chrome-bookmarks

Search, browse, and open Chrome bookmarks directly from the local Bookmarks JSON file.

When to use

• User asks to find or search their Chrome bookmarks by keyword
• User wants to open a bookmarked URL (e.g., "打开我收藏的 TAPD 链接", "open my GitHub bookmark")
• User wants to browse bookmark folders (e.g., "看看我书签栏 Code 文件夹下有什么")
• User wants to see the overall bookmark tree structure

Prerequisites

• Chrome browser installed (data at ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/)
• macOS (uses open command to launch URLs) — for Linux, replace open with xdg-open
• Python 3.8+ (system python3)

Steps

1. Search bookmarks by keyword

python3 @scripts/chrome_bookmarks.py search "\x3Ckeyword>" --limit 10

• --limit N: max results (default 20)
• --folder \x3Cname>: restrict search to a specific folder

Example: Search for TAPD-related bookmarks

python3 @scripts/chrome_bookmarks.py search "TAPD" --limit 10

2. Browse bookmark folder contents

python3 @scripts/chrome_bookmarks.py list --folder "\x3Cfolder_name>" --depth 2

• Omit --folder to list all top-level items
• --depth N: how deep to traverse the tree (default 2)

Example: List items in the "Code" folder

python3 @scripts/chrome_bookmarks.py list --folder "Code" --depth 2

3. Show bookmark tree structure

python3 @scripts/chrome_bookmarks.py tree --depth 1

Shows top-level folders with bookmark counts. Increase --depth for more detail.

4. Open a bookmark in the browser

python3 @scripts/chrome_bookmarks.py open "\x3Ckeyword>"

Opens the first matching bookmark URL in the default browser using the open command.

Example:

python3 @scripts/chrome_bookmarks.py open "iWiki"

This will find the first bookmark whose name or URL contains "iWiki" and open it.

Typical workflow

1. User asks to find a bookmark → run search with the keyword
2. Present results to user — show name, URL, and folder path
3. User picks one → run open with a more specific keyword or confirm the exact name
4. Bookmark opens in Chrome

Pitfalls

• Chrome must not be running a profile lock that prevents reading the Bookmarks file (rare on macOS — the file is always readable)
• The Bookmarks file is only updated when Chrome writes it (on bookmark changes or browser close). Very recent additions may not appear until Chrome flushes to disk.
• For users with multiple Chrome profiles, the script auto-detects Default first, then Profile 1, etc.
• The open command only works on macOS. On Linux, the script would need to use xdg-open instead.
• With large bookmark collections, the open command opens the first match. Use search first to verify the right bookmark if unsure.

Verification

After running search, confirm the output is a JSON array of bookmark objects with name, url, folder, and path fields. After running open, confirm the output contains "opened": true.

Script reference

• @scripts/chrome_bookmarks.py — Main CLI script (Python 3, zero external dependencies)