Shared Browser

A Paseo plugin that runs one real Chromium browser per workspace on the daemon host and shares that exact live session with every connected Paseo client.

This is not URL synchronization and not a second browser with copied cookies. Every viewer sees the same running page, the same DOM, and the same login state. One viewer holds control at a time and hands it over explicitly.

Screenshots

Wide desktop

Compact client

What it does

• One persistent Chromium session per workspace, owned by the plugin on the daemon host.
• Every connected client (desktop, web, iOS, Android) views the same page from the same session.
• Server-authoritative control lease: many viewers, one controller, explicit take, release, and takeover.
• Frames stream from Chromium's compositor through CDP Page.startScreencast, with a bounded page.screenshot() fallback.
• Remote input: tap, double-tap, right-click, drag, swipe scrolling, text entry, and special keys.
• Device emulation presets (Desktop Chrome, iPhone 15 Pro, Pixel 7, iPad Pro 11) change viewport, device pixel ratio, touch behavior, and user agent together, plus a custom canonical viewport.
• A dedicated private browser profile per workspace keeps cookies and site logins across restarts, and never touches your personal Chrome, Safari, or Paseo browser profile.
• The browser survives viewers detaching; stopping the plugin closes it.

Install

Install on the Paseo daemon host with plugins enabled:

paseo plugin add omercnet/paseo-shared-browser
paseo plugin ls

Or install a published archive:

gh release download --repo omercnet/paseo-shared-browser --pattern 'shared-browser-*.zip'
unzip shared-browser-v*.zip
paseo plugin install "$PWD/shared-browser"

Installation runs the manifest build steps: npm ci, npm run prepare:runtime, and playwright install chromium. The Chromium download is roughly 180 MB and needs network access on the daemon host.

Open a workspace, search the Command Center for Open Shared Browser, or tap the Shared Browser composer pill that appears while a workspace session is open.

Controls

• Toolbar: back, forward, reload, address bar, device emulation.
• Status row: session state, viewer count, controller, and lease expiry.
• Control: Take control, Release, and Take over for an explicit handoff.
• Mobile: swipe scrolls the page by default; pointer and keyboard options open as bottom sheets.

Security and scope

• Plugins are trusted, unsandboxed code. Server code runs as the daemon user on the daemon host.
• The launched Chromium keeps its own sandbox enabled; no --no-sandbox.
• Control tokens coordinate same-user paired clients. Paseo v0.7 plugin RPC exposes no authenticated caller identity, so they are a workflow safeguard, not an authorization boundary.
• Playwright uses pipe transport, so no CDP network port is opened.
• Downloads, uploads, clipboard sync, media permissions, and extensions stay disabled.
• Native passkeys and platform authenticators are unavailable in this headless session.

Develop

npm install
npm run typecheck
npm run lint
npm run format:check
npm run test:unit
npm run prepare:runtime
paseo plugin install "$PWD"
paseo plugin reload shared-browser

npm run test:smoke launches real Chromium and exercises two viewers, control handoff, stale-frame rejection, viewport changes, device emulation, and profile persistence. It binds its fixture server to the host's Tailscale IPv4 address, so it runs locally rather than in CI.

Release Please maintains the version, changelog, tags, and GitHub releases from Conventional Commits. Each release attaches an installable shared-browser-vX.Y.Z.zip archive.

The plugin targets the stable Paseo 0.7.x plugin API with React 19.1, React Native 0.81, and Playwright 1.63.