Model browser

In Settings › Browser you choose how the model browses. It needs the local server (zerochat) with Node.js and npm; on Windows, see Installing Node.js on Windows. Playwright cannot currently be used on Termux, so there is no model browser on Android. No option controls the ZeroChat tab.

• None: the model does not drive a browser, although it can still search and read pages.
• browser_action: a local server tool without options that opens pages, clicks, types and takes screenshots in a windowless Chromium. It uses the Playwright installed by the Playwright MCP service, so start that service once in Settings › MCP to install it.
• Playwright MCP: the complete Playwright toolset, with the browser you choose below. When you save this option, Playwright MCP starts if it is stopped.

Only one of the two is offered to the model: even if Playwright MCP is running, its tools are not offered if you choose browser_action or none. The choice belongs to the application, not to the active profile. Valid screenshots are shown in the tool card and handed to the model as visual evidence.

ZeroChat’s own browser

Playwright MCP opens a separate in-memory browser (--isolated), apart from yours: it keeps cookies and sessions while the session lasts, saves nothing to disk on close, and supports concurrent zerochat runs. If a profile specifies a persistent storage name in its Browser chapter, its cookies and sessions are kept between uses in ~/zerochat/playwright/profile/<engine>/<storage>.

• Engines: Chromium, Firefox or WebKit, downloaded to the Playwright cache, never to the system. Chromium is installed with the service; Install downloads the others and shows the progress, and Remove deletes them from the cache. Only an installed engine can be chosen; if you remove the chosen one, another installed one is used. WebKit and Firefox may need system libraries on Linux.
• Browser data: Clear deletes all saved persistent storages of the chosen engine in ~/zerochat/playwright/profile/<engine>. You will have to sign in to those sites again.
• Show the window: by default the browser runs without a window; check it to watch what the model does.

Removing an engine or clearing its data stops Playwright MCP if it is running and starts it again when done.

Your browser

With this option, Playwright MCP connects to your Chrome, Edge or Chromium through the Playwright extension and uses your open tabs and sessions, without signing in again. You choose among the browsers detected on the system; it does not need to be the default one. Firefox and Safari do not support the extension; to use your Firefox sessions, sign in to those sites from the own browser.

1. In the chosen browser, open the Playwright extension in the Chrome Web Store and click Add. In Edge, allow extensions from other stores first when asked. With Chromium, the profile where the extension is installed is used. Settings › Browser shows whether it is already installed in that browser.
2. Keep that browser open. In Settings › Browser choose Your browser and the browser, and save.
3. The first time the model browses after Playwright MCP starts, the extension asks you to accept the connection and choose the tab you share with it.

To avoid accepting every connection, copy the token shown in the extension window into Extension token; you can paste the whole PLAYWRIGHT_MCP_EXTENSION_TOKEN=… line. It is saved in ~/zerochat/config/browser.json, readable only by your user, and Playwright MCP receives it when it starts. Whoever has the token can connect to your browser without your approval: do not share it.

This mode always has a window: the model works in your open browser.

On save

With Save, the chosen tool is offered to the model, and the Playwright options are saved in ~/zerochat/config/browser.json and used the next time Playwright MCP starts; if it is running, ZeroChat asks whether to restart it now. Without the local server, the section only lets you choose the tool.

A profile can require Playwright MCP with a browser, and with ZeroChat’s own browser its visible window, in its Browser chapter. While that profile is active, Playwright MCP is the browsing tool and starts with that browser, without changing what is saved here; the section shows a notice about it.