Island
New in 0.7Native look · Plan tab · ⌘/ cheatsheet

A calm browser, with an agent that shows its work.

Island is a native desktop browser built directly on CEF, with no Electron shell. Tabs and spaces sit in a quiet sidebar; Reader view, find in page and a built-in ad and tracker blocker keep pages readable; and an agent one keystroke away can research a question and hand back a report that cites every claim.

Download 0.8.1Read the docs

Unsigned prereleases for macOS, Windows and Linux. Only macOS on Apple silicon has been verified on real hardware.

magpcss.org / forum

Alloy style and several browser views

Alloy runtime style lets one top-level window host several browser views, which an embedder needs for split view and side panels.

Chrome style windows own their own toolbar and cannot share a window with other views.

New in 0.7The Native look, Island’s new default. Pick a tab in the sidebar: the Plan tab, a page with blocked trackers, two Reader pages, and the start page.

The browser, today

Everything in Island 0.8.1.

Every row is in the current release; rows marked New in 0.7 arrived with 0.7.

Browse

In the docs
  • Spaces and pinned tabsNamed spaces, each with its own tabs; pinned tabs stay first.
  • Icon railThe sidebar collapses to one icon per tab and comes back as you left it.
  • Split viewTwo tabs of a space side by side, with a keyboard-adjustable divider.
  • All tabsEvery space as searchable cards, with blocked-request counts.
  • Tab sleepIdle tabs free their memory and reload where you left off.
  • Peek⌘-click or middle-click a link to open it in a floating card.
  • Session restoreSpaces, tabs, pins and split pairs come back after a clean quit.

Read

In the docs
  • Start pageOne field to search, ask the agent or start research. Speed dial in 0.7.
  • Address bar searchType words, not an address, and get results from Google, DuckDuckGo or Yandex.
  • Reader viewThe article alone, with text size, width and Auto, Light, Sepia or Dark.
  • Find in pageA match count and match case, with next and previous.
  • Ad and tracker blockingEasyList and EasyPrivacy in Brave's adblock engine, with a per-site allowlist.
  • History searchUp to 50,000 visits, kept on this device and searched from the command palette.

Agent

In the docs
  • Agent in the sidebarClaude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, Qwen Code, Goose or any ACP agent.
  • Browser tools over MCPIsland's tools for any agent, on 127.0.0.1 behind a per-launch token.
  • Research and reportsSeveral sources compared, then a Markdown report that cites every claim.
  • Plan tabNew in 0.7The agent's research plan as a graph or a list. Nothing runs until you approve it.
  • Markdown repliesHeadings, code, lists and tables, with links limited to http, https and mailto.

Yours

In the docs
  • LooksNew in 0.7Native, Arc or Graphite in Settings → Appearance, or tune your own.
  • ShortcutsEvery action can be rebound in Settings; ⌘/ shows a cheatsheet in 0.7.
  • ImportBookmarks from Chrome, Edge, Brave, Safari and Firefox; Arc spaces and pins.
  • DownloadsSaved straight to Downloads; an existing file is never overwritten.
  • UpdatesChecked at most once a day and verified against the release checksums.

Research

Research that is planned before it runs.

Research sends a question to your agent with Island’s browser tools: it opens sources in tabs, compares them and finishes with a cited report. In 0.7 the agent first proposes a plan, at most three levels of branching deep, and waits for you.

How research works
  1. 1. AskAsk on the start pagePick Research and type the question. The agent opens a new space named after it.
  2. 2. PlanNew in 0.7Review the planSteps, branches, a join and a result in a Plan tab, as a graph or a list. Skip, restore, branch or expand a step.
  3. 3. ApproveNew in 0.7Run when you say soNothing runs until you choose Run plan or Run one branch only. Cancel stops it.
  4. 4. ReportRead the reportMarkdown that cites every claim, in a Report tab: copy it, save it as .md, or continue in the panel.

Made for agents

Bring your agent. Lend it the browser.

CommandJ opens an Agent Client Protocol agent beside the page. Replies stream in as Markdown and tool calls ask before they act. Any MCP client can use the same tools: Island listens on 127.0.0.1 only, behind a bearer token that changes on every launch.

Set up an agent
the agent that runs in the sidebar
# Pick a provider in the agent panel or Settings → Agent & tools.
# Each one is an ACP agent Island starts as a local program:
#   Claude Code  npx -y @agentclientprotocol/claude-agent-acp
#   Codex        npx -y @agentclientprotocol/codex-acp
#   OpenCode     opencode acp
#   Gemini CLI   gemini --acp
#   Qwen Code    qwen --acp
#   Goose        goose acp

# Or run any other ACP agent:
$ export ISLAND_AGENT_COMMAND="my-agent --acp"
$ open build/src/main/island_browser.app

Island hands every provider the browser tools and tells it which tab you are looking at.

ACP providers

Settings → Agent & tools
  • Claude Codenpx · Claude loginnpx -y @agentclientprotocol/claude-agent-acp
  • Codexnpx · ChatGPT or API keynpx -y @agentclientprotocol/codex-acp
  • OpenCodenpm i -g opencode-aiopencode acp
  • Gemini CLInpm i -g @google/gemini-cligemini --acp
  • Qwen Codenpm i -g @qwen-code/qwen-codeqwen --acp
  • Goosegoose CLIgoose acp

All 22 tools

browser_* · page_*
Tabs
  • browser_list_tabs
  • browser_list_spaces

Everything that is open, with ids, titles, and URLs

Navigate
  • browser_open_tab
  • browser_navigate

Go somewhere: open or load an http(s) URL

Manage
  • browser_activate_tab
  • browser_close_tab
  • browser_pin_tab

Focus, close, or pin a tab

History
  • browser_back
  • browser_forward
  • browser_reload

Back, forward, and reload

Spaces
  • browser_new_space
  • browser_switch_space

Create a space or switch to one

Layout
  • browser_toggle_sidebar
  • browser_toggle_split

Show the sidebar or pair tabs in a split

Read
  • page_read
  • page_snapshot

The page as text, or as clickable elements

Act
  • page_click
  • page_type
  • page_press_key
  • page_scroll

Click, type, press keys, and scroll

Inspect
  • page_screenshot
  • page_evaluate

What the page looks like, or JavaScript run in it

Looks

New in 0.7

Three looks, one browser.

Settings → Appearance starts with a look preset. Change any control (space color, tint, sidebar side, corner radius, density, font, shadow, full bleed) and the look becomes Custom.

  • NativeDefault for new profiles

    A grey source-list sidebar, a segmented space switcher, system-blue selection, and page state as indicators in the address field. No space colors.

  • ArcExisting profiles keep it

    The sidebar and window margin tinted by the space, the page on an inset rounded card, and a frameless window on macOS.

  • GraphiteThe 0.6 sidebar

    Neutral greys and hairlines, a near-white sidebar, and an outlined selected row.

Keyboard first

One keystroke from anything.

Island 0.8.1 has 37 actions with a default binding, and each one can be re-recorded in Settings → Shortcuts. Shown for macOS; on Windows and Linux use Control for Command and Alt for Option.

All shortcuts
  • CommandKCommand palette
  • CommandJShow or hide the agent
  • CommandBToggle sidebar
  • CommandShiftSSplit view with the next tab
  • CommandFFind in page
  • CommandOptionRReader mode
  • CommandShiftAAll tabs
  • Command/New in 0.7Show shortcut cheatsheet

Availability

Six targets, one verified.

Since 0.5 every release is packaged for macOS, Windows and Linux, on x64 and arm64, as unsigned prereleases with a checksum file. Only macOS on Apple silicon has been built and run on real hardware so far.

  • macOS · Apple siliconVerified
  • macOS · IntelPackaged, unverified
  • Windows · x64Packaged, unverified
  • Windows · arm64Packaged, unverified
  • Linux · x64Packaged, unverified
  • Linux · arm64Packaged, unverified

First run

A welcome that offers, never blocks.

A fresh install shows one card: pick a theme, tick the browsers to import from, and start browsing. Escape skips it, and Settings can import again at any time.

Coming next

Roadmap · not in a release

What the next big release is building.

This is the direction of work in progress, not a schedule: there are no dates, and any of it may change or slip before it ships. Builds will stay unsigned prereleases until a developer certificate is in place.

  1. 01Agent actions you can trust

    The agent takes reversible steps on its own and stops at a confirmation card before it submits, buys, pays, sends or deletes, fills card fields, or moves to another site mid-task. “Trust this site” skips the card there. Password fields stay off-limits, even on trusted sites.

  2. 02One task at a time, in a visible queue

    Background tasks run one by one. Reorder, remove or stop them; the queue pauses while a task waits for you.

  3. 03Ask from where you are

    Ask or Explain on a selection, Summarize a link through Peek, palette commands for the page and for collecting from tabs, and ⌘J that carries the current page along.

  4. 04Collect from tabs

    Pull the same facts out of several tabs into a table in a Report tab, then export it as CSV, JSON or Markdown.

  5. 05Everyday browsing

    A favorites grid shared by every space, folders for pinned tabs, a downloads popover, a now-playing control with per-tab mute, and optional auto-archive of old tabs.

  6. 06Reading and a Library

    Highlights with notes, Read later as an offline Reader copy, and island://library to search reports, highlights, saved pages and archived tabs together, all on the device.

  7. 07Release readiness

    Updates checked against Island's own signed manifest, history import from Chrome, Safari and Firefox, and local crash reports that are uploaded only if you agree.

Open source

Built in the open.

Island is made in public under the MIT license: specs, plans and acceptance checklists live in the repository next to the code.

Visit the repository Build from source