What is this?
Moli is a production-ready headless browser for AI agents, built in Rust. It helps agents fetch and extract web pages, search the web, and automate browser tasks through the CLI, CDP, WebDriver Classic, or WebDriver BiDi.
Moli is a production-ready headless browser for AI agents, built in Rust. It helps agents fetch and extract web pages, search the web, and automate browser tasks through the CLI, CDP, WebDriver Classic, or WebDriver BiDi.Is this a wrapper around Chrome, or its own browser engine?Moli is a standalone browser kernel written from scratch in Rust, using its own DOM, V8, Servo/Stylo for CSS, and Taffy/Parley for layout — it is not a Chromium wrapper.
Moli is a standalone browser kernel written from scratch in Rust, using its own DOM, V8, Servo/Stylo for CSS, and Taffy/Parley for layout — it is not a Chromium wrapper.How do I get it running?You install it directly with a one-line script on Linux/macOS or a PowerShell command on Windows, then run the fetch command to extract a page or start the automation server for CDP/WebDriver.
You install it directly with a one-line script on Linux/macOS or a PowerShell command on Windows, then run the fetch command to extract a page or start the automation server for CDP/WebDriver.Do I need to install Chrome, ChromeDriver, or geckodriver separately?No. Moli ships as one unified binary that implements CDP, WebDriver Classic, and WebDriver BiDi over the same kernel, so no separate ChromeDriver, geckodriver, or browser install is needed.
No. Moli ships as one unified binary that implements CDP, WebDriver Classic, and WebDriver BiDi over the same kernel, so no separate ChromeDriver, geckodriver, or browser install is needed.Does it render pages visually by default, or is it the same fidelity as Chrome?By default Moli returns deterministic mock geometry with no real layout or paint; you need the --layout flag for real layout, hit-testing, and screenshots. Even then it doesn't aim for pixel-perfect Chrome parity or full Canvas/WebGL/media support.
By default Moli returns deterministic mock geometry with no real layout or paint; you need the --layout flag for real layout, hit-testing, and screenshots. Even then it doesn't aim for pixel-perfect Chrome parity or full Canvas/WebGL/media support.Which operating systems does it run on?Moli supports Linux, macOS, and Windows as a native binary.
Moli supports Linux, macOS, and Windows as a native binary.How does Moli's performance compare to headless Chrome?In Lexbench-Headless-Browser, Moli used about 15% of Chrome's CPU time and 13% of its peak memory per task, while passing 81.88% of tasks versus Chrome's 99.85% reference pass rate.
In Lexbench-Headless-Browser, Moli used about 15% of Chrome's CPU time and 13% of its peak memory per task, while passing 81.88% of tasks versus Chrome's 99.85% reference pass rate.What is Lexmount Browser, and do I need it?Lexmount Browser is a separate managed cloud runtime and control plane built around Moli; the open-source Moli browser is fully usable on its own without it.
Lexmount Browser is a separate managed cloud runtime and control plane built around Moli; the open-source Moli browser is fully usable on its own without it.What automation protocols can I connect with?Moli serves CDP, WebDriver Classic, and WebDriver BiDi from the same endpoint, so tools like Playwright can connect directly over CDP without any extra driver.
Moli serves CDP, WebDriver Classic, and WebDriver BiDi from the same endpoint, so tools like Playwright can connect directly over CDP without any extra driver.Why is Moli faster than a normal headless browser?Most agent requests only need DOM/HTML data, so Moli skips layout and painting entirely for those and only builds real geometry or pixels on demand, discarding the paint state right after use.
Most agent requests only need DOM/HTML data, so Moli skips layout and painting entirely for those and only builds real geometry or pixels on demand, discarding the paint state right after use.What are similar projects?crawlee, browser-use, ovobrowser, crawl4ai, CloakBrowser, obscura, maxun, browser
crawlee, browser-use, ovobrowser, crawl4ai, CloakBrowser, obscura, maxun, browserWhich topics is it in?chrome-devtools, v8, cloud-browser, web-crawling, crawling, web-crawler, web-scraper, headless-browser, cdp, selenium, puppeteer, screenshot
chrome-devtools, v8, cloud-browser, web-crawling, crawling, web-crawler, web-scraper, headless-browser, cdp, selenium, puppeteer, screenshot