Coding agents in Chrome, backed by a native Rust daemon.
Keep agents, isolated Git worktrees, terminals, browser context, and reviews together.
AgentStart is an open-source Chrome workspace for agent-assisted software development. A single Rust daemon owns the repositories, worktrees, terminals, sessions, and event history; the extension supplies cross-tab navigation and one full workspace per tab.
Each task can live in its own worktree while AgentStart keeps the surrounding workflow visible: agent sessions, terminals, source control, browser evidence, pull requests, and live activity. The iOS companion pairs directly with the daemon using end-to-end encryption.
- Parallel worktrees: Run independent tasks against the same repository and compare their results before merging.
- Agent sessions: Start, monitor, resume, and organize terminal-based coding agents from one workspace.
- Native terminals: Use PTYs, bounded scrollback, process facts, and persistent event history owned by the daemon.
- Chrome navigation: Use the side panel as a cross-tab project/session navigator and each tab as a focused workspace.
- Deterministic context: Match page URLs, exact git remotes, and known workspace ports; when no fact matches, AgentStart hides the suggestion instead of guessing.
- Browser evidence: Record CDP actions, simulate network responses, compare screenshots, inspect Console events, pick elements, and write DevTools or EyeDropper changes back to the worktree.
- Remote development: Run the daemon beside the repository locally, inside WSL, or on a remote host reached through SSH forwarding or a private network.
- Mobile companion: Pair an iOS 26 device directly to monitor sessions and activity while connected, inspect changes, and send follow-up instructions.
AgentStart works with terminal-based coding agents installed on the daemon host. Authentication, model access, and usage limits remain under the control of each agent provider.
The workspace does not require every agent to expose the same capabilities. AgentStart keeps provider-specific behavior isolated while presenting sessions, worktrees, files, terminals, and reviews through a consistent interface.
One command installs the daemon, registers the browser connection, and hands over the mobile app:
curl -fsSL https://agentstart.ai/install.sh | shWindows uses PowerShell:
irm https://agentstart.ai/install.ps1 | iexThe installer verifies the release checksum, installs the daemon, registers the Chrome Native
Messaging host, starts the daemon at login, stages the Chrome extension on disk for one manual load
in chrome://extensions, waits for the extension to connect, and prints the iOS TestFlight link with
a scannable code. macOS and Linux run on arm64 or x64, Windows on x64.
agentstart.ai/install walks through the whole thing.
| Variable | Effect |
|---|---|
AGENTSTART_INSTALL_DIR |
Where the daemon binary is installed, ~/.local/bin by default |
AGENTSTART_VERSION |
Release tag to install, or latest |
AGENTSTART_EXTENSION_CHANNEL |
unpacked (default), web-store, or skip |
AGENTSTART_SKIP_SERVICE_INSTALL |
1 installs the binary without touching the login service |
AGENTSTART_NO_MOBILE |
1 omits the iOS link and code |
sh install.sh --help lists the same set. An assignment applies to the command it precedes, so a
piped install takes it on the right of the pipe:
curl -fsSL https://agentstart.ai/install.sh | AGENTSTART_VERSION=0.1.2 sh.
The default channel stages the extension rather than taking the Web Store listing, because a release
cuts its extension from the same commit as its daemon while the listing waits on a review. The
staged folder is ~/Library/Application Support/AgentStart/ChromeExtension on macOS,
%LOCALAPPDATA%\AgentStart\ChromeExtension on Windows, and
$XDG_DATA_HOME/AgentStart/ChromeExtension elsewhere. Load it once with Developer mode on in
chrome://extensions via Load unpacked; every later upgrade refreshes it in place and the
extension reloads itself.
After installing, agentstart status reports the daemon and whether the extension is connected, and
agentstart update moves a binary install to the latest release and refreshes the staged extension
alongside it — it declines for a Homebrew or npm install and names the channel to update through
instead.
| Piece | Install channel | Who updates it |
|---|---|---|
agentstart daemon |
Latest GitHub release, checksum-verified | agentstart update, Homebrew, or npm |
| Chrome extension | A staged unpacked bundle, or the Chrome Web Store via AGENTSTART_EXTENSION_CHANNEL=web-store |
The daemon refreshes the staged bundle on install and on agentstart update; Chrome updates the store listing |
| iOS companion | TestFlight | TestFlight |
npx @agentstart/cli, bunx @agentstart/cli, the Homebrew formula, and the signed AgentStart.dmg
come from all releases. The Chrome Web Store
listing the web-store channel installs from still moves on its own review timeline.
Install the mobile app, then pair it directly with the daemon.
- iOS: join the TestFlight beta
- Private networking: Set up direct cross-network access
pnpm install
vp run @agentstart/daemon#build
apps/daemon/target/release/agentstart installThen build the extension and load apps/extension/.output/chrome-mv3 from
chrome://extensions with Developer mode enabled:
vp run @agentstart/extension#buildClicking the AgentStart toolbar icon opens the side panel; there is no popup.
AgentStart is a pnpm monorepo. Development requires Rust 1.95, Node.js 24, and pnpm 12.1.0.
pnpm install
pnpm devFor extension development, load apps/extension/.output/chrome-mv3-dev as an unpacked extension
once. WXT then applies React/CSS HMR to open extension pages and automatically reloads the MV3
extension when its background or manifest changes.
Useful commands:
pnpm typecheck # Type-check all workspace projects
pnpm check # Lint, format, typecheck, and repository contracts
pnpm lint # Run and fix lint checks
pnpm fmt # Format the repositoryAny package task is reachable from the repository root with vp run <package>#<task>:
vp run @agentstart/daemon#build # Compile the daemon for this platform
vp run @agentstart/extension#build # Build the unpacked Chrome extension
vp run agentstart-mobile#build # Build the native iOS companion
vp run agentstart-web#build # Build the AgentStart websiteThe website is a static Cloudflare Worker app in apps/web. Its deploy workflow runs
typechecking and publishes the agentstart-web Worker when main changes the site at
agentstart.ai.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for repository conventions, platform setup, and contribution guidance.
Releases use one guarded local command and GitHub Actions for signing and publication. See the release runbook for credential setup, preparation, deployment, and retry commands.
- Report a bug or request a feature
- Review release notes and downloads
- Read the privacy policy
- Deploy AgentStart with Chrome enterprise policy
AgentStart is free and open source under the MIT License.