Identifying Instances

When you run PinchTab alongside your normal browser, the easiest way to distinguish its Chrome processes is to combine three signals:

  • a dedicated Chrome binary name
  • recognizable command-line flags
  • the PinchTab dashboard and instance metadata

1. Use A Distinct Chrome Binary Name

If you copy Chrome or Chromium to a custom filename, that filename appears in process listings.

terminal 
# macOS examplecp "/Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome" /usr/local/bin/pinchtab-chromechmod +x /usr/local/bin/pinchtab-chrome# Set in config.jsonpinchtab config set browser.binary /usr/local/bin/pinchtab-chromepinchtab server
# macOS examplecp "/Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome" /usr/local/bin/pinchtab-chromechmod +x /usr/local/bin/pinchtab-chrome# Set in config.jsonpinchtab config set browser.binary /usr/local/bin/pinchtab-chromepinchtab server

Now a process listing such as ps -axo pid,command | rg pinchtab-chrome gives you a quick way to spot the browser PinchTab launches.

2. Add Recognizable Chrome Flags

Use instanceDefaults.userAgent for a visible process marker, and reserve browser.extraFlags for safe non-security-reducing flags:

{
  "instanceDefaults": {
    "userAgent": "PinchTab-Automation/1.0"
  },
  "browser": {
    "extraFlags": "--ash-no-nudges --disable-focus-on-load"
  }
}

Those flags appear in the Chrome command line, which makes process inspection easier:

terminal 
ps -axo pid,command | rg 'PinchTab-Automation|user-data-dir'
ps -axo pid,command | rg 'PinchTab-Automation|user-data-dir'

Use this when you want to differentiate roles such as “scraper”, “monitor”, or “debug”.

Do not put security-reducing or PinchTab-owned flags in browser.extraFlags. For example, --user-agent=..., --no-sandbox, and stealth/runtime-owned flags are rejected.

3. Use Profile Paths As An Identifier

Each managed profile lives under the configured profile base directory. By default that is the OS-specific PinchTab config directory under profiles/.

PinchTab-launched Chrome processes include a --user-data-dir=... argument that points at that profile location. That is often the fastest way to confirm that a browser process belongs to PinchTab rather than your personal Chrome profile.

4. Use The Dashboard For The Most Reliable View

Open the dashboard at:

  • http://localhost:9867/
  • or http://localhost:9867/dashboard

The dashboard and instance APIs show:

  • instance IDs
  • profile IDs and profile names
  • assigned ports
  • headless vs headed mode
  • current status

If you need an API-based view instead of the UI:

terminal 
curl http://localhost:9867/instances
curl http://localhost:9867/instances

Practical Combination

For most setups, this combination is enough:

  1. point PinchTab to a renamed Chrome binary via browser.binary in config
  2. add a recognizable instanceDefaults.userAgent marker or a safe browser.extraFlags marker in config
  3. verify the profile path or instance ID in the dashboard

Docker

The same approach works in containers:

  • set browser.binary in config if you need to override the bundled browser path
  • put only safe identifying flags in browser.extraFlags
  • inspect the instance list from the API or dashboard rather than relying only on process names inside the container