A CLI for your browser history
Browser history is one of the most useful local datasets you have, and one of the worst exposed by browsers. Here is the Maho CLI for it, with three queries worth keeping in your dotfiles.
browser
43 posts with the tag “browser”
Headless browsing with Maho: scripts that read the web
A short, real walkthrough. Headless Maho on macOS, a single fetch, a structured extract, then a batch run over a URL list. Where this overlaps with Playwright and where it does not.
Browser fingerprinting defense: what we ship, what we do not
Most fingerprinting posts oversell the defense. This one is the opposite. Here is what Maho blocks, what Maho cannot block, and where the arms race still wins.
Agentic vs chat: when the browser should act, not talk
Every agentic browser has three modes hiding inside it: chat, act, and refuse. The bug is when the user cannot tell which mode the assistant is in. Here is how Maho makes that visible.
Share a tab to the terminal (and back) with Maho
A tab is a document. A document can be piped, filtered, and rewritten. Maho gives you the wire to do it from the terminal you already use.
Extensions that still work: the Chromium MV3 story in Maho
We get the same question every week. Will my extensions work in Maho? Mostly yes. The exceptions are intentional. Here is the actual list.
Maho sync architecture, end to end
We described the shape of Maho sync in an earlier post. This is the long version. Real primitives, real wire format, real threat model.
Keyboard-first browsing in 2026: not an afterthought
Most browsers treat the keyboard as accessibility, not as the primary interface. Maho’s bet is the other direction. Here is the model, the cheatsheet, and the places we still owe you better.
Maho vs Zen Browser: two ambitious 2026 macOS browsers
Zen and Maho both reach for a better browser in 2026, from different starting points. One is Firefox with taste. One is Chromium with an agent. The choice is not a tie.
Run an MCP server for your browser
MCP gave models a way to call tools. The browser is the right host. This post is how you write your own tool, register it, and use it from the side panel in under an hour.
The side panel as a control surface, not a chat box
Most browsers put the assistant somewhere convenient and call it done. The placement choice is doing more work than it looks. Here is the reasoning.
Maho vs Vivaldi: two power-user browsers, two centuries
Vivaldi was the first browser that respected the power user. Maho is built for a different decade and a different shape of power. Both are still right.
BYOK vs managed AI: what you give up, what you keep
Managed AI is convenient and opaque. BYOK is transparent and a little more work. The honest tradeoff is not the one the marketing pages describe.
Building an agentic workflow: from search to ticket
Most agentic browser demos stop at the summary. The interesting work starts after the summary, when the agent has to do something with what it just read.
Maho vs Firefox: two takes on user agency
Firefox built the user-agency case for the page-rendering era. Maho is building it for an era where the browser also runs models and tools. Both arguments are still right.
Browser history encryption: how Maho stores yours
Most browsers store history in a plain SQLite file. That is fine until the laptop is lent, lost, or imaged. Maho draws the encryption line one layer earlier.
Local models vs cloud APIs: the real cost comparison
The instinct is that local is free and cloud is expensive. The numbers are more interesting than that, and the crossover happens later than most people think.
Maho vs Safari: defaults are sticky, agentic is not optional
Safari is good. Safari is the default. Those two facts are the entire reason most Mac users never try anything else. This post is for the rest.
Sync without an account: the Maho relay model
An account is a price most browsers make you pay for sync. We did not want to charge it. This is how the alternative works.
Agentic browser failure modes (and how Maho handles them)
Agentic browsers fail in four shapes. The shapes are old. The defenses are not magic. Here is what each looks like in the wild and how the Maho host responds.
Maho vs SigmaOS: two macOS-native power browsers
Two macOS-native browsers built for keyboard-first power users. SigmaOS picked one ceiling. Maho picked another. Here is where they diverge.
Boosts in Maho: per-site customization without an extension
Browser extensions are heavy and ask for permissions you never wanted to grant. Boosts are the lighter answer for per-site customization.
Why we put browser AI history in SQLite
Prompt history is the kind of data that should live where you can read it, back it up, and grep it. SQLite was the dull, correct answer.
Maho vs Opera with Aria: AI sidebar, two designs
Opera ships Aria as a bundled, hosted AI sidebar. Maho ships an agentic panel with BYOK. The comparison is less about features than about defaults.
Zero telemetry by default: what that actually means in code
Zero telemetry is a phrase that gets attached to a lot of browsers. This is the inventory of every endpoint, what we did with it, and how you verify.
Page context vs conversation context: two scopes, one panel
Maho’s AI panel has two scopes: the page in front of you, and the conversation you have been having. They are not flavors. They are different inputs with different failure modes.
Maho vs Chrome with Gemini: agentic-first vs AI-bolted-on
Google ships Gemini inside Chrome. Maho ships an agentic side panel with BYOK. Two AIs, two invocation models, two views of what is happening on your screen.
LM Studio plus Maho: a fully local AI panel on macOS
A working tutorial. Install LM Studio, load a model, start the OpenAI-compatible server, wire it into Maho, and confirm with a quick round trip that no prompts leave the machine.
Tool calling, without the mess: how Maho ships browser tools
Tool calling is not a feature. It is a contract. This is the long version of how we honor that contract inside Maho’s side panel.
Maho vs Edge with Copilot: the bundle vs the BYOK
Microsoft Edge ships Copilot bundled. Maho ships BYOK. The two architectures answer a different question about who runs your AI.
Spaces in Maho: when tab groups are not enough
Tab groups are fine until your day stops being one shape. Spaces are what you reach for when your work has more than one mode.
Permissions for an agentic browser, in practice
An agentic browser that does not ask is not safe. An agentic browser that asks too much is not usable. The middle is engineering work, not a slogan.
Maho vs Brave Leo: privacy plus AI, two approaches
Brave Leo and the Maho side panel both promise privacy plus AI. They reach that promise from opposite directions. One bundles, one brings your own.
BYOK with Ollama: connect a local model to Maho in five steps
A working tutorial. Install Ollama, pull a model, wire it into Maho’s BYOK panel, and confirm with system tools that no prompts leave the machine.
What is BYOK? Bring Your Own Key, explained
BYOK is a four-letter acronym hiding a real architectural choice. The choice changes who pays, who sees your prompts, and who owns the lock-in.
BYOK in the browser: the architecture, in detail
BYOK is not a checkbox in Settings. It is the way the AI panel is wired. This is the wiring, in detail.
Maho vs Dia: two takes on the agentic browser in 2026
Dia and Maho are both agentic browsers shipped in 2026. They make different bets about where context lives, who owns the model, and what the browser is allowed to do on your behalf.
MCP in the browser: what it actually means in 2026
MCP gave language models a way to call tools. The browser is the right host for the result. This post is the long version of that claim.
What is MCP? Model Context Protocol explained for browsers
MCP turns the model into a caller and the browser into a host. The shift is small in a diagram and large in practice.
Verify Maho privacy locally: the receipts
We removed every false ‘open source’ claim from this site. That left a question. If you cannot read the source, how do you trust the claims? This is the procedure.
Maho vs Arc: where the agentic browser goes after Arc
Arc reached for a browser that worked the way power users actually browse. The Browser Company moved on before that idea was finished. Maho picks up the parts that mattered.
What is an agentic browser? A working definition
Every browser now has a chat panel. Some of them can take action. The difference matters more than the marketing copy admits.
Agentic Browsers in 2026: How Maho Compares
Every browser now has an AI sidebar. But which ones can actually do things? We compare Maho’s agentic AI panel against Dia, Chrome + Gemini, Edge + Copilot, Brave Leo, Opera Aria, and SigmaOS.