Browser Automation Options

AgentX's browser automation has two independent choices that people often mix up. Understanding them separately makes setup obvious:

1. Backend — where the browser runs (the hands): System WebView vs Cloud Tunnel
2. Decision engine — who decides what to click (the brain): Jev vs Drex vs main model

You can combine any backend with any decision engine.

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Part 1: Browser backends (the hands)

Option A — System WebView ✅ Recommended

• What: Android's built-in System WebView, driven on-device through its remote-debugging socket. No downloads, no extra processes, 0 MB added to the app.
• Setup: Nothing. It's the default — Settings → Browser already selects it.
• Pros:
  • Zero setup, zero cost, works offline
  • Visible and touchable right in the watch panel
  • Lightest on battery and RAM
  • Takeover taps work directly on the live view
• Cons:
  • Runs on your phone, so very heavy pages (huge SPAs, WebGL) can be slower than a desktop browser
  • Your phone's IP and user-agent — sites that block mobile/datacenter traffic see a mobile client
• Best for: Everyday browsing tasks, quick lookups, form filling, reading pages. Start here.

Option B — Cloud Tunnel

• What: A full desktop Chromium running on a server (e.g. a GitHub Actions runner), connected to your phone through your own Cloudflare relay. The app talks to it over CDP (Chrome DevTools Protocol) tunneled over HTTPS/WebSocket.
• Setup: Deploy the relay worker + runner — full guide: Cloud Tunnel.
• Pros:
  • Desktop-class rendering and speed for heavy sites
  • Server IP — useful when your mobile IP is blocked or rate-limited
  • The browser keeps running even if the app is backgrounded
• Cons:
  • Real setup work (Cloudflare Worker + runner + tokens)
  • Needs internet; adds latency per action
  • You operate infrastructure — keep the client token secret
• Best for: Heavy automation, sites that block mobile clients, long unattended runs.

Recommendation: Use System WebView unless you have a concrete reason not to. It's the default for a reason — instant, free, and good enough for ~90% of tasks. Add the Cloud Tunnel when you hit a site that needs desktop rendering or when you want automation to keep running independently of your phone.

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Part 2: Decision engines (the brain)

Each browser step is: look at the page → decide one action → do it → repeat. The decision engine is what makes the "decide" step. AgentX tries them in order and falls back gracefully.

Option A — Jev (TypeSafe) ✅ Recommended for speed

• What: jev-ultrafast-style automation. Instead of sending the whole page to your big main model, AgentX sends a compact element list to a small, fast Choice model that returns exactly one action (~1–2 seconds per step).
• Setup: Settings → Jev — paste your TypeSafe API key, base URL, and model name. Any Jev-compatible endpoint works.
• Pros:
  • ~1–2s per action — dramatically faster than model round-trips
  • Cheap — tiny decision model, not your frontier model
  • Fail-open: if Jev isn't configured or errors, the task falls back to the main model instead of breaking
• Cons:
  • Needs a Jev-compatible key/endpoint (you bring it)
  • Compact element table (~limited chars per step) — can miss context on extremely dense pages
• Best for: Everyday automation speed. The default choice once configured.

Option B — Drex (Nace AI)

• What: Drex by Nace AI — a wire-compatible alternative to Jev (same API shape, drop-in replacement) that allows roughly ~4x the context per decision step.
• Setup: Settings → Jev — select Drex as the provider, or paste its base URL. Invite: https://drex.nace.ai/invite/kc6cz8pu
• Pros:
  • Same fast one-action-per-step loop as Jev
  • ~4x context — sees much larger element tables, better on complex/dense pages
• Cons:
  • Invite-based access; pricing/tiers set by Nace AI
• Best for: Complex pages where Jev's compact view misses things — dashboards, dense tables, intricate forms.

Option C — Main model fallback

• What: If neither Jev nor Drex is configured (or the decision call fails), the chat's main model makes the browser decisions.
• Setup: None — always available.
• Pros: Works out of the box with zero configuration.
• Cons: Much slower per step and burns your main model's tokens/context on every click.
• Best for: Getting started before you've set up Jev/Drex, or as an emergency fallback.

Recommendation: Configure Jev first (fastest, cheapest per action). Switch to Drex when pages get complex and Jev starts missing elements. The main model fallback stays as your safety net — you'll rarely notice it once Jev is set up.

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Putting it together

Your situation	Backend	Decision engine
Just installed, want it to work	System WebView	Main model (then add Jev)
Daily driver, fastest automation	System WebView	Jev
Complex dashboards / dense pages	System WebView or Tunnel	Drex
Site blocks mobile / heavy WebGL	Cloud Tunnel	Jev or Drex
Long unattended runs	Cloud Tunnel	Jev

Related

• Browser Setup — step-by-step backend configuration
• Cloud Tunnel — deploy your own relay
• Multi-Tab & Takeover — tabs, the visible cursor, and taking over manually
• Jev · Drex — engine details