Chromium code search quietly adds mandatory Google account verification

Google has quietly made its Chromium Code Search tool require a login. If you visit source.chromium.org now, you need to sign in before you can browse files or view the codebase.

Now, a prompt covers the whole screen and asks you to log in with a Google account to continue. This change stops anyone from looking up code for Chrome and other browsers without signing in. Here’s what you’ll see:

Helium Browser developer wukko on X was the first to highlight this sudden change. They warned that Google is restricting public access to Chromium-related resources, saying, “this may potentially be very bad for anyone who works with Chromium.”

The login requirement is not the only problem developers are dealing with. Wukko also noted that pulling source code from googlesource often leads to rate limits and timeouts, and that tarball source releases have been broken for weeks.

As a result, direct git clones are now the only practical way to get source files. For independent contributors who need quick access to patch browser bugs or follow DevTools updates, requiring a login for the web viewer makes it harder.

On Reddit, people are divided about why Google made this change. Some believe the company is just protecting its servers from aggressive AI web scrapers that access endpoints without authentication.

Others think there may be a bigger issue. The sudden login requirement reminds us of Google’s controversial Android developer verification rules, where the company started enforcing strict identity checks and account requirements across its mobile ecosystem.

That verification policy led to strong pushback earlier this year, and open source developers became concerned about losing device access in the future. Now, seeing similar login requirements for Chromium has made the community question what will happen to open access next.

Google has not given an official reason for removing unauthenticated search. For now, anyone who wants to look at the Chromium engine through Google’s online search portal must sign in first.

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