Technology1 min read

Show HN: Agweb – a browser for agents that stays out of your way

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

The software relies on a shell interface to direct WebKit processes while managing resource consumption by suspending inactive background tabs. A built-in dashboard tracks live agent commands, and named profiles let automated workflows share login states without exposing stored passwords in transcripts. In benchmark testing, five idle pages consumed just 590 MB of memory alongside zero percent processor utilization. However, relying on WebKit means the tool lacks Chrome extension compatibility and cannot run the scripts needed to bypass anti-ad-blocker prompts.

Key points

  • The browser requires macOS 26 or later and installs through a standard disk image or Xcod…: The browser requires macOS 26 or later and installs through a standard disk image or Xcode compilation.
  • Automation is managed via command line tools that output element changes and webpage text…: Automation is managed via command line tools that output element changes and webpage text directly as markdown.
  • Operating exclusively on WebKit prevents the software from using Chrome DevTools Protocol…: Operating exclusively on WebKit prevents the software from using Chrome DevTools Protocol extensions or running script-heavy ad blockers.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

A browser for coding agents on macOS, built on WebKit (Safari's engine). I run several coding agents at once, and Playwright's Chrome windows kept stealing my keyboard, while headless browsers got blocked by some sites and left me guessing what went wrong. agweb is one window that never takes focus: agents drive it from the shell with agweb

, a playwright-cli-style command, and you watch them all live.

Idle tabs are suspended: on my Mac five open pages sit at 0% CPU, where Chrome's GPU process kept five to seven cores busy.

Five idle pages | Memory |

---|---|

agweb | 590 MB |

Headless Chrome | 730 MB |

Playwright Chrome | 1.6 GB |

- Never steals focus. No window comes to the front, nothing pops up. Dialogs, changing tabs, file pickers and downloads are answered in code.

- You can always see it. The dashboard (⌘D) shows every tab of every agent at once, live, with each agent's last command. And it is always a real window: some sites block headless browsers, and headless leaves you guessing…

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