• apus: managed, isolated browser (no extension required).
• user: built-in Chrome DevTools MCP attach profile for your real signed-in Chrome session. Chrome shows a blocking "Allow remote debugging?" prompt the first time Apus attaches, so someone must be at the computer.
• chrome: built-in Chrome extension profile for your real signed-in Chrome session. Works from a phone with nobody at the desk because it drives tabs through the Apus browser extension instead of the remote-debugging port, so there is no "Allow remote debugging?" prompt.

For agent browser tool calls:

• Default: use the isolated apus browser.
• Prefer profile="chrome" (extension) when existing logged-in sessions matter and the user is away from the computer (Telegram, WhatsApp, etc.).
• Prefer profile="user" (Chrome MCP) when existing logged-in sessions matter and the user is at the computer to approve the attach prompt.
• profile is the explicit override when you want a specific browser mode.

Set browser.defaultProfile: "apus" if you want managed mode by default.

Browser panel in the Control UI

The Browser panel follows the current session's latest successful browser tab, including its profile and host or node. Opening a browser preview card selects that card's browser and tab. This does not change browser.defaultProfile or another session's selection. Without a session browser target, the panel uses the configured default routing.

The chat side panel shows only this session's tabs: tabs its agent or panel opened, plus tabs its conversation used. Other sessions' tabs and tabs opened outside Apus stay hidden. The Browser dock outside a chat session lists every tab. Tabs opened from a session's panel belong to that session and follow the existing session tab cleanup: they close when the session is reset or deleted, with idle and per-session limits controlled by browser.tabCleanup. Tabs opened from a panel before this ownership existed have no recorded session, so they stay open but appear only in the Browser dock outside a chat session.

The panel streams the active tab live as the page repaints. It falls back to screenshots for node-routed browsers, Chrome MCP existing-session profiles, missing Playwright, or stream connection failures. Navigation rules apply to the stream: navigating to a blocked address stops it and clears the view.

After an established stream disconnects, the panel refreshes its screenshot and retries the stream automatically after a short delay. Annotation and inspection keep their captured image until you return to interaction mode.

Preview cards appear only for HTTP(S) page URLs when Apus can identify the browser's route. Blank or internal pages remain ordinary tool results. Tab actions without a page URL still update the Browser panel's selection. Sandbox browser results remain available to the agent but do not open a host-browser preview. Repeated opens of the same page in one chat activity group share one preview card for the same browser profile and host or node. The card opens the most recently used tab; different page URLs or browser routes stay separate. Long URLs that may have been shortened in tool metadata keep separate tab cards to avoid hiding different pages. Expand the tool activity to inspect every original call and result.

If a listed tab cannot be accessed, the panel explains whether navigation rules blocked it or its address could not be verified. Select another tab, enter an allowed address, or refresh after a temporary lookup failure. Blocked URLs stay hidden; displaying a tab title does not grant access to its contents.

Following a historical tab never starts a stopped managed browser: a fresh launch cannot contain that tab. The panel shows Start browser instead, and preview cards keep their title and URL without a thumbnail when that target is unavailable. Click Start browser to launch the browser and show its current tabs.

For local attachOnly CDP profiles on macOS and Linux, direct preview screenshots preserve the active Chrome tab when Apus can verify that the attached browser is running with a visible window. Headless browsers and browsers whose mode cannot be verified keep the existing activation behavior so screenshots remain reliable. Explicit tab-focus actions still activate the requested tab.