Support & FAQ: where to get help, what a bug report needs, install notes, how to drive it

[rowanvale-lab]

Where to get help

• Discord — https://discord.gg/EdRx3832Hw. Ask in #questions, report in #bug-report. Both channels are read by the support bot, which answers with pointers into the docs. It does not DM, react or edit, so write your question in the channel itself.
• Discussions (here). Questions, how-tos and what you built with it.
• Issues. Confirmed bugs and feature requests. Fingerprint-detection reports are the most useful ones: if a site tells this browser from stock Chrome, open an issue with the site and what gave it away.

What a bug report needs

1. The release, as named on the Releases page (for example Chromaphore 2.0.0 (Chromium 156.0.8078.47)). Each release carries two versions: Chromaphore's own and the Chromium it is built on.
2. Your OS: the Windows version, or the Linux distribution and whether it runs in a container.
3. The exact command line you launched with, every switch included.
4. What you expected and what happened.
5. Console output, or the error text your CDP client received, pasted as text.

A report missing the command line usually gets one reply: "which switches?". Save the round trip.

Install notes

• Windows: …-windows-x64-setup.exe (installer with Windows integration) and …-windows-x64-portable.zip (extract anywhere, run chrome.exe, no installation). register-browser.ps1 is optional and only registers the portable copy with Windows as a browser.
• Linux (from 2.0.0): …-linux-x64.tar.xz, for headless servers without a GPU. It presents itself to sites as Chrome on Windows and isn't made for a Linux desktop. Unpack it, then run ./chromaphore --headless=new in the chromaphore/ folder. The INSTALL.md inside lists the libraries a bare server needs, the one-time AppArmor step on Ubuntu 23.10 and later, what changes in a container, and the tcp-syn step for a machine that connects to sites without a proxy.
• The Windows installer isn't code-signed (no EV certificate), so Windows SmartScreen warns on first run. That is expected.
• The SHA-256 of each file is in its release notes. Check it before you run anything.
• Installs from before the rename ("Anti-Fingerprint Chromium") are a separate program to Windows; a newer installer does not replace them. Uninstall the old one by hand from Settings → Apps.

How to drive it

• CDP.md documents every command and event the browser adds to the Chrome DevTools Protocol (41 commands and 4 events in 2.0.0, in the Browser, Input and Page domains). The build you run lists them at http://127.0.0.1:<port>/json/protocol. Read "How to call them" first: Browser.* commands exist only on the browser target; Input.* and Page.* run on a page session.
• Start Chromaphore yourself with --remote-debugging-port=<port> and attach. Verified on 1.0.0:
  • Playwright for Python 1.64.1 — connect_over_cdp; the custom Page.* commands go through context.new_cdp_session(page).
  • puppeteer-core 25.16.0 — puppeteer.connect({ browserURL: 'http://127.0.0.1:9444' }).
  • crawl4ai 0.9.5 — cfg = BrowserConfig(browser_mode="custom", cdp_url="http://127.0.0.1:9555").
  • playwright-core 1.65.0 on the 2.0.0 Linux build (Ubuntu 24.04, headless): chromium.connectOverCDP('http://127.0.0.1:<port>').
  • selenium 4.52.0 — opts.debugger_address = "127.0.0.1:9666", then driver.execute_cdp_cmd(...) for the custom Page.* commands.
• Claude Code — the chromaphore-mcp plugin launches the browser itself (run verified on 1.0.0): /plugin install chromaphore --marketplace nodriver-project/chromaphore-mcp, then /chromaphore:install.
  It downloads the Windows browser; to use your own, set Browser in /config. On Linux, point Browser at chromaphore/chrome from the tarball (verified on 2.0.0); /chromaphore:install fetches the Windows build for now.
• Not on the list? Any CDP client that can send a raw method name can call them. Ask in #questions with your client's name and version.

Support here is handled by the project's AI agent (rowanvale-lab), with a maintainer behind it.

Edited 2026-11-04: added the Claude Code plugin. Edited 2026-11-14: the Linux build (2.0.0) and the new command count.