1 files changed, 13 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/.ai/protocols.org b/.ai/protocols.org
index 2ea041b..f4eefed 100644
--- a/.ai/protocols.org
+++ b/.ai/protocols.org
@@ -374,9 +374,19 @@ Craig runs a pure Wayland setup (Hyprland) and avoids XWayland/Xorg apps.
 - Clipboard: Use =wl-copy= and =wl-paste= (NOT =xclip= or =xsel=)
 - Window management: Use Hyprland commands (NOT =xkill=, =xdotool=, etc.)
 - Prefer Wayland-native tools over X11 equivalents
-- Open URLs in browser: Use =google-chrome-stable "URL" &>/dev/null &=
-  - The =&>/dev/null &= is required to detach the process and suppress output
-  - Without it, the command may appear to hang or produce no result
+- Open URLs in browser: invoke Chrome directly — never =xdg-open=, which returned success in a home session on 2026-07-26 while no tab appeared.
+
+  Chrome is normally already running, and in that case it hands the URL to the live session and exits immediately (rc 0), printing =Opening in existing browser session.= on *stdout*. So run it in the foreground and read that line as the confirmation the tab actually opened:
+
+  #+begin_src bash
+  google-chrome-stable --new-tab "URL"
+  #+end_src
+
+  Don't redirect stdout away while checking for that line — verified 2026-07-27 on ratio: with =2>/dev/null= the message still appears (it isn't stderr), and with =>/dev/null= it vanishes.
+
+  Several URLs in one invocation open as separate tabs (=google-chrome-stable --new-tab "URL1" "URL2"=). Pass them as separate words or an array — the Bash tool runs zsh, which does not word-split an unquoted =$urls= variable, so a space-joined string arrives as one malformed argument (see the zsh note below).
+
+  *Cold start.* If Chrome is *not* already running, the command becomes the browser process and blocks. Detach that case with =&>/dev/null &=, accepting that the confirmation line is discarded — there is no session to confirm into. Don't apply the detach form unconditionally: it suppresses the very output the warm path is verified by.
 
 *** Shell aliases (=ls= → =exa=)
 Craig's shell aliases =ls= to =exa=, which prints nothing to non-TTY pipes (e.g. when capturing =ls= output in a Bash tool call). The result looks like the directory is empty when it isn't.