Browser Use

Settings → Browser Use governs the built-in browser: web pages opened from conversations, tool results and the terminal can appear as tabs next to your files, without leaving the app.

Almost all of this screen is a desktop matter. In a browser session pages open in the browser you are already using, the top of the page swaps in a different note, and only the sections that still decide something remain (site rules, local servers, the terminal link menu). The exception is a local server running on the Croli host, which is forwarded into a tab here.

Where links open (desktop only)

Set per source — five sources, each with its own Built-in browser / System browser choice, all defaulting to Built-in browser:

⌘/Ctrl-click a link to use the other one just this once, without changing the setting.

Site rules

Override the defaults above per site: always the built-in browser / always the system browser / block.

Patterns are written as a hostname, *.example.com or *, each optionally with :port. The most specific match wins. Invalid and duplicate patterns are reported in place.

In a browser session Block is the only action left in this section — where a page opens was never a choice there. Rules pushed down by administrator policy show Set by your administrator and cannot be edited.

Default sharing permissions (desktop only)

Every site a tab opens is shared with agents at this level, with nothing asked site by site:

The control on the page can still change or withdraw it site by site.

Run code on the page (desktop only)

What happens when an agent wants to run its own JavaScript on a page shared at Read and act:

• Run without asking (default) — it just runs, with nothing asked. Every run is listed in that tab's agent activity.
• Ask me every time — the snippet is put in front of you in full, and waits for your answer.

This is not the only gate: the Run code in the built-in browser switch in Extension Tools is off by default and you have to turn it on yourself, and the page must be at Read and act. All three conditions have to line up before anything runs.

Local servers

What Croli does when a server started in a terminal prints its address. Three settings: Do nothing / Notify me (default) / Open a tab.

Addresses on this machine only, and nothing happens until it has confirmed that something really is listening on that port.

Terminal link menu

Off by default. When on, clicking a link in the terminal brings up a small menu (built-in browser / system browser / copy link) instead of opening it right away. ⌘/Ctrl-click still opens it directly.

HTML file previews (desktop only)

Goes through the built-in browser by default, in a locked-down document view: no scripts until you enable them for a given file, and only its own folder is reachable. Turn it off and the inline preview is used, exactly as in the web app.

Web inspector (desktop only)

On by default. Offers Open inspector in a tab's More menu and allows Inspect Element from the context menu. Applies to tabs opened from now on.

Tab surface (desktop only)

How pages are hosted: Automatic (default) / Embedded in the workspace / Separate window.

Keep Automatic unless embedded tabs misbehave on your machine. Applies to tabs opened from now on.

Unload background tabs (desktop only)

Off by default. When on, a tab that stays in the background for 30 minutes has its memory released; it loads again when you switch back, and scroll position and history are lost.

Network proxy (desktop only, read-only)

Browser tabs use the proxy configured in System. Addresses on this machine (localhost) always connect directly.

This line only shows status — "Using {url}" or "Direct connection" — and cannot be changed here. It also states the conditions per platform:

• "A changed proxy applies to tabs opened from now on."
• "Restart Croli for browser tabs to use the changed proxy."
• "Not available on this version of macOS (14 or later is needed)."
• "The configured proxy is not one browser tabs can use (http and socks5 only)."

Downloads (desktop only)

Shows the folder where files downloaded by a page are saved. Nothing is opened automatically, and an existing file is never replaced.

Google sign-in compatibility (desktop only)

On by default. Google refuses to sign in from embedded browsers, so tabs present a Firefox identity on the sign-in sites only: accounts.google.com and accounts.youtube.com and their subdomains, plus any host listed in CROLI_BROWSER_SIGN_IN_HOSTS. Everywhere else they identify as the engine they actually run in, with no pretending.

Two limits worth knowing: it applies to embedded tabs only (not the separate-window surface), and when a sign-in page redirects you to another site, the first request there still carries the sign-in identity.

Profiles (desktop only)

Each profile keeps its own cookies, site storage and sign-ins — this is how you run two accounts on one site.

• Out of the box there is only Default. Add profile needs a name (Work, for example), and names cannot repeat.
• New tabs open in — pick the profile new tabs belong to. A tab's toolbar can reopen the current page in another profile.
• Each profile can have its browsing data cleared, or be deleted, on its own. Deleting closes its tabs and removes its cookies, caches and site storage; it cannot be undone.

Browsing data (desktop only)

Clear… removes the cookies, caches and site storage of the built-in browser. Open tabs stay open, but you will be signed out of sites. There is a confirmation dialog.

Worth knowing

• Whether agents can read and drive a page also depends on Extension Tools: Read and drive the built-in browser is off by default, and Run code in the built-in browser depends on it and is off by default too.
• "Applies to tabs opened from now on" shows up in several places — the inspector, the tab surface and the proxy all work that way, and a change never touches tabs that are already open.
• Administrator policy can turn the built-in browser off entirely, in which case the top of the page reads "The built-in browser is turned off by your administrator's policy; links open in the system browser."
• Browser profile data lives under browser-profiles/ in the Croli data directory, see Privacy and Security.