Claude-in-Chrome: Add local override to disable bridge mode (tengu_copper_bridge)

Problem

When the tengu_copper_bridge feature flag is enabled for an account, Claude-in-Chrome routes all browser connections through a cloud bridge (wss://bridge.claudeusercontent.com), keyed by OAuth account UUID. This breaks multi-machine setups where the same claude.ai account is used on multiple workstations (e.g., Linux desktop + Windows desktop via Synergy).

Expected behavior: Each machine's Claude Code CLI should control its own local Chrome browser.

Actual behavior: The bridge connects to whichever Chrome responds first (typically the other machine). switch_browser doesn't help — it reports "No other browsers available" even though both machines have the extension installed and enabled.

Root cause

The native socket mode (/tmp/claude-mcp-browser-bridge-<user>/<PID>.sock) works perfectly for this use case — each machine's Claude Code only sees its own local Chrome. However, when tengu_copper_bridge is ON, the bridge takes priority and the local socket is ignored.

There is no environment variable, config file, or CLI flag to disable the bridge and fall back to native socket mode. The only env vars (USE_LOCAL_OAUTH, LOCAL_BRIDGE) change which bridge is used, not whether bridging is used at all.

Request

Add a local override to disable bridge mode, e.g.:

export CLAUDE_DISABLE_CHROME_BRIDGE=1

or a setting in ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "chromeExtension": {
    "useBridge": false
  }
}

This would allow users on multi-machine setups to opt into native socket mode per-machine, regardless of the server-side feature flag.

Environment

• Claude Code v2.1.87
• Linux (Ubuntu) + Windows hybrid setup (Synergy)
• Same claude.ai account on both machines
• Chrome extension v1.0.64 installed on both
• Native socket exists and is functional on Linux (/tmp/claude-mcp-browser-bridge-*/ with active .sock file)