Is it possible to start chromium with a chrome:// url?

While "normal" url's do work as expected, it seems impossible at first to use the chrome:// urls from a command, and there is nothing in the man chromium-browser man page on this.

However, it is very well possible to work around this, with the help of xdotool.

How it works

• install xdotool

  sudo apt-get install xdotool
  

• Use the following command in your .desktop file:

  /bin/bash -c "chromium-browser&sleep 2&&xdotool type 'chrome://inspect'&&xdotool key Return"
  

What it will do is open chromium browser, xdotool will type the chrome://inspect url and (simulate) press return.

Effectively this will do exactly what you want.
No need to say that you can replace chrome://inspect with any other of the chrome:// commands.

Note

In the command, there is a small break included of 2 seconds, to make sure the browser is loaded before xdotool starts to type. On my system (not the most recent) it can be changed to sleep 1 and still work perfectly. You can experiment a bit with it.

edit

Alternative

Dirty or not, a solution should always work. I tried the solution above now and then, and found that occasionally, it takes too long for the chromium-browser window to appear. Especially when the computer is heavily occupied, there is a chance xdotool starts typing "blindly".

The solution below is "time-proof" and should work under all circumstances; it makes sure xdotool only starts typing when a new chromium-browser window appears within appr. 15 seconds.

How to use

• Copy the script below into an empty file
• Save it as run_chrcommand.py

• use as command in your .desktop file:

  python3 /path/to/run_chrcommand.py
  

The script

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import subprocess
import getpass
import time

user = getpass.getuser()
get = lambda x: subprocess.check_output(["/bin/bash", "-c", x]).decode("utf-8")
ws1 = get("wmctrl -lp"); t = 0
subprocess.call(["/bin/bash", "-c", "chromium-browser&"])
while t < 30:      
    ws2 = [w.split()[2] for w in get("wmctrl -lp").splitlines() if not w in ws1]
    procs = [[p for p in get("ps -u "+user).splitlines() \
              if "chromium-bro" in p and w in p] for w in ws2]
    if len(procs) > 0:
        command = "xdotool type 'chrome://inspect'&&xdotool key Return"
        subprocess.call(["/bin/bash", "-c", command])
        break
    time.sleep(0.5)
    t = t+1