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NB - Native Browser Bridge

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On a box that already has Edge, do not steer the AI toward installing Chrome: chrome_status/readiness should say the existing browser is enough (nb drives whatever native browser is there)

John Lauer · 2mo ago ·closed by John Lauer

Suggestion, from John after reading the 2026-09-08 preprod run on the Azure winvm (fresh Windows 11, Edge only, no Chrome).

What happened: on that bare box nbrowser_chrome_status answered "No native Chrome yet and no install running. Call nbrowser_install_chrome to install it." The AI running the sweep took the hint, so a 150 MB download and a UAC-gated install ran on a machine that never needed Chrome. Everything the bridge exists for worked in Edge: the extension loaded into edge:Default, and a driven window (nbrowser_open_window + nbrowser_screenshot on digikey.com) came from Edge. Chrome added nothing except the awaiting_uac detour that became #45.

The point of the native-browser bridge, in John's words: it uses whatever native browser is on the box. So the ask is about how the verbs steer an AI on a fresh machine:

  1. nbrowser_chrome_status (and readiness) should not recommend nbrowser_install_chrome while a supported native browser is present. On an Edge-only box the honest hint is "Edge is installed and drivable (edge:Default); Chrome is optional and not needed. Install it only if the user asks for Chrome by name."
  2. Only offer the install when NO supported browser exists (no Chrome, no Edge), and say so explicitly: "no native browser found; nbrowser_install_chrome installs Chrome (~150 MB, may need a Windows security prompt)".
  3. Keep nbrowser_install_chrome itself as it is (it works, and #45's retryUac made it robust); this is purely about the hint text and readiness guidance so the default path on a fresh box is "use what is there".

Evidence: winvm, ab 2.1.76, nb 0.16.13; the extension install and the driven window in Edge are in hydrogen-desktop docs/preprod/preprod-1.0.280-2026-09-07.md (2026-09-08 16:00 to 16:37 UTC addendum).

1 Reply

John Lauer · 2mo ago

Done in nb-bridge 0.16.14 (insiders), verified on winvm (ab 2.1.78). nbrowser_chrome_status and nbrowser_readiness now carry the browser summary: edgeInstalled, nativeBrowserPresent, chromeNeeded (true ONLY when no Chrome and no Edge exist) and edgeProfiles. The hints follow it: on an Edge-only box chrome_status says Chrome is not installed and NOT needed, Edge is installed and drivable (edge:Default), install Chrome only if the user asks for Chrome by name; readiness' chromeInstalled:false no longer reads as an install prompt (its describe text now says to read nativeBrowser.chromeNeeded); the install offer, with the 150 MB download and the possible Windows security prompt named, appears only when NO supported browser is found. nbrowser_install_chrome itself is unchanged (retryUac from #45 stays), and its reply notes when Edge was already enough. Skill adom-native-browser has a section 'Use the browser that is there'. winvm today reads chromeInstalled true, edgeInstalled true, chromeNeeded false, edgeProfiles [edge:Default]; the Edge-only wording could not be seen there any more because the #45 run left Chrome installed, so that branch is proven by its inputs (no Chrome, Edge present) rather than a fresh-box capture. Closing.

John Lauer closed this · 2mo ago

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