Ghostlight

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.

1. Install Ghostlight and register the MCP clients it finds:

   npx -y ghostlight install

2. Add Ghostlight in Browser from the Chrome Web Store.

3. Restart an MCP client if it does not hot-reload tools.

4. 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.

Related MCP server: Scout

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.

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.

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.

ADR-0096 explains the boundary. docs/SPEC.md gives the deeper governance model. The installation guide includes the source-development path.

Choose your next step

License and continuity

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.

Questions and contributing

Use GitHub Issues for reproducible defects and GitHub Discussions for questions and ideas. Use hello@sylin.org for security, licensing, or information that cannot be public.

CONTRIBUTING.md explains the project's boundaries, test expectations, and ways to participate.