[tool_crash] Opening devtools without Chrome installed crashes flutter tool

Steps to reproduce

Do not have Chrome installed
flutter run -d macos
Press the 'v' key to launch devtools

Expected results

The flutter tool would gracefully handle the lack of Chrome availability without crashing,

Actual results

Eagle eyed flutter repo followers may notice this sounds a lot like issue #154940 and PR #154941, also both filed by me about this exact crash in September of 2024.

The issue back then being unawaited(Chrome.start(<String>[devToolsUrl])); in a function to launch devtools that

// This must be guaranteed not to return a Future that fails.
  @override
  bool launchDevToolsInBrowser({required List<FlutterDevice?> flutterDevices}) {
    //[...]
}

This fix even made it to master in January of 2025, after some delays with pubspec.lock changes after removing the browser_launcher pkg dependency since the flutter tool had another way to launch Chrome without needing that package.

I saw the new flutter release yesterday and checked https://ismyprinflutteryet.com/#/pr/framework/154941 to see my fix had made it to stable. Imagine my surprise when I updated to the latest stable to see the same crash!

Looks like my fix (and tests) got dropped during a refactor in PR #174580 in September of 2025

The current behavior is back to

import 'package:browser_launcher/browser_launcher.dart';
[....]
 unawaited(Chrome.start(<String>[devToolsUri!.toString()]));

Code sample

flutter create -e bug
flutter run -d macos
'v'

Screenshots or Video

Logs

Launching Flutter DevTools for macOS at
http://127.0.0.1:54443/5kHdg0GPYcA=/devtools/?uri=ws://127.
0.0.1:54443/5kHdg0GPYcA=/ws

Oops; flutter has exited unexpectedly: "ProcessException:
No such file or directory
  Command: /Applications/Google
  Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome
  http://127.0.0.1:54443/5kHdg0GPYcA=/devtools/?uri=ws://12
  7.0.0.1:54443/5kHdg0GPYcA=/ws".

Flutter Doctor output

Doctor output

[✓] Flutter (Channel stable, 3.41.0, on macOS 26.2 25C56 darwin-x64, locale en-US)
[!] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 35.0.0)
    ! Some Android licenses not accepted. To resolve this, run: flutter doctor --android-licenses
[✓] Xcode - develop for iOS and macOS (Xcode 26.2)
[✗] Chrome - develop for the web (Cannot find Chrome executable at /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome)
    ! Cannot find Chrome. Try setting CHROME_EXECUTABLE to a Chrome executable.
[✓] Connected device (2 available)

Reproduced this on Flutter stable 3.41.0 and master 3.42.0-1.0.pre-104 Thank you for the report.

Flutter doctor - stable

[✓] Flutter (Channel stable, 3.41.0, on macOS 26.2 25C56 darwin-arm64, locale en-US) [551ms]
    • Flutter version 3.41.0 on channel stable at /Users/puneetkukreja/Developer/flutter
    • Upstream repository https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git
    • Framework revision 44a626f4f0 (3 days ago), 2026-02-10 10:16:12 -0800
    • Engine revision 3452d735bd
    • Dart version 3.11.0
    • DevTools version 2.54.1
    • Feature flags: enable-web, enable-linux-desktop, enable-macos-desktop, enable-windows-desktop, enable-android, enable-ios, cli-animations, enable-native-assets, omit-legacy-version-file,
      enable-lldb-debugging, enable-uiscene-migration

[✓] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 36.1.0) [2.7s]
    • Android SDK at /Users/puneetkukreja/Library/Android/sdk
    • Emulator version 36.3.10.0 (build_id 14472402) (CL:N/A)
    • Platform android-36, build-tools 36.1.0
    • Java binary at: /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-17.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/java
      This JDK is specified in your Flutter configuration.
      To change the current JDK, run: `flutter config --jdk-dir="path/to/jdk"`.
    • Java version Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 17.0.12+8-LTS-286)
    • All Android licenses accepted.

[✓] Xcode - develop for iOS and macOS (Xcode 26.2) [1,272ms]
    • Xcode at /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
    • Build 17C52
    • CocoaPods version 1.16.2

[✗] Chrome - develop for the web (Cannot find Chrome executable at /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome) [6ms]
    ! Cannot find Chrome. Try setting CHROME_EXECUTABLE to a Chrome executable.

[✓] Connected device (1 available) [7.1s]
    • macOS (desktop) • macos • darwin-arm64 • macOS 26.2 25C56 darwin-arm64
    ! Error: Browsing on the local area network for Puneet’s iPhone. Ensure the device is unlocked and attached with a cable or associated with the same local area network as this Mac.
      The device must be opted into Developer Mode to connect wirelessly. (code -27)

[✓] Network resources [1,085ms]
    • All expected network resources are available.

! Doctor found issues in 1 category.

Flutter doctor - latest master

✓] Flutter (Channel master, 3.42.0-1.0.pre-104, on macOS 26.2 25C56 darwin-arm64, locale en-US) [1,424ms]
    • Flutter version 3.42.0-1.0.pre-104 on channel master at /Users/puneetkukreja/flutter-contribution/flutter
    • Upstream repository https://github.com/puneetkukreja98/flutter
    • FLUTTER_GIT_URL = https://github.com/puneetkukreja98/flutter
    • Framework revision 6af435bed4 (8 hours ago), 2026-02-13 01:03:43 -0500
    • Engine revision 6af435bed4
    • Dart version 3.12.0 (build 3.12.0-144.0.dev)
    • DevTools version 2.54.0
    • Feature flags: enable-web, enable-linux-desktop, enable-macos-desktop, enable-windows-desktop, enable-android, enable-ios, cli-animations,
      enable-native-assets, omit-legacy-version-file, enable-lldb-debugging, enable-uiscene-migration, enable-riscv64

[✓] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 36.1.0) [1,259ms]
    • Android SDK at /Users/puneetkukreja/Library/Android/sdk
    • Emulator version 36.3.10.0 (build_id 14472402) (CL:N/A)
    • Platform android-36, build-tools 36.1.0
    • Java binary at: /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-17.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/java
      This JDK is specified in your Flutter configuration.
      To change the current JDK, run: `flutter config --jdk-dir="path/to/jdk"`.
    • Java version Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 17.0.12+8-LTS-286)
    • All Android licenses accepted.

[✓] Xcode - develop for iOS and macOS (Xcode 26.2) [770ms]
    • Xcode at /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
    • Build 17C52
    • CocoaPods version 1.16.2

[✗] Chrome - develop for the web (Cannot find Chrome executable at /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome) [6ms]
    ! Cannot find Chrome. Try setting CHROME_EXECUTABLE to a Chrome executable.

[✓] Connected device (1 available) [6.0s]
    • macOS (desktop) • macos • darwin-arm64 • macOS 26.2 25C56 darwin-arm64
    ! Error: Browsing on the local area network for Puneet’s iPhone. Ensure the device is unlocked and attached with a cable or associated with the same local
      area network as this Mac.
      The device must be opted into Developer Mode to connect wirelessly. (code -27)

[✓] Network resources [1,131ms]
    • All expected network resources are available.

! Doctor found issues in 1 category.

Thanks for catching this! #174580 was a pretty major refactor, and unfortunately the regression test for your fix was part of a test suite that was no longer relevant.

I'll try and get this fixed soon and cherrypicked into stable.

Thanks Ben! I remember seeing your TODOs about the rewrite.

I can also submit a PR if that's easier! Might try and get a test exemption though :')

@bkonyi

This issue is assigned to @bkonyi but has had no recent status updates. Please consider unassigning this issue if it is not going to be addressed in the near future. This allows people to have a clearer picture of what work is actually planned. Thanks!

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[tool_crash] Opening devtools without Chrome installed crashes flutter tool #182307

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[tool_crash] Opening devtools without Chrome installed crashes flutter tool #182307

Description

Steps to reproduce

Expected results

Actual results

Code sample

Screenshots or Video

Logs

Flutter Doctor output

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puneetkukreja98 commented on Feb 13, 2026

Flutter doctor - stable

Flutter doctor - latest master

bkonyi commented on Feb 23, 2026

saltedpotatos commented on Feb 23, 2026

flutter-triage-bot commented on Jun 29, 2026

github-actions commented on Sep 1, 2026

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