Ghostlight is a governed browser automation tool designed for AI coding agents (MCP). It enables AI agents to interact with your authenticated browser session in a controlled and visible manner.
Key Features:
Operates within your authenticated browser profile using Chromium.
Dedicated tab group keeps AI actions separate from personal tabs.
Local operation without telemetry or server dependencies.
Available via winget for easy deployment.
Target Audience and Benefits: Ideal for developers, teams integrating AI tools like Codex, Claude, or Cursor. Ghostlight enhances transparency and security by providing controlled browser automation in a visible environment.
README
Ghostlight MCP
Give your agent a place in the browser you already use.
A launch brief moves from empty form to ready for review, in full view.
Ghostlight gives compatible AI agents a dedicated workspace inside the Chromium profile you
already use. Your signed-in sessions are there. The work stays visible. You can pause, take over,
or stop it at any time.
Ask an agent to read a page, complete a form, handle a file, follow a popup, or investigate a
failed web workflow. Ghostlight carries the task across tabs and browser changes while keeping the
browser work and its controls on your machine.
Your first five minutes
You need Chrome, Edge, Brave, or Chromium 116+, an MCP client, and Node.js for the installer. The
service you run afterward is native Rust.
Install Ghostlight and register the MCP clients it finds:
Restart an MCP client if it does not hot-reload tools.
Give it one small, read-only task:
> Open https://example.com/ in a new Ghostlight tab, summarize the page, and tell me which tab
> you used. Do not click, type, submit, or change the page.
A sky-blue Ghostlight group should appear in your browser. The agent opens the page, reads it, and
names the exact tab it used. That one prompt proves the whole connection without authorizing a
click or write.
If a step needs attention, run:
npx -y ghostlight doctor
doctor checks the client entry, local service, browser connection, and extension, then names the
next action. The installation guide covers targeted clients,
Homebrew, source builds, updates, uninstall, and symptom-led recovery.
From one page to a whole workflow
Ghostlight is at its best when browser work has a thread to follow:
Pick up where you are signed in. Open an application in the Chromium profile you chose and
work with the session already there. Credentials stay with the browser.
Finish the interaction. Navigate, fill forms, upload files, resolve dialogs, wait for page
state, and carry results from one step into the next.
Follow the browser. Keep working when a site opens a supported child tab or when a known
workspace changes underneath the task.
See what failed. Bring page state, console messages, and network requests together so the
next debugging step comes from evidence instead of guesswork.
Use the same browser capability from Codex, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf,
Zed, OpenCode, Crush, or another compatible stdio MCP client. Agents receive structured page
reads, exact element references, bounded action receipts, and specific recovery guidance. They can
call explain for the live action and capability directory whenever a task needs it.
The browser stays a shared space
Ghostlight works in a dedicated sky-blue tab group inside the browser window you chose. Page
scans, clicks, typing, drags, and longer phases share one visual language, so the movement on screen
has an explanation.
Pause the workspace, take over for a delicate step, or stop it. Move its tabs where you want them;
Ghostlight follows the workspace instead of snapping it back. Ordinary tabs remain outside the
agent's owned set.
Personal use is complete without a policy manifest. Start with the full browser engine and get
useful work done. When a workflow needs stronger boundaries, grant read, action, write, and
execute capabilities by MCP identity and domain. Add sacred domains, dry-run preflight, and
structured audit while the browser experience stays the same.
The governance guide shows the operating model. The
Trust Center carries the security, privacy, continuity, deployment, and
procurement evidence. The decision aid covers other
browser operating models when that is the question.
Current release and compatibility
Platform state. Windows and Linux are verified end to end against live browsers. macOS builds and passes the full test suite in CI; its live-browser verification is still owed.
Extension state. The Chrome Web Store serves Chrome adapter v0.8.0. Chrome adapter v0.8.0 covers
Ghostlight service versions v0.8.x. Install the extension from the public listing. See the full
adapter compatibility map.
The service and Chrome adapter version independently. The
compatibility map is authoritative, and the
public status file owns current release, platform, and store state.
The 0.8 source candidate implements exact local stdio MCP revisions 2025-11-25 and
2026-07-28. See the changelog for release changes and upgrade consequences.
How Ghostlight fits together
MCP Client <--stdio--> ghostlight-mcp-connector <--typed local IPC--> ghostlight service
<--browser IPC--> ghostlight-browser-connector <--native messaging--> Extension <--CDP--> Browser
The connector owns MCP protocol state. The persistent service owns workspaces, browser
coordination, optional governance, and audit. The browser connector passes native messages, while
the extension owns Chrome mechanism. Each role can reconnect independently.
The browser automation engine outside crates/core/src/governance/ is Apache-2.0 OR MIT. The
governance module is source-available under the Ghostlight Commercial License and is free for
individuals, teams of up to five, evaluation, development, all-open operation, and qualifying
noncommercial use. LICENSING.md maps the exact boundary.
License state never changes runtime behavior. An installed copy does not call a Ghostlight service
for telemetry, activation, or updates, and it keeps working without the vendor. The
Continuity Promise and PRICING.md carry the durable terms.
