Every AI browser is closed-source
OpenAI Atlas, Perplexity Comet, Dia, Google Mariner, Brave Leo — they all promise an "AI browser." But every single one is closed-source with a proprietary agent layer. Your browsing data flows through their servers. You can't choose your model. You can't inspect what the agent sees or does.
Open Claw is the opposite: a fully open-source Chromium fork where the AI runtime is native to the browser, not bolted on. You bring your own agent — Ollama locally, Claude, GPT, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint.
A browser with a brain that runs on your machine, not in someone else's cloud.
What makes it different
BYOA — Bring Your Own Agent
Pluggable model backend. Run Ollama locally, connect to Claude or GPT, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. The agent layer is a contract, not a vendor lock-in.
DOM-first, not screenshot-first
Reads structured HTML and the accessibility tree instead of pixels. A 3B-parameter model can handle it. Fast, cheap, precise — and it doesn't fall over the moment a site re-skins itself.
Local memory
SQLite plus vector embeddings, on-device. Remembers context, habits, preferences. Nothing leaves the machine unless you explicitly tell it to.
User-controlled ad mediation
Your agent decides what ads to show based on your preferences, not a corporation's targeting algorithms. The economics of the web don't have to flow through the same three companies.
What's out there — and what's wrong with it
- OpenAI Atlas — closed-source, cloud-dependent.
- Perplexity Comet — proprietary agent, can't bring your own model.
- Dia Browser — closed agent layer.
- Google Project Mariner — Google-only models, experimental.
- Brave Leo — partially open, limited agent capabilities.
None of them offer what Open Claw proposes: a truly open-source, end-to-end AI browser where you own the agent, the memory, and the data.
Built on giants
Open Claw doesn't start from zero. It builds on proven open-source tools that have already solved the hard problems:
- browser-use — 50K+ stars, MIT license.
- Stagehand — TypeScript SDK for browser automation.
- Playwright MCP — browser control via the MCP protocol.
- Ollama — local model runtime, runs on basically any hardware.
Where things stand
Done:
- Concept and architecture designed.
- Competitive landscape mapped.
- Open-source building blocks identified.
Next:
- Chromium fork plus native agent runtime integration.
- DOM-first agent interface — the accessibility tree parser.
- Local memory layer — SQLite plus vector embeddings.
- BYOA plugin system — Ollama, Claude, GPT connectors.
This one is still firmly an idea. Putting it on the page so it stops being just a tab in my notes app.