• Always open this site in…: assigned sites opened elsewhere ask "Open in container?" before anything is sent.
• Restarts: container tabs come back signed in after Chrome restarts.
• Encrypted at rest, and a container unused for 30 days is signed out automatically.
• Right-click menus: open link in container, reopen this tab in container, always open this site in.
• Shortcuts: Ctrl+Period opens the popup, Ctrl+Shift+1/2/3 open your first three containers.
• Sync and backup: names, colours, emoji and site assignments sync through Chrome; sign-ins never leave the computer.
• Chrome's own Google and Microsoft device sign-in can't leak into a container.

Install

1. Download containers-0.1.0.zip below and unzip it to a folder you'll keep.
2. Open chrome://extensions, turn on Developer mode, click Load unpacked and pick the folder.
3. Pin Containers to the toolbar.

Known limits

The HTTP cache is shared between containers; cookies set by redirects inside background requests can be missed; sites that serve every customer from one address (Autotask, Intune) can't be told apart by assignment, so open the client's container first. More in the README under How It Works.