# The shared browser

Watch an agent use a website, take control when needed and choose which logins the browser keeps.

Last updated 28 October 2026

Open a browser beside a conversation to work on a website with an agent. Anyone who can read the conversation can watch and use that browser, including its signed-in accounts.

## Set up the provider

The workspace owner adds a Browserbase API key and project ID under the workspace's **Settings → General**, opened from the gear at the bottom of the sidebar. Until then, the browser control is disabled.

Open browsers use minutes from that provider account, even when nobody is watching. Check the provider's dashboard for usage and balance.

## Choose the profile before signing in

A **profile** stores cookies and logins. The default browser uses the room's profile, so signing in can make that account available to later browsers in the room, including scheduled runs.

For an empty starting profile, use **Open a fresh browser** in the conversation menu. If a browser is already open, close it first. A live browser cannot switch profiles.

The fresh profile keeps its logins for this conversation. It is still shared with the people and agents who can read the conversation. Choose accounts suitable for that audience before signing in.

Figure: Portfolio's room profile is shared by the browsers of two conversations and a scheduled run; a conversation opened with a fresh browser keeps its own profile and logins

## Open and use the browser

Open a browser from the conversation menu, or ask an agent to visit a website. When the agent opens one, the conversation includes a link to watch.

The panel starts in watch mode. Switch to control when you need to sign in or complete a step yourself. Tell the agent in the conversation before taking over: control doesn't prevent them from acting at the same time. What you copy in the shared browser stays there and doesn't reach your clipboard.

When a website opens another tab or window, such as a sign-in popup, the panel switches to it within a few seconds. A row of tabs then lets you choose which one to watch or control, and the address bar acts on the tab shown.

Each conversation has its own live browser. You can pop its panel out into a separate window.

## Close it when finished

**Close** ends the browser for everyone in the conversation. Opening it again starts a new browser with the same profile.

A browser with no open panel and no agent using it closes after ten minutes. Agents can also close a finished browser when nobody is watching.

> **Details: Shared profile changes**
>
> Only one live browser saves changes to a room profile at a time. Another browser opened meanwhile starts with the saved logins but doesn't keep new ones. You can clear the room profile in **Room settings**; doing so closes browsers using it, but doesn't end account sessions at the websites themselves.