Browser Profiles

A profile is a persistent per-account browser state — cookies (including HttpOnly session cookies and cf_clearance), localStorage, and site data — kept on disk as Chrome’s --user-data-dir under WEBRAIN_PROFILES_DIR (default %APPDATA%/webrain/profiles/<service>/<profile>).

Why profiles matter

A profile is what survives a Chrome restart. Reusing a profile restores the site’s session and auth state — no re-login, no re-solving. That is why protected or authenticated workflows start with a persistent profile, never an anonymous first attempt.

When to create vs reuse

Situation	Action
First login for a service	Create: `webrain launch <service> <profile> <url>` or `webrain_session(op=login)` with the vault
Every later task for that account	Reuse the same profile
After a challenge / auth failure	Reuse — never discard a working profile

Profiles and sessions

A profile is the durable state; a session is the live browser bound to it. See Browser Sessions. List vault profiles with webrain_session(op=profiles) — names only, never secrets.

Cross-browser auth transfer

Log in once in real Chrome on a persistent profile.
Export cookies on the live browser (webrain_session(op=cookies) or CLI webrain cookies). Session cookies do NOT survive a Chrome restart — export while Chrome is alive.
Import on the target connection (webrain_session(op=setcookies)), then batch on that same connection.
Or use webrain_session(op=save_state) / op=restore_state for portable cookies + localStorage JSON per profile.