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Browser pools accept an optional chrome_policy object that lets you apply Chrome enterprise policies to every browser in the pool. Use this to control startup behavior, default homepages, bookmarks, and other browser-level settings.

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Setting chrome policies

Pass a chrome_policy object when creating or updating a pool. Keys are Chrome policy names and values are the corresponding settings. 
import Kernel from '@onkernel/sdk';

const kernel = new Kernel();

const pool = await kernel.browserPools.create({
  name: "my-configured-pool",
  size: 5,
  chrome_policy: {
    HomepageLocation: "https://kernel.sh",
    HomepageIsNewTabPage: false,
    ShowHomeButton: true,
    NewTabPageLocation: "https://kernel.sh/docs",
    RestoreOnStartup: 4,
    RestoreOnStartupURLs: ["https://kernel.sh"],
    BookmarkBarEnabled: true,
    ManagedBookmarks: [
      { toplevel_name: "Company Resources" },
      { name: "Dashboard", url: "https://example.com/dashboard" },
      { name: "Documentation", url: "https://example.com/docs" },
      {
        name: "Tools",
        children: [
          { name: "Jira Board", url: "https://example.com/jira" },
          { name: "Slack", url: "https://example.com/slack" },
          { name: "GitHub PRs", url: "https://example.com/github" },
          { name: "Runbooks", url: "https://example.com/runbooks" }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
});

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Updating policies on an existing pool

You can update chrome_policy on an existing pool. Pass discard_all_idle: true to immediately replace all idle browsers with the new policy configuration. 
{
  "chrome_policy": {
    "HomepageLocation": "https://kernel.sh",
    "HomepageIsNewTabPage": false,
    "ShowHomeButton": true,
    "NewTabPageLocation": "https://kernel.sh/docs",
    "RestoreOnStartup": 4,
    "RestoreOnStartupURLs": ["https://kernel.sh"],
    "BookmarkBarEnabled": true,
    "ManagedBookmarks": [
      {"toplevel_name": "Company Resources"},
      {"name": "Dashboard", "url": "https://example.com/dashboard"},
      {"name": "Documentation", "url": "https://example.com/docs"},
      {
        "name": "Tools",
        "children": [
          {"name": "Jira Board", "url": "https://example.com/jira"},
          {"name": "Slack", "url": "https://example.com/slack"},
          {"name": "GitHub PRs", "url": "https://example.com/github"},
          {"name": "Runbooks", "url": "https://example.com/runbooks"}
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  "discard_all_idle": true
}

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Example policies

The example above demonstrates setting a default homepage and managed bookmarks. Here’s what each policy does:
PolicyTypeDescription
HomepageLocationstringURL loaded when clicking the home button
HomepageIsNewTabPagebooleanWhen false, the home button navigates to HomepageLocation instead of the new tab page
ShowHomeButtonbooleanShows the home button in the toolbar
NewTabPageLocationstringURL shown when opening a new tab
RestoreOnStartupintegerSet to 4 to open a specific list of URLs on browser startup
RestoreOnStartupURLsstring[]URLs to open when the browser starts. Requires RestoreOnStartup set to 4
BookmarkBarEnabledbooleanShows the bookmark bar
ManagedBookmarksarrayPre-configured bookmarks. Supports folders via nested children arrays

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Available policies

Any policy listed in the Chrome Enterprise policy documentation can be used in the chrome_policy object. Refer to the official docs for the full list of supported policy names, types, and values.