Yardmaster icon: a railway switch with an amber lamp

Yardmaster

Every link on the right track. Links from Telegram, Slack and Mail open in the right Chrome profile — work stays at work, family stays personal.

Download for macOS Buy — $9.99

Free 14-day trial, nothing held back. macOS 14 or later, Google Chrome. Version 0.1.0.

Rules — checked top to bottom, the first match wins
Domainatlassian.netWork
Sent bySlackWork
URL containsinstagram.com/reelPersonal
Sent byTelegramPersonal
Sent byWhatsAppPersonal
Anything else→ Personal

You know this one

Two Chrome profiles, one default browser. Somebody sends you a reel on Telegram and it opens in the work window, signed in to the company account. A Jira link from Slack lands in the personal one and asks you to log in. The fix so far was to remember to click the right window first. Yardmaster remembers instead.

How it works

Make it your default browser

One click in Yardmaster's settings. It has no window and no Dock icon — it only takes the links macOS hands to the default browser.

Write a few rules

By domain, by any part of the link, or by the app that sent it. Pick profiles from Chrome's own list. Everything else goes to the profile you choose as default.

Click links anywhere

The tab opens in the right profile and that Chrome window comes to the front. Chrome closed? It starts straight in the right profile — no profile picker.

Why it just works

Yardmaster doesn't juggle windows or script Chrome. It asks Chrome to do the one thing Chrome does well: open this link in that profile. That's a documented Chrome feature, stable for a decade, so it needs no Accessibility permission, no screen recording, no extensions — and it takes about a tenth of a second.

What's in the box

Three kinds of rules

Domain (with subdomains), any part of the URL, or the sending app — by name, bundle id, or path when two copies of an app share one id.

Never loses a link

No rule matched? The default profile. Profile gone? Chrome picks. Chrome missing? You get the link back with a Copy button.

Try before you click

Type a link into the settings and see which rule fires, from which app, before it ever matters.

Plain files, real CLI

Rules live in a JSON file you can edit and sync. Yardmaster --test <url> shows the decision and the exact command sent to Chrome.

Stays out of the way

No launch-at-login item: macOS starts it when a link arrives. Menu-bar icon optional. Log with hosts only, never full URLs.

Private by construction

Nothing leaves your Mac. No accounts, no telemetry, and the licence key is checked offline.

Price

$9.99once

One licence for you, on every Mac you own, with every 1.x update. Try it free for 14 days first — after that links keep opening, only the rules pause until you enter a key.

Buy Yardmaster Download trial

Questions

Does it need any macOS permissions?

No. It becomes the default browser (macOS asks you to confirm that once) and talks to Chrome through Chrome's own command line. Nothing else.

Which browsers?

Google Chrome with two or more profiles. Links you click inside Chrome stay inside Chrome — Yardmaster only sees links coming from other apps.

What if Chrome isn't running?

Chrome starts directly in the right profile with your link, no profile picker in between.

Shared domains like docs.google.com?

A URL can't tell you which account a Google Doc belongs to, but the sending app usually can: a "Sent by Slack → Work" rule covers it.

How does the licence work?

You get a key after purchase; paste it once in Settings → License (or click the Activate button on the thank-you page). It's checked on your Mac, never online, and it isn't tied to a machine.

Refunds?

Try the full app for 14 days first. If you bought it and it doesn't do what you needed, write within 14 days of purchase and you'll get your money back.

App Store?

Not yet. The App Store sandbox makes Chrome profiles a two-step setup; the direct version needs none. If you need the App Store, tell us.