Unwanted Chrome launcher icon appears in macOS Dock when using "Open DevTools in Browser" command

[khusantoy]

Environment

• OS: macOS Tahoe 26.2
• Flutter version:

  Flutter 3.38.9 • channel stable • https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git
  Framework • revision 67323de285 (2 days ago) • 2026-01-28 13:43:12 -0800
  Engine • hash 5eb06b7ad5bb8cbc22c5230264c7a00ceac7674b (revision 587c18f873) (2 days ago) • 2026-01-27 23:23:03.000Z
  Tools • Dart 3.10.8 • DevTools 2.51.1

• VS Code version:

  Antigravity Version: 1.15.8
  VSCode OSS Version: 1.104.0
  Commit: 7a8657542180fb8440c8dcc20d83285fe11360ed
  Date: 2026-01-24T04:14:01.501Z
  Electron: 37.3.1
  Chromium: 138.0.7204.235
  Node.js: 22.18.0
  V8: 13.8.258.31-electron.0
  OS: Darwin arm64 25.2.0
  Language Server CL: 860355132

• Dart extension version: 3.126.0

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open a Flutter project in VS Code
2. Run the app on a device/simulator
3. Use the command "Dart: Open DevTools in Browser" from the command palette (Cmd+Shift+P)

Expected Behavior

DevTools should open in the default browser without any additional icons appearing in the macOS Dock.

Actual Behavior

When DevTools opens in Chrome, an unwanted Chrome launcher icon appears and remains in the macOS Dock. This icon is separate from the normal Chrome application icon and clutters the Dock unnecessarily.

Screenshots

Screen.Recording.2026-01-30.at.21.52.24.mov

Additional Context

• The extra icon only appears when launching DevTools from VS Code
• Opening Chrome normally doesn't create this duplicate icon
• The icon remains in the Dock even after closing the DevTools tab

---

System Information

• Architecture: ARM64 (Apple Silicon)
• Browser: Google Chrome (default browser)

[elliette]

I suspect this is a browser_launcher issue. I've opened dart-lang/tools#2313

FYI @DanTup

[DanTup]

Assuming it is browser_launcher, then if Chrome is alraedy your default browser @khusantoy, you could try changing this setting from "chrome" to "default" as a workaround:

The name is probably a bit confusing, but "default" is not the default, it means to use your default browser (which doesn't require browser_launcher because it is delegated to VS Code instead).