Ego Lite Complete Guide: The Open-Source Browser That Lets AI Agents Share Your Screen
🔥 Gaining 898 stars per day on GitHub | 4,300+ total stars | MIT open-source license
Ever run into this when doing AI coding with Claude Code or Codex: the AI needs to open a browser to get something done — scraping a page, filling out a form, testing a UI — but it either needs its own browser instance installed, or it fights with you over the same tab?
Ego Lite was built to solve exactly this problem.
What Is Ego Lite?
Ego Lite is a browser designed specifically for AI Agents, developed by Citro Labs. The core idea is simple:
One browser, two users — you and your AI Agent.
Traditional browser automation tools like Browser-Use or Playwright spin up a separate browser instance, which means they can't use your login state, cookies, or extensions. Ego Lite is a real, everyday browser. You browse the web with it just like Chrome, while AI Agents run automated tasks in independent Spaces (workspaces) in parallel.
Key Features at a Glance
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| 🧩 Isolated Spaces | Each Agent gets its own sandboxed workspace — no interference |
| 🔑 Inherits Chrome Data | Migrates your logins, cookies, bookmarks, and extensions on first launch |
| 📸 Best-in-Class Page Snapshots | Kernel-level optimization for complex scenarios like iframes and dynamic content |
| ⚡ Code-Driven, Not CLI | Agents call JS functions directly — complex tasks run 2.5× faster |
| 🔌 Compatible with All Agents | Works with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and other mainstream AI tools |
| 🆓 Completely Free | MIT-licensed open source, and the browser itself is free |
Installation
Option 1: Download the macOS App (Recommended)
Ego Lite currently supports macOS (Windows and Linux are on the roadmap).
# Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)
# Download:
# https://cdn.ego.app/channel/github_github_referral/setup/macos/arm64/egolite.dmg
# Intel Mac
# https://cdn.ego.app/channel/github_github_referral/setup/macos/x64/egolite.dmg
Download the .dmg file and double-click to install. After installation, Ego Lite automatically registers the ego-browser skill in the skills directory of every Agent on your system.
Option 2: Install the Skill via npx
If you only want the ego-browser skill without installing the browser itself:
npx skills add citrolabs/ego-lite
The first time your Agent runs a browser task, it will guide you to install the Ego Lite app.
Option 3: Let the Agent Set It Up
In your AI coding tool of choice (Claude Code, Codex, etc.), just type:
Set up ego lite for me: https://github.com/citrolabs/ego-lite
Read skills/ego-browser/references/install.md and follow the steps to install ego lite.
The Agent will read the installation docs and configure everything automatically.
Getting Started
Step 1: First Launch
After installing, open Ego Lite and it will ask you:
Migrate Chrome data?
Hit Yes, and your Agent inherits all your login sessions, cookies, extensions, and bookmarks. This means the Agent doesn't need to re-login when opening pages — it uses your account directly.
Step 2: Run Your First Browser Task with an Agent
In your Agent CLI (like Claude Code), type /ego-browser followed by a space, then describe your task in plain language:
ego-browser open https://github.com/trending and summarize today's top projects
Ego Lite will:
- Open the page in the Agent's isolated Space
- Generate a page snapshot
- The Agent reads the snapshot and understands the content
- Complete the task and report back
Your own tabs remain completely untouched throughout the process.
Step 3: Run Multiple Tasks in Parallel
Ego Lite supports running multiple Spaces simultaneously in the same browser:
# Space 1: Agent scrapes competitor data
ego-browser open https://competitor.com/pricing and extract the pricing table
# Space 2: Agent fills out a form
ego-browser register a test account at https://example.com/signup
# Space 3: You browse normally
# Your tabs are completely independent — the Agent won't touch them
Advanced Features
How the ego-browser Skill Works
ego-browser is the connection layer between the Agent and Ego Lite. It exposes browser capabilities as a set of JavaScript functions that the Agent calls by writing code:
| Function | What It Does |
|---|---|
snapshot() |
Get a semantic text snapshot of the page |
fill(selector, value) |
Fill in a form field |
click(selector) |
Click a page element |
wait(selector) |
Wait for an element to appear |
navigate(url) |
Navigate to a URL |
capture() |
Take a screenshot |
Why code instead of CLI commands? Because writing code is exactly what Agents are best at. For multi-step browser tasks, the Agent can compose a JavaScript snippet and execute it all at once, instead of falling into an inefficient loop of "run two commands → check results → run two more."
Benchmark Comparison
Ego Lite was benchmarked against Vercel's agent-browser:
| Metric | Ego Lite | agent-browser |
|---|---|---|
| Task completion speed | ⚡ 2.5× faster | Baseline |
| Token consumption | Less | More |
| Task success rate | Higher | Lower |
| Tool calls per invocation | Fewer | More |
The more complex the task, the bigger the gap.
Comparison with Similar Tools
| Capability | Ego Lite | Browser-Use | agent-browser | ChatGPT Atlas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-task parallelism | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Inherits Chrome data | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Independent spaces in one browser | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Supports external Agents | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Local data storage | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Free | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
Privacy & Security
All browsing data in Ego Lite is stored locally on your device. The only thing it records is whether you chose to migrate Chrome data during setup. No cloud sync, no telemetry, no ads.
Use Cases
1. AI-Assisted Dev Testing
When building a web app with Claude Code, let the Agent automatically test pages in the browser while you look up docs in other tabs.
2. Data Collection & Analysis
Have the Agent scrape competitor data, pricing info, or news articles across multiple Spaces in parallel — doubling your efficiency.
3. Automated Form Filling
Registering test accounts, filling out feedback forms, submitting tickets — all these repetitive tasks can be handed off to the Agent.
4. Content Publishing & Management
Let the Agent log into your CMS, publish articles, upload images, and manage comments on your behalf.
Current Limitations
- macOS only: Windows and Linux support is on the roadmap but not yet released
- Requires an Agent CLI: Ego Lite doesn't have built-in AI — it needs to be paired with Claude Code, Codex, or similar tools
- Early-stage community: The project is just getting started — documentation and plugin ecosystems are still growing
Summary
Ego Lite solves a very real pain point: letting AI Agents use a browser just like a human, without interrupting your own work.
It's not yet another browser automation framework. It's a browser designed from the ground up for "human-machine sharing." If you use Claude Code or Codex for AI coding daily, Ego Lite extends your Agent's capabilities from "can only write code" to "can operate a browser" — with zero configuration and zero cost.
Project: github.com/citrolabs/ego-lite
Docs: lite.ego.app/document
Originally published on dashen-tech.com. Please credit the source when reprinting.