A helper opens the web for Claude, reads the pages, and hands back a short note. Your chat stays small and cheap.
$ claude plugin marketplace add SirCharan/claude-browse && claude plugin install claude-browseWhen Claude reads a web page itself, the whole page lands in your chat. One news page is about 6,400 tokens. A token is roughly a word, and tokens are what you pay for. Every later message sends the whole chat again, pages included.
With claude-browse, Claude sends a helper. The helper is a second, smaller Claude (Sonnet) with its own browser. It opens the page, reads it, and clicks where it needs to. None of that reading happens in your chat.
The helper returns a note of 12 lines at most. It says what it found, the key facts, the sources and any problems. The pages stay behind. In the measured run, the note was about 90 tokens.
You ask Claude the way you always do. A second, smaller Claude (a sub-agent) does the browsing and reports back.
The page becomes part of the chat for good.
The page never enters your chat. Only the short reply does.
RESULTthe answerKEY DATAthe facts and numbersSOURCESwhere it lookedARTIFACTSfiles it savedSESSION | BLOCKERSwhich window, and what got in the wayYou ask in your chat as usual. The web work happens next door, and only the note comes back.
A hidden browser that starts clean. It sees none of your logins.
The Chrome you already use, signed in. Pick it for sites that need your account.
| Question | Private browser | Your own Chrome |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | A hidden browser just for the helper | The Chrome you already have open |
| Sees your logins | No. It starts clean | Yes. Whatever you are signed in to |
| How it reads pages | A structured map of the page, not pixels | Talks to Chrome directly |
| Sites it can visit | Only the ones you allow | Any, with a warning |
| Best for | Public pages, checks, research | Sites that need your account |
You ask for the top story on Y Combinator's news page. Here is what each part weighed on 30 Sep 2026.
71xThe note your chat gets is about 71 times smaller than the whole page.
- link [ref=e101]
- link "Hacker News" [ref=e102]
- link "new" [ref=e103]
- link "past" [ref=e104]
- link "comments" [ref=e105]
- link "ask" [ref=e106]
- link "show" [ref=e107]
- link "jobs" [ref=e108]
- link "submit" [ref=e109]
- link "login" [ref=e110]
- cell "1." [ref=e10]
- link [ref=e261]
- cell "Livenerf: Has Opus 5.5 been nerfed yet? (github.com/ninjahawk)" [ref=e11]
- link "Livenerf: Has Opus 5.5 been nerfed yet?" [ref=e111]
- link "github.com/ninjahawk" [ref=e112]
- cell "563 points by bryan0 9 hours ago | hide | 239 comments" [ref=e12]you /browse "top story on Hacker News, with points"
RESULT: The current top story on Hacker News is "Livenerf: Has Opus 5.5 been nerfed yet?", with 561 points and 239 comments.
KEY DATA:
- Title: Livenerf: Has Opus 5.5 been nerfed yet?
- Points: 561
- Comments: 239
- Linked URL: https://github.com/ninjahawk/livenerf
SOURCES: https://news.ycombinator.com
ARTIFACTS: none
SESSION: ab-hn-top (ab, closed) | BLOCKERS: none
Each new message carries the whole chat again. A page in your chat gets paid for over and over.
Illustrative
A ledger, which is a simple record, tracks each browser window. It notes the purpose, the owner, which browser it uses, the allowed sites and the last use. Type browse ls to see them all. Nothing runs where you cannot see it.
Type browse reap to close the windows nobody is using. Add --dry-run first, and it only shows what it would close. Windows still at work stay open. In the real run below, it found 4 windows from an older version.
Name the sites when you start. Any other site is refused (exit code 3) before the browser moves.
The log keeps a short fingerprint of each page. It never stores what the page said.
PASS agent-browser 0.38.1
PASS browser-harness on PATH
WARN Chrome CDP 9222 not reachable | fix: start Chrome with --remote-debugging-port=9222
PASS ledger ok
WARN version-mismatched daemons: default, etihad-bcn, ey-book, kayak | fix: browse reap --restart-mismatch
PASS /Users/ck/.claude-browse writable
browse doctor checks each part of your setup. When something is off, it prints the fix.
browse ls and browse reap$ browse ls
NAME STACK PURPOSE OWNER AGE IDLE PID STATE
default agent-browser legacy (unknown) 6e2be8ee 7d 16h 7d 16h 74432 version-mismatch
ey-book agent-browser legacy (unknown) 6e2be8ee 10d 15h 10d 15h 81395 version-mismatch
kayak agent-browser legacy (unknown) 6e2be8ee 10d 15h 10d 15h 81228 version-mismatch
etihad-bcn agent-browser legacy (unknown) 6e2be8ee 10d 15h 10d 15h 80833 version-mismatch
$ browse reap --dry-run --restart-mismatch
would close default (version mismatch)
would close etihad-bcn (version mismatch)
would close ey-book (version mismatch)
would close kayak (version mismatch)
reap: closed 4, orphans removed 0, flagged 4, dry-runIt is free, open source, and needs no API key. It works on macOS and Linux.
claude plugin marketplace add SirCharan/claude-browse && claude plugin install claude-browsebrowse doctor/browse "top story on Hacker News, with points"Yes. It is open source under the MIT licence and needs no extra API key. It runs inside the Claude Code you already use.
By default a private, hidden browser that starts clean. If a site needs your account, it can use your own Chrome instead.
Only in the "your own Chrome" mode, and only what that Chrome is already signed in to. The private browser sees nothing of yours.
Run browse ls to see every window and browse reap to close the idle ones. Add --dry-run to see the list before anything closes.
Yes. Name the sites when you start. Anything else is refused before the browser moves.
Copy the install line, run browse doctor, then ask your first question.
$ claude plugin marketplace add SirCharan/claude-browse && claude plugin install claude-browse