Chrome 128 Locks DevTools to Localhost
Chrome version 128 silently ignores --remote-debugging-address=0.0.0.0. Cross-pod connections break with no error message. Here is why, and what to do.
The Breaking Change
Before Chrome version 128, --remote-debugging-address=0.0.0.0 told Chrome to accept connections from any pod. Chrome version 128 ignores this flag. Chrome now always listens on 127.0.0.1 (group chat only).
Prerequisites: localhost vs 0.0.0.0 and CDP.
Why: CDP has no password. Anyone who connects can control Chrome. The Chromium team decided that network exposure is too dangerous.
Same Pod vs Separate Pods
- Same pod: API and Chrome share the group chat. No problem.
- Separate pods: API must dial the extension. Chrome only reads the group chat. Connection fails.
The fix: put a socat receptionist inside the Chrome pod.
“Chrome has a flag called
--remote-debugging-address=0.0.0.0. From version 128 onward, it does nothing.”
References:
Related: see the socat receptionist pattern that fixes this, or go back to the series overview.