go-chrome-ai

go-chrome-ai is a cross-platform Chrome profile patcher written in Go, with both CLI and GUI modes. It helps enable Chrome AI-related features (including Ask Gemini) without reinstalling Chrome or recreating your profile, and can also block Chrome from silently downloading the on-device Gemini Nano model (~2–4 GB) by flipping the relevant chrome://flags and applying Google's GenAILocalFoundationalModelSettings Enterprise policy.

Support

Quickstart

Install

brew install --cask itamaker/tap/go-chrome-ai

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/itamaker/go-chrome-ai/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

You can also download binaries from GitHub Releases.

Each archive contains a single executable: go-chrome-ai. The macOS archives include the GUI-capable binary. Linux and Windows releases ship the CLI binary for portable installs.

First Run

Run:

go-chrome-ai        # CLI mode on every release
go-chrome-ai gui    # GUI mode on macOS release builds or source builds

On some macOS systems, Gatekeeper may block first launch for downloaded binaries. If that happens, run:

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine $(which go-chrome-ai)

Typical warning:

Apple could not verify “go-chrome-ai” is free of malware that may harm your Mac or compromise your privacy.

It enables Chrome AI-related features (such as Ask Gemini) by patching local profile state:

• is_glic_eligible (recursive) -> true
• variations_country -> "us"
• variations_permanent_consistency_country -> ["<last_version>", "us"] (if field exists and is patchable)

It can also block on-device AI model downloads (Gemini Nano), which is the default in both CLI and GUI, via two independent mechanisms:

• Individual chrome://flags overrides (CLI: -disable-flag, GUI: per-flag checkboxes) — currently none are listed. Chrome renames/retires these flag IDs across milestones without notice, and getting one wrong is worse than listing none: on Chrome 151, the two flags this tool previously managed are both gone (one removed outright with no successor, the other renamed to a flag whose "Disabled" option no longer sits where this tool expected — writing it as before would have silently enabled a different mode instead of disabling anything). Rather than ship a flag that either does nothing or does the wrong thing, this list stays empty until a replacement is verified end-to-end against a current Chrome build.
• GenAILocalFoundationalModelSettings = 1 written to the OS managed-policy store (CLI: -disable-ai-policy, GUI: policy checkbox) — this is the mechanism actually confirmed reliable, independent of Chrome's flag churn:
  • macOS: defaults write com.google.Chrome GenAILocalFoundationalModelSettings -int 1
  • Linux: /etc/opt/chrome/policies/managed/go-chrome-ai.json (needs sudo)
  • Windows: HKLM\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome REG_DWORD (falls back to HKCU if not running elevated)

Because the policy write is an Enterprise policy, Chrome will display the "managed by your organization" banner afterwards. Both mechanisms are independently selectable, or together via "select all" (CLI: -disable-ai-download, GUI: "Select all" checkbox, both default on). Turn off -disable-ai-download (CLI) or "Select all" (GUI) to pick and choose once flags are available again.

Every run fully syncs Chrome to the current selection, in both directions: a selected item is applied (flag forced to Disabled / policy written), and a deselected item is actively reverted — its chrome://flags override is removed (back to Chrome's default) and the chrome://policy entry is deleted from the OS managed-policy store, if either was previously set by this tool. Unchecking an option is not a no-op; it undoes that option's effect on the next run.

Screenshot

Requirements

• Go 1.26+
• Google Chrome installed (Stable / Canary / Dev / Beta)

Run CLI

go run ./cmd/go-chrome-ai

Flags:

• -dry-run: show changes without writing files or killing Chrome
• -no-restart: patch but do not restart Chrome
• -disable-ai-download (default true): "select all" — block on-device AI model downloads by disabling every known chrome://flags entry and writing GenAILocalFoundationalModelSettings=1 to the OS managed-policy store. Use -disable-ai-download=false to pick individually with -disable-flag and/or -disable-ai-policy instead.
• -disable-flag <name> (repeatable): disable one specific chrome://flags entry by name. No entries are currently listed (see above) — any name passed here is rejected. Only takes effect when -disable-ai-download=false.
• -disable-ai-policy (default true): write the GenAILocalFoundationalModelSettings Enterprise policy, independent of which flags are selected. Only takes effect when -disable-ai-download=false.

Run GUI

go run ./cmd/go-chrome-ai gui

Prebuilt Linux and Windows releases are CLI-only. Build from source if you want the Fyne GUI on those platforms.

The GUI includes:

• auto-detection of installed Chrome channels
• left/right split layout (configuration on the left, run controls + logs on the right)
• one-click patch flow
• progress bar
• real-time logs
• a checkbox per chrome://flags entry, a checkbox for the chrome://policy write, and a "Select all" master switch over both (checking it selects and locks everything; uncheck it to pick items individually), with a live preview of the exact changes before you press Run

Build From Source

make build

go build -o output/go-chrome-ai ./cmd/go-chrome-ai

Makefile:

• make build
• make release-check to validate .goreleaser.yaml
• make snapshot to build GoReleaser release assets into dist/

Local build output is written to output/. GoReleaser packaging output is written to dist/.

Installed binary usage:

go-chrome-ai        # CLI mode on every release
go-chrome-ai gui    # GUI mode on macOS release builds or source builds

What It Does

1. Detects Chrome user-data directories per OS/channel.
2. Stops running Chrome processes to avoid file locks.
3. Patches Local State.
4. Restarts previously running Chrome executables (unless disabled).

Notes

• Back up Chrome User Data if you want a safety net.
• Run with the same OS user that owns the Chrome profile.
• Not affiliated with Google. Use at your own risk.

Contributors ✨

Zhaoyang Jia

License

MIT