OpenBUA

Claude Code gave AI agents access to people's terminals. OpenBUA gives agents access to the one place users actually live all day - their own browser, already logged into Gmail, LinkedIn, GitHub, job boards and CRMs.

OpenBUA (Open Browser Use Agent) is an open-source, autonomous AI browser agent built as a Chrome Extension (Manifest V3) that runs directly inside your everyday browser. Unlike cloud browser-use tools that require spun-up headless containers, login bypass proxies, or remote servers, OpenBUA operates right inside your existing browser session with all your active cookies, credentials, and logins already available.

Built with @earendil-works/pi-agent-core and @earendil-works/pi-ai, OpenBUA equips AI models with real-time DOM perception, intelligent multi-step navigation, synthetic event form-filling, incremental live research previews, and a self-learning memory system.

See Forms and live agent UI for MiniMax low-effort setup, the form recovery workflow, new chat controls, and focused regression tests.

Why OpenBUA? In-Browser Execution vs Cloud Browser-Use

What Can OpenBUA Do?

Because OpenBUA runs directly in your existing browser, it executes end-to-end autonomous workflows without login barriers:

• Autonomous Web Research and Lead Generation:

  • Search directories, platforms, search engines, or social networks across multiple pages.
  • Automatically evaluate candidates, extract verified data, and compile structured tables.
  • Example: "Search LinkedIn for 'world models PhD' researchers, extract profiles across pages, and compile a structured table with names, headlines, and locations."
  • Example: "Go through recent Hacker News submissions on LLM agents, find the top 5 discussions, and summarize key takeaways."

• Live Research Preview Tab:

  • Dedicated Preview tab accessible from the center navigation toggle (Chat / Memory / Preview).
  • Incremental write-as-you-go streaming: The agent streams extracted candidates, table rows, and structured Markdown into the preview buffer as each item is inspected (ReAct 1-item cycle), eliminating black-box waiting.
  • Automatic Markdown table repair engine: Automatically detects and stitches fragmented rows and scattered pipe data into contiguous tables.
  • Scoped per chat session: Each conversation tab maintains its own independent preview buffer with an instant Markdown copy button.

• Self-Learning Memory System:

  • Proactive fact extraction: Detects personal details, contact information, university affiliations, and repeatable workflow routines while browsing.
  • Suggested Memories interface: Review suggested memories on a dedicated full-page screen, discard with a single tap, or approve into Tab Memory or Global Memory.
  • Global Memory: General user background (profile, resume, work history) shared across all chats and browser tabs.
  • Tab Memory: Project-specific notes and uploaded documents isolated to the active chat session.
  • Document Uploads: Directly upload PDF, Markdown, Text, JSON, image, and video files with client-side text parsing powered by pdfjs-dist.
  • Large Media Storage: Videos and files over 3 MB are kept as raw Blobs in IndexedDB instead of base64 strings in chrome.storage.local, so uploading a long video no longer freezes the panel. Inline dataUrl is kept only for small files that need OCR.

• Cross-Platform Social Media Posting:

  • One post_to_social call posts media + caption to X/Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, Mastodon, YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, or TikTok.
  • Resolves the platform from your request or the current tab, opens its composer, attaches stored videos/images, types the caption, and reports composer state so nothing publishes without your say-so.
  • Files of any size are streamed to the page in bounded chunks, so a 200 MB video attaches exactly like a small image.
  • Correctly targets the file input inside the open composer dialog, which is what single-page social apps require.

• Autonomous Form Filling and Wizard Completion:

  • Matches web forms, job application portals (Greenhouse, Lever, Workday), and customer onboarding wizards against your stored profile.
  • Dispatches native synthetic event chains (input, change, blur) ensuring 100% compatibility with React, Vue, Angular, Svelte, and vanilla HTML forms.
  • Verifies DOM values after population to prevent hallucinated submissions.

• Autonomous Email and Webmail Outreach (Gmail, Outlook, Webmail):

  • Drafts, reviews, and dispatches genuine emails right from your existing, logged-in browser session (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, webmail). No third-party OAuth permissions, SMTP passwords, or external email APIs required.
  • Navigates to your webmail interface, triggers compose dialogs, inputs confirmed recipient chips, formats subject lines and body text, and clicks Send on your command.
  • Features intelligent Gmail Basic HTML mode navigation fallback to eliminate DOM drift and click friction on dynamic Single-Page Applications.

• Multi-Tab Orchestration and Dynamic Automation:

  • Opens, switches, and coordinates across browser tabs during multi-step workflows without losing current task progress or form context.
  • Paginated scraping, scrolling dynamically to trigger lazy-loaded elements, and interacting with buttons, dropdowns, and dialogs.

• Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) CAPTCHA Handling:

  • Detects bot verification challenges (Cloudflare Turnstile, Google reCAPTCHA, hCaptcha, Arkose Labs) on visited sites.
  • Displays a clean in-panel alert allowing you to solve the challenge manually, then automatically resumes automation upon completion.
  • Employs intelligent fallbacks and exploration budgets to prevent infinite navigation loops.

• Chain-of-Thought Reasoning and Thinking Traces:

  • Streams full model reasoning steps live in the side panel before executing browser actions.
  • Clean collapsible thought blocks provide transparency into what the agent is planning next.

Multiple windows and parallel tasks

Open a separate Chrome window and open OpenBUA there to give it a separate task. Each instance uses its own chat and browser window. Changing window focus does not redirect another instance's actions. Chats already open in another window cannot be selected or deleted until that window closes or switches chats.

The windows icon immediately before Send enables parallel subagents for the current chat. It is off by default; hover over it for a description. When enabled, OpenBUA can split independent work across up to three additional Chrome windows, using the selected model and API key. Workers inherit the task's approved documents and restrictions, keep separate histories, and return results to the parent. Sequential work stays in the parent window.

Each worker window includes an OpenBUA task tab showing its assignment, progress, result, and Stop button. Stop in the parent cancels its workers; closing a worker window or task tab cancels that worker. Browser windows remain available for reviewing their pages. All windows in the same Chrome profile share the profile's signed-in accounts.

For developers, npm run test:windows checks coordination and ownership. After building, npm run test:windows-extension tests the real extension with local forms and a simulated model; it requires Playwright with an extension-capable Chromium executable. Set OPENBUA_PLAYWRIGHT_MODULE and OPENBUA_EXTENSION_CHROME_PATH to override their locations.

AI Models and Supported Providers

OpenBUA supports both zero-cost free operation and flexible Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) providers:

Google Gemini Free Mode

• Zero-Cost Access: Try OpenBUA completely free without paid API subscriptions or credit card billing.
• Powered by Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite: Default high-limit free model with automatic rate-limit backoff and pacing (up to 1,500 requests per day).
• Direct Free Key Access: Built-in 1-click link to generate your personal free API key directly from Google AI Studio.
• Full Reasoning Support: Streams structured chain-of-thought blocks before each browser action.

Bring Your Own Key (BYOK)

• OpenAI Compatible: Connect to OpenAI (GPT-6 Astra, 6.1 Sol, 6 Luna, GPT-4o), Groq, Ope