Vessel: Your AI-Powered Browser

Vessel is a simple, clean web browser with an AI assistant built in. Browse the web normally, then ask Vessel to help research, navigate pages, summarize what you are reading, fill forms, or keep track of longer tasks.

Unlike invisible browser automation, Vessel shows you what the AI is doing in a real browser window. You can follow along, approve important actions, pause or redirect the work, and take over whenever you want.

• A familiar browser, with AI help nearby — tabs, bookmarks, reader mode, downloads, and a sidebar assistant for web tasks
• Great for longer browsing sessions — durable conversation threads, a cross-source run inbox, named sessions, checkpoints, notes, bookmarks, and page changes make interrupted work recoverable
• You stay in control — review what the AI is doing, approve sensitive actions once or for a scoped run/domain, reject with steering, undo recent changes, and switch back to manual browsing at any time
• Open source and extensible — built on Chromium, with advanced automation support for MCP clients and agent tools when you need it

Linux is the most mature install target today. macOS release packaging is available from source.

Vessel is in active development. Treat it as early software, especially for sensitive browsing or account access.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0a72b48a-873a-4eb0-b8f2-23e34d8472c4

Quick Start

Want the complete AI toolkit from day one? Start a 7-Day Free Trial of Vessel Premium — $5.99/mo.

Fastest Install Today

Linux AppImage from GitHub Releases:

1. Download the latest Vessel-<version>-x64.AppImage
2. Mark it executable: chmod +x Vessel-*.AppImage
3. Launch it: ./Vessel-*.AppImage
4. Open Settings (Ctrl+,) to choose your AI provider and review advanced connection options

Install via npm

npm install -g @quanta-intellect/vessel-browser
vessel-browser

Or run it directly without installing:

npx @quanta-intellect/vessel-browser

Source Install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unmodeled-tyler/vessel-browser/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

Development From Source

Vessel development uses Node.js 22. If you use fnm, run fnm use from the repo root to pick up .node-version.

fnm use
npm install
npm run dev

If you want extra local AI tracing in development, create an optional src/main/telemetry/trace-logger.local.cjs file. Vessel will load it only in local dev builds, and packaged production builds ignore it.

Why Vessel?

Most AI tools can answer questions about the web. Vessel is for actually working on the web: reading pages, following links, comparing information, filling forms, tracking changes, and keeping longer browsing sessions organized.

Vessel keeps that work visible. The AI uses a real browser, so you can see the pages it opens, the choices it makes, and the places where it needs your approval. You are never stuck watching a hidden automation run or guessing what happened after the fact.

For power users and developers, the same foundation also supports external agents, MCP clients, persistent sessions, checkpoints, and browser automation workflows.

Features

• AI-assisted browsing — ask Vessel to help with research, page reading, navigation, form work, and multi-step web tasks
• Human-visible browser UI — pages render like a normal browser so AI activity stays legible instead of disappearing into a hidden run
• Command Bar (Ctrl+L) — a secondary operator surface for harness-driven workflows and future runtime commands
• Supervisor Sidebar (Ctrl+Shift+L) — live supervision across ten tabs, including a durable Run Inbox, conversation Threads, approvals, checkpoints, changes, and Research
• Chat Assistant — built-in conversational AI in the sidebar Chat tab; supports Anthropic, OpenAI, Ollama, llama.cpp, Mistral, xAI, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint; reads the current page automatically; has full access to the same browser tools as external agents; multi-turn session history; configure provider, model, and API key in Settings
• Skills (Premium) — reusable browser skills in the sidebar Skills tab; import, view, run, or delete skills the built-in agent can use for research, shopping, and site-specific workflows
• Research Desk (Beta) — a dedicated sidebar Research tab for structured research reports; start with a topic, complete an in-tab briefing, let Vessel draft research objectives, approve the plan, then dispatch browser sub-agents to collect source-backed claims and synthesize a markdown-exportable report. Starting the brief is free; plan approval, sub-agent execution, and report export require Vessel Premium.
• Dev Tools Panel (F12) — inspect console output, network requests, and MCP/agent activity in a resizable panel at the bottom of the window; export logs by category and date range as JSON
• Browser Basics For Long Runs — pinned tabs stay compact at the front of the tab strip and are protected from accidental close; tab groups can be color-coded and collapsed; audible tabs show audio indicators with mute controls; open additional browser windows with Ctrl+N; print the active page with Ctrl+P or save it directly as PDF with Ctrl+Shift+P
• Action Undo / Rollback — restore the browser to the session snapshot captured immediately before the last successful mutating agent action; available from the Supervisor tab and through the undo_last_action tool
• Durable Run Inbox — Chat, MCP, scheduled, and Research work share one persisted lifecycle with status filters, parent/child research runs, redacted inputs, outputs, errors, and tab context
• Persistent Conversation Threads — group multiple independent chats inside named threads; each chat gets an AI-generated title after its first completed exchange and can be reopened or retitled, while threads can be renamed, archived, or deleted; archived threads follow the configured history period
• Scoped Approval Policies — approve once, approve for a run, approve for a domain, or reject and steer; explicit denies take precedence and expired scoped rules are ignored
• Agent-Meaningful Bookmarks — bookmarks carry structured context the agent can read and act on: intent (what the page is for), expectedContent (what to expect on the page), keyFields (important form fields), agentHints (arbitrary directives), and a stored pageSchema; humans can create and edit this metadata directly in the Bookmarks tab, and all fields are searchable
• Portable Bookmark Export — export browser-compatible Netscape HTML for import into Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Brave, and other browsers; optionally include Vessel notes/agent metadata, or export a full-fidelity Vessel JSON archive
• Page Schema Inference — Vessel automatically infers a typed schema for every page: pageType (article, product, form, search, checkout, login, dashboard), primaryEntity (structured fields for products and articles), formFields (with names, types, labels, selectors), and actionButtons (with inferred intents: submit, addToCart, login, etc.); schema is attached to every content extraction result
• Bookmarks for Agents — save pages into folders, attach one-line folder summaries, and search bookmarks over MCP instead of dumping the entire library
• Named Session Persistence — save cookies, localStorage, and current tab layout under a reusable name, then reload it after a restart
• Annotated Checkpoints — capture and restore short-lived browser recovery points with names and editable notes, so humans and agents can mark why a checkpoint matters before risky flows
• Page Highlights — agents can visually highlight text or elements on any page with labeled, color-coded markers that persist across navigation; highlight count and navigation controls appear in the sidebar; cleared explicitly or via tool call
• Agent Transcript Dock — floating transcript overlay anchored to the browser chrome; configurable display modes (off, summary, full) set in Settings; shows live agent thinking and status updates without occupying sidebar space