A Chrome extension that lets Hive's AI subagents drive the browser you're already signed in to — in visible, isolated tab groups you can watch live.
Agents work in the same browser the user is already signed in to — so they inherit existing logins and sessions, and the user can watch the work happen live in their own tab bar.
Without the extension, every agent spins up its own isolated Chrome process over CDP. That model has real costs.
A fresh Chrome process has none of the user's logins, so agents hit auth walls on sites the user is already signed in to.
Work happens in a window the user can't see, so they can't follow along or step in when an agent goes off track.
One Chrome process per agent is resource-hungry, especially during multi-agent fan-out across a colony.
The extension replaces that model: one browser, the user's own, with each agent confined to its own tab group.
The Hive app runs a local bridge server. The extension connects to it over a WebSocket and executes commands using Chrome's own extension APIs.
ws://127.0.0.1:14829/bridge — commandsHTTP http://127.0.0.1:14830/status — diagnosticsbackground.js + offscreen.jschrome.debugger · chrome.tabs · chrome.tabGroupsHosts the persistent WebSocket. It lives in an offscreen document so the connection survives Chrome suspending the service worker.
Receives commands from the bridge, executes them via Chrome extension APIs, and returns results.
When an agent starts, the bridge sends context.create and the extension opens a new chrome.tabGroups entry for it — colour-coded and labelled in your tab bar, isolated from your own tabs. The agent drives tabs inside that group via the Chrome DevTools Protocol. When the agent stops, context.destroy closes only that group's tabs — Chrome itself stays running.
Clicking the toolbar icon opens a side panel that runs a fresh end-to-end diagnostic every ~2 seconds — it holds no cached “connected” flag, so it cannot get stuck green on a dead link.
The bridge answers on http://127.0.0.1:14830.
The bridge server inside the app is running.
The socket's live readyState — open, connecting, or closed.
The bridge accepted this specific extension instance.
Two-way round-trip freshness; a half-open socket is detected and auto-reconnected.
Warns when DevTools or another tool holds chrome.debugger on a tab and blocks automation.
The panel also lists active agents — one row per live tab group — so you can see which colony workers are driving the browser right now.
Add the Hive Browser Bridge from the Chrome Web Store. It updates automatically — there's nothing else to set up.
Add to ChromeChrome Web Store · FreeCheck the side panel first — each row points to a specific fix.
chrome://extensions.chrome.debugger on the tab. Close DevTools on that tab.