What is Chrome browser's multi-process architecture?

Chrome Multi-Process Architecture

Chrome adopts a multi-process architecture, distributing browser functions across different processes to improve stability and security.

Main Process Types

1. Browser Process

   • Responsible for browser interface display
   • Manages other processes
   • Handles user input
   • Stores and manages user data

2. Renderer Process

   • Responsible for web page rendering and display
   • Executes JavaScript code
   • Handles HTML, CSS, and DOM
   • Each tab typically has its own renderer process

3. Plugin Process

   • Runs browser plugins
   • Plugin crashes don't affect the main browser process
   • Provides isolated plugin environment

4. GPU Process

   • Responsible for GPU acceleration
   • Handles 3D graphics and animations
   • Improves rendering performance

5. Network Process

   • Handles network requests
   • Manages network connections
   • Processes HTTP/HTTPS requests

Architecture Advantages

1. Stability

   • Single tab crash doesn't affect other tabs
   • Plugin crashes don't affect the main browser process
   • Process isolation improves system stability

2. Security

   • Each process runs in a sandbox environment
   • Limits process permissions
   • Prevents malicious code from affecting the system

3. Performance

   • Multi-process utilizes multi-core CPUs
   • Parallel processing improves efficiency
   • GPU process accelerates graphics rendering

Inter-Process Communication

• Uses IPC (Inter-Process Communication) mechanism
• Communicates through message passing
• Shared memory for large data transfer

Practical Applications

• Chrome dynamically adjusts process count based on system resources
• Can control process behavior through command line parameters
• Developers can view process information through DevTools