Wheel

A browser that thinks with you.

Wheel is a macOS browser with a built-in AI workflow layer: a multi-mode OmniBar, on-device chat and agents, semantic history search, workspace-aware tab state, and a blank-tab widget dashboard.

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What Wheel Does

OmniBar

Wheel centers around one bottom-docked OmniBar with five modes. Press Tab or Shift+Tab to cycle.

Mode	What it does
Address	Search, enter URLs, search history, and jump between tabs
Chat	Ask questions about the current page with full page context
Semantic	Search browsing history by meaning instead of keywords
Agent	Run multi-step browser tasks
Reading List	Search saved pages

Blank Tabs Become a Widget Dashboard

Opening a blank tab shows the current widget dashboard, not a static new-tab page.

• Widgets persist across launches
• The dashboard runs inside a single embedded WKWebView runtime
• Widget creation uses on-device generation plus deterministic templates for high-reliability cases like clocks
• Widgets can render local data or fetch public HTTPS data through an app-managed fetch bridge

On-Device AI

Wheel uses Apple Intelligence through FoundationModels for chat, agent flows, and widget generation.

• No API keys required
• Page-aware chat with mention support
• Agent workflows integrated directly into browser state
• AI features are local to the machine; widgets may still call external APIs when their manifests require it

Semantic Search

Wheel indexes pages locally and lets you search by concept.

• Powered by VecturaKit
• Background indexing while you browse
• History, web, and reading-list context support

Workspaces and Browser Tools

• Workspace-aware tab persistence and default agent configuration
• Workspace-scoped right-rail notes with a reusable floating mini editor
• Reading List and Downloads built into the main UI
• Picture-in-Picture support
• Link previews and overlay windows from the browsing surface
• Tab wheel / middle-click panel for fast switching

MCP and Headless Automation

Wheel can expose browser control over MCP and can also run headlessly.

• Built-in MCP server inside the app
• Separate wheel-mcp-bridge stdio target for MCP clients such as Claude Desktop
• Headless mode with configurable initial URL, MCP port, and window size

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Run It

Development

git clone https://github.com/stevemurr/wheel.git
cd wheel/WheelBrowser
cd ../NoteEditorWeb
npm install
npm run build
cd ../WheelBrowser
swift run WheelBrowser

Build an App Bundle

cd WheelBrowser
make build

If you change the note editor bundle, rebuild it first:

cd NoteEditorWeb
npm install
npm run build

This produces:

.build/arm64-apple-macosx/release/Wheel Browser.app

Install to /Applications

cd WheelBrowser
make install

Headless Mode

cd WheelBrowser
swift run WheelBrowser --headless --url https://example.com --port 8765 --window-size 1440x900

MCP Bridge

cd WheelBrowser
swift run wheel-mcp-bridge

The bridge forwards MCP tool calls to the app's local MCP server.

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Requirements

• macOS 26+
• Apple Silicon
• Xcode 26+ / Swift 6.2 toolchain
• Apple Intelligence for on-device chat, agent, and widget generation features

The browser itself can still run without model availability, but AI-dependent features will be limited.

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Shortcuts

Core

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+T	New tab
Cmd+W	Close tab
Cmd+Shift+S	Toggle tab sidebar
Cmd+Option+H	Toggle auto-hide tab dock
Cmd+Option+N	Open today's note
Cmd+Shift+Option+N	New note from page
Cmd+L	Focus address bar
Cmd+Option+F	Alternate address-bar focus

OmniBar and AI

Shortcut	Action
Tab / Shift+Tab	Cycle OmniBar mode
Cmd+K	Focus AI chat
Cmd+J	Open semantic search
Cmd+Shift+C	Copy last response
Cmd+Shift+R	Regenerate response
Cmd+Shift+E	Edit last message

Navigation

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+R	Reload
Esc	Stop loading
Cmd+[	Back
Cmd+]	Forward
Cmd+F	Find in page
Cmd++ / Cmd+=	Zoom in
Cmd+-	Zoom out
Cmd+0	Reset zoom

Tabs and Tools

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+Shift+[	Previous tab
Cmd+Shift+]	Next tab
Cmd+Shift+T	Reopen closed tab
Cmd+1-9	Switch to tab
Cmd+S	Save to reading list
Cmd+B	Show reading list
Cmd+D	Downloads
Cmd+Shift+P	Picture in Picture
Cmd+Option+O	Close all overlays
Cmd+Option+W	Show tab wheel

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Tests

Run the main suite:

cd WheelBrowser
swift test

Run the opt-in live agent tests:

cd WheelBrowser
WHEEL_RUN_LIVE_AGENT_TESTS=1 swift test --filter AgentLiveTests

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Project Layout

The active architecture today is centered on these areas:

WheelBrowser/
├── Sources/WheelBrowser/OmniBar/         # Multi-mode bottom command bar
├── Sources/WheelBrowser/Widgets/         # Current blank-tab widget platform
├── Sources/WheelBrowser/SemanticSearch/  # Local indexing and semantic retrieval
├── Sources/WheelBrowser/Agent/           # Browser agent execution
├── Sources/WheelBrowser/Shared/          # Shared infrastructure, including LLM integration
├── Sources/WheelBrowser/TopDrawer/       # Workspace management
├── Sources/WheelBrowser/MCP/             # In-app MCP server and settings
├── Sources/WheelBrowser/Headless/        # Headless browser startup/config
├── Sources/WheelBrowser/WebView/         # Web view container and browser plumbing
├── Sources/WheelBrowser/OverlayWindow/   # Overlay browser windows
├── Sources/WheelBrowser/LinkPreview/     # Hover/click preview system
├── Sources/WheelBrowser/Downloads/       # Download UI and state
└── Sources/WheelMCPBridge/               # MCP stdio bridge executable

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License

Wheel is available under the Wheel Noncommercial Share Source License 1.0.

• Forking, use, modification, and redistribution are allowed for noncommercial purposes.
• If you share a fork or modified version with anyone else, you must publish the complete corresponding source code under the same license.
• Commercial use requires prior written permission from the copyright holder.

Because commercial use is restricted, this license is source-available, not OSI open source.