Multiple instances

By default, AwesomeB is a single-instance application: if a second process starts while one is already running, it hands over any URLs it received and quits, focusing the existing window.

You can opt out of this behavior for specific processes by tagging the instance with a name. Instances with different tags run side by side; instances with the same tag still respect the single-instance rule.

The tag comes from the --instance-name=<tag> command-line flag, or the AB_INSTANCE_NAME environment variable. The command line wins over the environment variable.

Development builds

The dev build (pnpm dev) always runs as the dev tag automatically, so it coexists with a packaged release without any extra flags:

• AwesomeB --instance-name=work — release instance tagged work
• AB_INSTANCE_NAME=work pnpm dev — dev instance tagged work
• pnpm dev -- --instance-name=work — the same, through the dev script

Where each instance stores its data

The tag scopes both Electron’s userData (which also drives the single-instance lock) and the app’s own data folder:

Tag	Electron userData	App data folder
(none, release)	AwesomeB	~/.awesomeb
dev	AwesomeB dev	~/.awesomeb.dev
work	AwesomeB work	~/.awesomeb-work

Cookies, cache, and profile data are per-tag: two tagged instances never share a browsing session.

Note

The first time you launch a dev build after updating to this version, it starts with a clean browsing session (cookies and cache), because it is now isolated from the release in a dedicated folder.

Tags are validated: only letters, numbers, - and _, up to 32 characters. Invalid tags are ignored and the process falls back to the default instance.