What happened to Cookie AutoDelete on Chrome?
Cookie AutoDelete was a well-loved open-source extension that deleted a site's cookies when you closed its tab. Its Chrome listing was removed when Chrome ended support for Manifest V2 extensions.
Why it stopped working
Cookie AutoDelete was built on a background page that stayed alive for the whole browser session. Manifest V3 replaced background pages with service workers, which Chrome stops after about 30 seconds without activity. A straight port loses its timers and its list of open tabs, so cleanups silently stop happening. The extension's maintainers did not publish a Manifest V3 version to the Chrome Web Store.
What Crumble keeps the same
- Cleaning when you close a tab, when a tab moves to another site (optional), and when the browser starts.
- A delay before cleaning, 15 seconds by default.
- Two lists: Keep (the old whitelist) and Keep until restart (the old greylist).
- The same rules:
example.com,*.example.com, wildcards and/regular expressions/, several at once separated by commas. - Keeping only named cookies for a site, and choosing which kinds of site data to clean.
What Crumble adds
- Partitioned and third-party cookies on every cleanup. Every cleanup sweeps all cookies, including partitioned (CHIPS) cookies, which are only visible to extensions that ask for them explicitly.
- Built for Manifest V3. Every pending cleanup has a backup alarm, so cleaning still happens after Chrome pauses the extension.
- A short setup to pick the sites to keep before anything is cleaned, and Undo for 2 minutes after each cleanup.
Move your lists from Cookie AutoDelete
- In Cookie AutoDelete (in Firefox, or an old Chrome profile), open Settings, then List of expressions, and export your expressions to a file.
- Install Crumble. Setup opens by itself; at step two, choose Import from Cookie AutoDelete. Later you can use Settings, Lists, Import rules instead.
- Check the preview: how many rules will be added, which existing ones will be replaced, and anything that can't be imported, with the reason. Firefox container lists can be added to the main lists or skipped.
- Click Import rules. Nothing changes before you do.
Crumble is an independent project and is not affiliated with Cookie AutoDelete or its maintainers. Thank you to them for years of a great extension.
Questions
Is there a Cookie AutoDelete for Chrome now?
Cookie AutoDelete's Chrome listing was removed when Chrome ended Manifest V2. Crumble is an independent Manifest V3 extension that does the same job: it deletes cookies and site data when you close a tab, with the same Keep and Keep until restart lists and the same rule syntax. It is not affiliated with Cookie AutoDelete.
How do I move my Cookie AutoDelete whitelist?
In Cookie AutoDelete, export your expressions to a file. In Crumble, open Settings, Lists, Import rules (or step two of setup) and choose that file. The whitelist becomes Keep and the greylist becomes Keep until restart, with your cookie-name options. You see a preview before anything changes.
Does it delete partitioned (CHIPS) cookies?
Yes. Crumble reads cookies in every partition and deletes each partitioned cookie with its exact partition key, then checks that it is really gone. Many cleaners only see unpartitioned cookies.
Will it log me out of everything?
Not by surprise. Nothing is cleaned until you finish a short setup where you pick the sites to keep, and sites that are open in a tab are never cleaned automatically. Reopening a site within the delay keeps everything, and Undo restores the last cleanup's cookies for 2 minutes.
Why does it need access to all websites?
Chrome only lets an extension read and delete the cookies of sites it has access to. To clean any site you leave, Crumble needs access to all of them. It never reads or changes the pages you visit, injects nothing into them, and doesn't ask for your history.
Does it work on Edge, Brave and Vivaldi?
Yes. Crumble works in Chromium browsers: Chrome, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi and Opera. Install it from the Chrome Web Store, or from Edge Add-ons in Edge.
What's the difference between Keep and Keep until restart?
A site on Keep is never cleaned automatically. A site on Keep until restart keeps its data while the browser runs, and is cleaned the next time the browser starts. If a site matches both, Keep wins.