Browser Profile Router

Browser Profile Router opens links in the browser profile that belongs to the email account a message was received on. Links in mail to you@work.example open in the Chrome profile signed in as you@work.example; links in your personal mail open in your personal profile.

Features

Automatic matching: picks the browser profile signed in with one of the account's email addresses (Chromium-based browsers). No setup needed if your profiles are signed in.
Per-account choice in the add-on's options: a specific browser profile, the system default browser, or automatic. A fallback covers messages that don't match.
Browsers: Chrome (Stable, Beta, Dev, Canary), Chromium, Brave, Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi, Firefox and LibreWolf. Firefox/LibreWolf profiles are chosen manually.
Context menu: right-click a link → "Open Link in Matching Browser Profile".

Required: install the helper
Add-ons can't launch other programs, so this add-on uses a small Python 3 helper (standard library only) through native messaging. Download the project and run ./install.sh, then restart Thunderbird:
github.com/ogarai/thunderbird-browser-profile-router
Supported on Linux and macOS; Windows is untested. Open the add-on's options to check it says "Native host connected".

Optional: links opened by other add-ons (e.g. Thunderbird Conversations)
Some add-ons, such as Thunderbird Conversations, show messages their own way and open links themselves, bypassing this add-on. To route those links too, quit Thunderbird and run host/register_handler.py from the project. It sets Thunderbird's own http/https link handler (handlers.json in your Thunderbird profile, with a backup) to the helper, which opens the link in the profile for the most recently selected message. Your system default browser is not changed. Undo with host/register_handler.py --uninstall. The add-on never makes this change itself.

Privacy
Nothing leaves your computer: no network requests, no analytics. The add-on sends the helper only the clicked link and the chosen browser/profile; the helper sends back the list of installed browser profiles. See the privacy policy for details.

Browser Profile Router does not collect, transmit or share any data. It makes no network requests, has no analytics or telemetry, and everything it handles stays on your computer.

WHAT THE ADD-ON READS

- Your mail accounts and their identity email addresses, to decide which browser profile belongs to which account.
- The message you are viewing or have selected (its folder, account and recipient addresses), to determine which account a clicked link belongs to. Message bodies are not read, except that a script in the message view watches for clicks on http/https links to get the link's address.

DATA EXCHANGED WITH THE NATIVE APPLICATION

The add-on uses native messaging to talk to a helper program (profile_router_host.py) that you install yourself. The helper runs locally and is needed because add-ons cannot launch other programs.

Sent from the add-on to the helper:
- The address (URL) of a link you clicked, so the helper can open it.
- The browser and profile identifiers to open it with (for example "chrome-canary" and "Profile 2").
- The same browser and profile identifiers whenever the selected message's target changes (see "Data stored on your computer").

Sent from the helper to the add-on:
- The list of installed browsers and their profiles, including each profile's display name and, for Chromium-based browsers, the email address of the account signed in to that profile. The helper reads this from the browsers' own local configuration files. It is used to fill the options page and to match profiles to your mail accounts automatically.

Your mail account addresses, message contents and message metadata are never sent to the helper.

DATA STORED ON YOUR COMPUTER

- Add-on settings (which account maps to which browser profile) are kept in Thunderbird's extension storage.
- The current target (browser and profile identifiers only) is written by the helper to $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/browser-profile-router/context.json, a per-user directory that is cleared when you log out (or to ~/.cache/browser-profile-router/ if XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is not set). It is read by the optional link handler (thunderbird_url_handler.py) for links opened by other add-ons.

REMOVING YOUR DATA

Uninstalling the add-on removes its settings. To remove the helper, delete browser_profile_router.json from your native messaging hosts directory, run host/register_handler.py --uninstall with Thunderbird closed, and delete the repository.

Some add-ons ask for permission to perform certain functions (example: a tab management add-on will ask permission to access your browser’s tab system).

Since you’re in control of your Thunderbird, the choice to grant or deny these requests is yours. Accepting permissions does not inherently compromise your browser’s performance or security, but in some rare cases risk may be involved.

Byvoegings

Welkom by Thunderbird Byvoegings.

Op pad?

Browser Profile Router 0.3.1

deur Orko

Aangaande dié byvoeging

Weergawe-inligting

Weergawe 0.3.1 Vrygestel op Okt. 1, 2026 7.4 KiB Werk met Thunderbird 128.0 and later

Byvoegings

Welkom by Thunderbird Byvoegings.

Op pad?

Browser Profile Router 0.3.1

deur Orko

Aangaande dié byvoeging

Weergawe-inligting

Weergawe 0.3.1 Vrygestel op Okt. 1, 2026 7.4 KiB Werk met Thunderbird 128.0 and later

Privaatheidbeleid

Permissions

This add-on can:

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