Browser Paths

browser-paths is a tiny cross‑platform helper crate that locates the executable file paths of Chrome and Edge (stable / beta / dev / canary) on the current machine.

It supports Linux, macOS, and Windows, and returns Option<PathBuf> so you can easily integrate it into tooling, CLIs, test runners, or browser automation.

Features

• Chrome & Edge support:
  • Stable, Beta, Dev, Canary channels
• Cross‑platform:
  • Linux: uses the which crate and distro‑style binary names (e.g. google-chrome-stable)
  • macOS: resolves /Applications/*.app/Contents/MacOS/*
  • Windows: searches LOCALAPPDATA, PROGRAMFILES, ProgramFiles(x86) for the standard install locations
• Simple API:
  • Convenience functions for Chrome and Edge
  • Helpers to get "latest" (prefer Canary/Dev) and "stable" (prefer Stable/Beta)

Installation

Add this crate to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
browser-paths = "1.0.1"

Usage

All public helpers live in the crate root and return Option<PathBuf>.

use browser_paths::{
    get_any_chrome_latest,
    get_any_chrome_stable,
    get_chrome_path,
    get_any_edge_latest,
    get_any_edge_stable,
    get_edge_path,
};

fn main() {
    // Latest available Chrome (Canary > Dev > Beta > Stable)
    if let Some(path) = get_any_chrome_latest() {
        println!("Latest Chrome found at: {}", path.display());
    } else {
        println!("No Chrome installation found.");
    }

    // Stable‑ish Chrome (Stable > Beta > Dev > Canary)
    if let Some(path) = get_any_chrome_stable() {
        println!("Stable Chrome found at: {}", path.display());
    }

    // Strictly the stable channel only
    if let Some(path) = get_chrome_path() {
        println!("Chrome stable (only) at: {}", path.display());
    }

    // Same helpers exist for Edge
    if let Some(path) = get_any_edge_latest() {
        println!("Latest Edge found at: {}", path.display());
    }

    if let Some(path) = get_edge_path() {
        println!("Edge stable (only) at: {}", path.display());
    }
}

Channel‑specific helpers

If you only care about a specific release channel, you can use:

• Chrome:
  • get_chrome_path() – Stable
  • get_chrome_beta_path() – Beta
  • get_chrome_dev_path() – Dev
  • get_chrome_canary_path() – Canary
• Edge:
  • get_edge_path() – Stable
  • get_edge_beta_path() – Beta
  • get_edge_dev_path() – Dev
  • get_edge_canary_path() – Canary

All of these return Option<PathBuf>, which will be None if that channel is not installed on the current platform.

Platform notes

• Linux

  • Uses the which crate to resolve browser binaries.
  • Expected names include:
    • Chrome: google-chrome-stable, google-chrome-beta, google-chrome-unstable, google-chrome-canary
    • Edge: microsoft-edge-stable, microsoft-edge-beta, microsoft-edge-dev, microsoft-edge-canary

• macOS

  • Looks for applications in /Applications only, using names like:
    • Chrome: Google Chrome.app, Google Chrome Beta.app, Google Chrome Dev.app, Google Chrome Canary.app
    • Edge: Microsoft Edge.app, Microsoft Edge Beta.app, Microsoft Edge Dev.app, Microsoft Edge Canary.app

• Windows

  • Searches these prefixes:
    • %LOCALAPPDATA%
    • %PROGRAMFILES%
    • %ProgramFiles(x86)%
  • And then appends the standard install suffix:
    • Chrome: Google\<Channel>\Application\chrome.exe
    • Edge: Microsoft\<Channel>\Application\msedge.exe

If a browser or channel is not installed in the expected path, the corresponding function will simply return None.

Testing

This crate includes basic tests that assert the discovered paths exist on the current machine. Because they depend on your local browser setup, you may want to run them only on machines where you expect all channels to be installed (e.g. CI images or a dev machine with all variants).

Run tests with:

cargo test

Tracked manual test coverage:

• macOS

  • Microsoft Edge
  • Google Chrome
  • Microsoft Edge Dev
  • Google Chrome Dev
  • Microsoft Edge Beta
  • Google Chrome Beta
  • Microsoft Edge Canary
  • Google Chrome Canary

• Ubuntu / Linux

  • Microsoft Edge
  • Google Chrome
  • Microsoft Edge Dev
  • Google Chrome Dev
  • Microsoft Edge Beta
  • Google Chrome Beta
  • Microsoft Edge Canary
  • Google Chrome Canary

• Windows

  • Microsoft Edge
  • Google Chrome
  • Microsoft Edge Dev
  • Google Chrome Dev
  • Microsoft Edge Beta
  • Google Chrome Beta
  • Microsoft Edge Canary
  • Google Chrome Canary

Credits

browser-paths has been inspired by several outstanding projects in the community:

• @edge-paths - Possible paths or binary names of Edge in the current platform
• @agent-infra/browser-finder - find browser in your system

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.