NoUI

Skip the UI. Turn any website into fast, reliable APIs for agents.
Go beyond Claw. Call the underlying APIs.
Skip Computer-use Agents.

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🚀 What is NoUI?

NoUI turns any website into an API your agents can call.

Instead of automating clicks and scraping the UI, NoUI:

1. Records how you use a website
2. Extracts the underlying APIs
3. Converts them into callable Python functions
4. Exposes them via MCP for agents

No clicks. No DOM parsing. No brittle automation.

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⚡ Why NoUI?

Computer-use agents simulate humans:

• 🐢 Slow (UI loops, page loads)
• 💸 Expensive (token-heavy, step-heavy)
• 🧱 Fragile (break on UI changes)

NoUI executes software directly:

• ⚡ Fast --- direct API calls
• 💸 Cheap --- fewer steps, fewer tokens
• 🎯 Reliable --- uses the same APIs the app uses internally

Stop automating clicks. Execute software.

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🧠 How it works

1. Record a session (Chrome extension + voice)
2. Extract HAR traces + intent
3. Convert into Python API functions
4. Execute tools from inside the authenticated Tabby browser session
5. Expose everything as an MCP endpoint
6. Agents call APIs instead of clicking UI

Execution

Generated tools run from inside the authenticated Tabby browser, not from a Python HTTP client. Each operation opens a WebSocket to Tabby's CDP endpoint (localhost:9222), locates the tab for the target domain, and calls fetch(url, {credentials: 'include'}) via Runtime.evaluate. The real browser's TLS fingerprint and cookies are used — no credential extraction, and no Akamai/Cloudflare false positives.

The legacy Python-side path (httpx + resolve_auth()) is still available for server-to-server APIs that aren't reachable from the browser origin; opt in explicitly with noui workflow export --execution-mode http.

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🏗️ Architecture

Browser Extension (NoUI Recorder)
    → Login Recording | Workflow Recording modes
    ↓ (HAR + click events)
NoUI Backend (FastAPI, port 8002)
    → login-sessions/    — captures login flows
    → workflow-sessions/ — captures workflow API traffic
    → shared: clicks, url-events, HAR upload
    ↓
Compiler
    → login/  — login session → Tabby Application + ServiceProfile bundle
    → mcp/    — workflow session → FastMCP server + manifest
    ↓
Output (all under workbench/)
    → workbench/login_recordings/              — Tabby bundle JSON files
    → workbench/mcp_servers/<app>/<server_id>/ — runnable FastMCP packages
    → workbench/skills/<app>/<skill_id>/       — installable Claude Code skills
    ↓
Tabby Runtime  (persistent browser sessions + live auth)
    ↓
MCP → Claude / ChatGPT / Agents

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🔑 Core Components

🧩 HAR → API Compiler

• Parses browser network traffic (HAR)
• Groups requests into logical workflows
• Generates clean Python functions

🐾 Tabby Runtime

• Keeps browser sessions alive in the cloud
• Handles cookies, headers, auth
• Streams VNC for login / 2FA when needed

🔌 MCP Server

• Exposes generated APIs as tools
• Works with Claude, ChatGPT, and MCP-compatible agents

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🎯 What you can do

• Automate websites with no public APIs
• Turn internal tools into agent-ready SDKs
• Replace brittle browser automation workflows
• Build production-grade agents that actually scale

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⚡ Example

def create_invoice(customer_id, amount):
    return call_api(
        method="POST",
        endpoint="/api/invoices",
        headers=session_headers,
        json={
            "customer_id": customer_id,
            "amount": amount
        }
    )

Then your agent simply says:

"Create an invoice for customer X"

NoUI executes it directly.

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🔐 Authentication Flow

1. NoUI spins up a remote browser session
2. Streams it via VNC
3. You complete login / 2FA once
4. Tabby maintains the session

Agents reuse the authenticated context automatically.

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⚔️ NoUI vs Computer-Use Agents

	Computer-Use Agents	NoUI
Speed	Slow (UI loops)	Fast (direct APIs)
Cost	High	Low
Reliability	Breaks on UI changes	More Stable
Approach	Simulates humans	Executes software

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🧠 Philosophy

Websites already expose APIs. The UI is just a layer on top.

NoUI removes that layer.

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🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• Docker (for Tabby)
• Chrome browser

Clone with submodules

⚠️ NoUI includes Tabby as a git submodule. You must clone recursively, or the tabby/ directory will be empty and noui tabby start will fail.

git clone --recursive https://github.com/adoptai/noui.git

# Or, if you already cloned without --recursive:
git submodule update --init

Install

cd noui

# 1. Create a venv and install dependencies
python3 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/python -m pip install poetry
.venv/bin/python -m poetry install --no-root

# 2. Configure environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env: set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY (required)
#            TABBY_API_HOST, TABBY_ADMIN_TOKEN (authenticated apps only)

# 3. Load the Chrome extension
# Chrome → chrome://extensions → Developer mode → Load unpacked → select noui/extension/

# 4. Start the backend
.venv/bin/python cli/main.py start
# Backend runs at http://localhost:8002
# Interactive API docs at http://localhost:8002/docs

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🤖 Agent Skills

Install the NoUI skills into your project so your Agent (Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw...) can guide you through the full workflow:

npx skills add adoptai/noui

Then run /noui-setup in Claude Code to configure the environment.

Skill	Purpose
/noui-setup	One-time setup: venv, deps, .env, Chrome extension, Tabby CLI reference
/noui-record-login	Record a login flow and register it with Tabby
/noui-record-workflow	Record a workflow and export it as a FastMCP server or Claude Code Skill
/noui-generalize	Rename raw API parameters to natural-language equivalents post-export
/noui-generate-mcp	Start, stop, list, and connect generated MCP servers to Claude Code
/noui-generate-skill	List, install, and uninstall generated Claude Code Skills across agents

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🛠️ Developer Flow

Unauthenticated apps

# 1. Create a workflow session
.venv/bin/python cli/main.py workflow record "Fetch Results" "https://example.com"

# 2. Record in Chrome (extension → Workflow Recording mode → perform workflow → Complete)

# 3. Export as FastMCP server
.venv/bin/python cli/main.py workflow export --as mcp <session_id>

# 4. Start the MCP server
.venv/bin/python cli/main.py mcp start <server_id>

Authenticated apps (with Tabby)

# 0. Provision Tabby (first time only)
.venv/bin/python cli/main.py tabby start
.venv/bin/python cli/main.py tabby setup   # interactive

# 1. Record login and register with Tabby
.venv/bin/python cli/main.py login record "HubSpot" "https://app.hubspot.com/login"
# (record in Chrome using Login Recording mode)
.venv/bin/python cli/main.py login import <session_id> --validate
# → prints tabby_profile_id

# 2. Ensure a live browser session
.venv/bin/python cli/main.py tabby session ensure

# 3. Record and export the workflow
.venv/bin/python cli/main.py workflow record "Create Contact" "https://app.hubspot.com"
# (record in Chrome using Workflow Recording mode)
.venv/bin/python cli/main.py workflow export --as mcp <session_id> --profile <tabby_profile_id>

# 4. Start the MCP server
.venv/bin/python cli/main.py mcp start <server_id>

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📦 Generated MCP Output

workbench/mcp_servers/
  <app_slug>/
    <server_id>/
      server.py            # FastMCP entrypoint
      tools.json           # Tool inventory
      manifest.json        # Server manifest (lifecycle + auth metadata)
      noui_runtime/
        auth.py            # Runtime auth adapter (fetches live creds from Tabby)
      operations/
        <tool_name>.py     # One file per generated tool

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🖥️ CLI Reference

noui start / stop / status

noui login record <app> <url>          create login session
noui login export / review / register / validate <session_id|bundle>
noui login import <session_id> [--validate]

noui workflow record <name> <url>      create workflow session
noui workflow list / captures
noui workflow export <session_id> --as {mcp|skill|both} [--profile <tabby_profile_id>]

noui mcp list / status / start / stop <server_id>
noui skill list / show
noui skill install   <skill_id> <agent> [--project]    # agent: claude-code|codex|cline|opencode|agents
noui skill uninstall <skill_id> <agent> [--project]

noui tabby status / start / stop [--infra]
noui tabby setup [--profiles <id...>] [--force]
noui tabby session status / ensure [--profile] / stop

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🔌 Backend API

Method	Path	Description
POST	/login-sessions	Create login session
POST	/login-sessions/{id}/start	Start recording
POST	/login-sessions/{id}/complete	Mark complete
POST	/login-sessions/{id}/analyze	Generate Tabby bundle
GET	/login-sessions/{id}/bundle	Retrieve bundle
POST	/workflow-sessions	Create workflow session
POST	/workflow-sessions/{id}/start	Start recording
POST	/workflow-sessions/{id}/complete	Mark complete
POST	/workflow-sessions/{id}/export?as=mcp|skill|both	Compile to FastMCP, Skill, or both
POST	/clicks	Store click event
POST	/url-events	Store URL navigation event
POST	/capture-sessions/{id}/har	Upload HAR (extension compat)
GET	/health	Backend health check

Interactive docs: http://localhost:8002/docs

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🔗 Tabby compatibility

NoUI depends on Tabby for authenticated browser sessions. To keep behavior deterministic across releases, NoUI pins a specific SHA on Tabby's tabby-noui branch via a git submodule.

• Current pin: tabby-noui @ d212467
• Branch: tabby-noui
• Submodule path: tabby/ (inside this repository)

Using a different Tabby revision is unsupported. If you need to run against a local Tabby checkout for development, set the TABBY_DIR environment variable to override the submodule path. See CONTRIBUTING.md for the submodule-bump workflow.

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🧩 Chrome extension

v1 ships as a load-unpacked extension — there is no Chrome Web Store listing yet.

Chrome → chrome://extensions → Developer mode → Load unpacked → select noui/extension/

The backend URL defaults to http://localhost:8002. To point the extension at a different backend, open the extension popup → Settings.

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📚 Project docs

• CONTRIBUTING.md — dev setup, PR process, bumping the Tabby submodule
• SECURITY.md — responsible disclosure
• CHANGELOG.md — release history
• CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md

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🔥 Status

Early open source --- expect rough edges. Contributions welcome.

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📢 Closing

Computer-use agents were step one.

NoUI is what comes next.