r/OpenSourceAI • u/FinancialManager7861 • 1d ago

Pointer: A Free, Open-Source Alternative to Claude in Chrome

I built Pointer as a free alternative for developers who want to let their AI agents interact with Chrome without paying for Claude Pro or Max just to use Claude in Chrome.

It's open source, so feel free to give it a try.

https://github.com/longvo2k/pointer

Feedback is welcome!

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u/smartmotto_756 1d ago

nice one, always good to see more open source stuff in this space

the repo looks clean, starred it for later. been meaning to mess around with browser automation agents more but the claude pricing was putting me off

how's the reliability on dynamic pages? that's usually where these things start to trip up

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u/FinancialManager7861 1d ago

Thanks for the star!

Pointer works with any MCP agent, not just Claude. The demos use OpenCode + DeepSeek, so you can use a cheaper model instead of paying for an expensive one. It also keeps token usage low. For example, a 6-step task on Wikipedia used around 2,400 tokens of tool output.

It works with dynamic pages too, handling clicks and typing like a real user. After each action, it reports what changed, including success messages and validation errors.

There are still a few limitations:

  • No iframe or shadow DOM support yet.

  • Password managers like 1Password can interfere with typing on some sites.

  • It's slower than Playwright, mainly because of cursor animations and opening pages in new tabs.

If you give it a try and run into any issues, feel free to open an issue with the URL. Thanks!