Install & Pair
The Browser Relay extension ships bundled inside the Ghast AI Desktop app. To use it, you need to load it into Chrome and feed it the desktop's connection info.
Option A — Let the desktop launch Chrome
The fastest path on macOS:
- Open Ghast AI Desktop.
- Go to Settings → Integrations → Browser.
- Click Launch Chrome with extension.
- Ghast spawns a new Chrome instance with
--load-extension=<bundled path>. - The extension auto-connects to your running desktop client.
The Chrome window opened this way is a separate instance from any Chrome you already have open. You can use either.
If Chrome is not installed on your Mac, this option fails with a clear error. Install Chrome from chrome.google.com and retry.
Option B — Load unpacked manually
If you want the extension in your existing Chrome (with your existing logins and bookmarks):
- Open
chrome://extensions. - Enable Developer mode (top right).
- Click Load unpacked.
- Browse to:
/Applications/Ghast AI.app/Contents/Resources/chrome-extension/ - Select the folder.
The extension's icon ("G" logo) now appears in your toolbar. Click it and the popup opens.
If you want to reload the extension after a desktop update, return to chrome://extensions and click the refresh icon on the extension card.
Pair to the desktop
The extension and desktop must agree on:
- Port — the WebSocket port the desktop listens on (default
18189). - Auth token — a 24-byte random secret, per profile.
To configure:
- In Ghast AI Desktop, go to Settings → Integrations → Browser.
- Copy the Port and Auth Token values.
- Click the extension's icon in Chrome → Settings (or right-click → Options).
- Paste Port and Auth Token into the options page.
- Click Save.
Within a second, the extension popup's connection indicator should go green. If it stays yellow or red, see Troubleshooting: Browser Extension.
The popup at a glance
Clicking the extension icon shows:
| Element | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Status dot | Green = connected; yellow = connecting; red = disconnected |
| Server address | Shows the configured 127.0.0.1:<port> |
| Attached tabs | Tab IDs and titles the agent currently has debugger access to |
| Attach Current Tab | Manually attach the current tab's debugger |
| Detach (per tab) | Manually detach |
| Reconnect | Force-reconnect to the desktop server |
| Settings | Open the options page |
You don't usually need to touch Attach / Detach — the desktop client requests attachment on demand.
Updating the extension
When you update Ghast AI Desktop, the bundled extension may also update. If you loaded it manually (Option B), reload it in chrome://extensions. If you used the auto-launch path (Option A), the next launch picks up the new version automatically.
Removing the extension
Right-click the icon in Chrome → Remove from Chrome. Confirms in a dialog. This does not affect any desktop state.
If you want to forget the pairing on the desktop side as well, rotate the token in Settings → Integrations → Browser (see Security & Token Rotation).