FAQ

Does it run on Node.js? No. Bun ≥ 1.4 is the runtime. You can install the package with npm or pnpm, but Bun must be installed to run it.

Why one port for everything? MCP, the REST API, the WebSocket and the dashboard share --port, so there is one bind rule, one authentication surface and one health check (/health).

How isolated are sessions? Each session is its own Chromium process with its own browser context: separate cookies, local storage, IndexedDB, cache and service workers. Nothing is shared between sessions.

Can several agents share a session? With --auth token, a session belongs to the principal (token) that created it and other agents cannot see it. Without authentication every caller is local and sees every session.

Do sessions survive a restart? With persistence_mode: "persistent" (or --persistence persistent) the profile is kept on disk under the data directory. Memory sessions are gone when they close. Agents can also save a login with save_storage_state or save_full_profile and restore it in a later session.

Where are my passwords? In your password manager. BrowserHive stores only bindings (which entry may be filled on which origins, by which sessions) and an audit log without secrets.

Can the model read a password after a fill? Not through tool results while the redaction window is open, and never from BrowserHive’s logs, database or traces. An agent with evaluate could read a field that still contains the value later; see Security for the mitigations.

Does it phone home? No. Telemetry is opt-in and goes only to the OTLP endpoint you configure. Notification channels are opt-in too: each sends only to the Telegram bot, Discord channel, ntfy topic or webhook you set up, at the content level you pick. BrowserHive runs no servers of its own.

Does it solve CAPTCHAs? No. An agent can ask a human with request_attention; see Human takeover.

Is stealth undetectable? No. It makes the browser coherent and removes common automation signals. The limits are documented in Stealth.

Firefox or WebKit? Not yet. Chromium, Chrome and Edge channels are supported.

Proxies? Pass Playwright’s proxy in launch_options (or context_options) today. Loopback and private networks are always bypassed. A managed pool is planned.

Can I run it in Docker or on a server? Yes. Bind with --host 0.0.0.0 --auth token, put a TLS reverse proxy in front, add the name it forwards to --allowedHosts, and configure it with environment variables; see Configuration.

How do I keep secrets out of browserhive.config.json? Write a reference to an environment variable in their place: "authTokens": "ci-runner:{env:CI_TOKEN}" or "otelHeaders": { "Authorization": "Bearer {env:OTLP_TOKEN}" }. The file can then be committed, config show and the dashboard name the variable without showing its value, and doctor stops asking you to chmod 600 the file. See References.

How many sessions can I run? By default min(floor(RAM in GiB / 1.5), 20). Each Chromium session typically needs a few hundred MB. Set --maxSessions to override.

How much is recorded, and for how long? Tool calls, navigations and audit rows are kept for 7 days or up to 1 GiB by default (--retentionDays, --retentionBytes). --recordToolResults shape or none stores less. See Security.

Is it free? Yes, MIT licensed.