Site rules and pause: avoid Google login loops
Always-open site rules solve a common pain: you click a Gmail bookmark or a Slack link and land in the wrong identity. TabIdent can force matching hosts into a container. The same feature, misused on login hosts, causes the infamous Google SSO dead loop Firefox Containers users know well.
What a site rule does
When a navigation matches a rule (exact host, eTLD+1, or wildcard):
- If the tab is not already in the target container, TabIdent switches it and reloads.
- External opens without an opener tab also follow the rule when one exists.
Conflict with link inheritance
Links opened from a container tab normally inherit that container. If a rule points elsewhere, TabIdent follows the rule, shows a toast, and offers a short undo window. That frozen policy keeps behavior predictable.
When to pause
Pause all site rules for 15 minutes, 1 hour, or until you resume when:
- You use “Sign in with Google / Microsoft / Apple” and bounce through a login host.
- A payment or OAuth popup chain crosses domains you bound too aggressively.
- You are debugging whether a rule caused a surprise switch.
Paused rules do not turn off isolation for tabs already inside a container—they only stop automatic reassignment.
Do not bind login domains casually
Hosts like accounts.google.com, login.microsoftonline.com, and appleid.apple.com are on a sensitive list. Saving a permanent rule for them requires an explicit confirmation warning. Prefer binding mail.google.com (or your app host) instead of the shared login host.
Checklist
- Bind the app host you actually use daily.
- Keep login hosts unbound unless you fully understand the flow.
- Pause rules before tricky SSO.
- Resume when done so bookmarks keep working.