The Electron half of open-chatgpt-atlas is documented but not wired

Three documented npm scripts that the manifest does not define

The README spends a section on a standalone Electron browser with the Atlas features built in, and gives three commands for it: build the Electron app, start the Electron browser, or run it in development mode with hot reload.

npm run build:electron
npm run electron
npm run electron:dev

None of those script names exist in `package.json`. The manifest defines three scripts in total: `dev`, `build` and `preview`, all of which are plain Vite invocations. There is also no Electron package in the dependencies and no bundler configuration for a main process, although the repository does contain an `electron-browser/` directory.

So the Electron section describes a build that this state of the repository cannot perform. That may be a fork that is ahead or behind the one referenced, or a section that was written for a sibling branch. Either way, a reader following the README step by step gets a missing script error rather than a desktop browser.

The extension build, by contrast, is complete and short.

Two tool modes, and the same button turns one off

The extension offers two ways for the model to act, and they share one toggle in the chat header. Browser Tools mode is visual: Gemini 2.5 Computer Use takes natural language and drives the page with screenshots, clicks, typing, scrolling and navigation. You enable it with the circular button and the extension selects the Computer Use model automatically.

Tool Router mode is structural. Add a Composio API key and the model gets tool calls into Gmail, Slack, GitHub and a claimed 500-plus integrations, chosen by Composio's own routing rather than by the browser.

The instruction that makes the interaction clear is the third one: to use Tool Router, click the same button to disable Browser Tools. The two modes share the toggle rather than having separate switches, which means the model is never clicking and calling APIs at the same time. That is a sensible default for a tool that can type into a checkout page.

The visual feedback is part of the same idea. Blue click indicators and element highlighting are drawn during automation, so you can see where the model believes it is acting, and confirmation dialogs appear before sensitive actions such as checkout or payment.

One key is required, and the calls leave from the browser

The prerequisites are short. Node 18 or newer with npm, a Chrome or Edge browser with Manifest V3 support, a Google API key for Gemini, and optionally a Composio API key for Tool Router mode.

The Google key is the one you cannot skip, and it is entered in the extension's own settings page rather than baked into a build. The README notes it supports Gemini 2.5 Pro, Flash and Flash Lite, and points at Google AI Studio for issuing one.

The architecture decision worth understanding is that there is no backend. The README states it directly: all API calls are made directly from the extension, with no server component. That is why the settings page exists at all, since there is nowhere else for a key to be stored, and it is also what makes the tool inspectable. Everything the extension does, you can watch in the network panel of the tab it lives in.

It also means the model provider sees requests tagged with whatever context the page provides, and there is no server-side place to filter them. For a tool that reads your mail through Composio, that is a decision to make deliberately.

The dependency list is wider than the two documented modes

The manifest declares far more than the README describes. Alongside `@ai-sdk/google` there are `@ai-sdk/anthropic`, `@ai-sdk/openai`, `@ai-sdk/mcp` and `@ai-sdk/react`, plus the Model Context Protocol SDK, `ai`, `react-markdown`, `remark-gfm` and `zod`.

None of the Anthropic, OpenAI or MCP packages appear in the README's configuration section, which only asks for a Google key and a Composio key. The environment example file goes a different direction again, naming `OPENAI_API_KEY` and describing `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` as optional keys for other providers.

That split suggests the extension was built against the general AI SDK rather than for one model, and that only part of that surface is wired to the settings UI. A developer picking this up should read `background.ts`, `content.ts`, `tools.ts` and `types.ts` at the repository root before assuming the dependency list describes what runs.

The front-end stack is otherwise ordinary: React 18, Vite 5, TypeScript 5.6 and Chrome type definitions, with the extension source flat at the root next to `manifest.json`, `settings.html` and `sidepanel.html` rather than inside a `src` directory.

Free alternative, with no licence file in the tree

The README's first line calls the project an open source and free alternative to ChatGPT Atlas. GitHub records no licence for the repository, and there is no LICENSE file among the top-level entries, which contain `.env.example`, `.gitignore`, `FAQ.md`, `README.md`, `TROUBLESHOOTING.md`, source files and configuration.

Without a licence, the default position is that nobody may copy, modify or redistribute the code. That is not what a reader will assume from the word free in the first line, and it is the first thing to resolve if you plan to fork it, vendor it or ship it inside a product.

Two other facts about how the project is distributed. It has no GitHub releases, so there is nothing to download except the source, and it lives under the composio-community organisation while the README's own badge points at a repository under composiohq, which suggests this is a community copy of a project maintained elsewhere.

The last push to the default branch, which is `master` rather than `main`, was on 2026-07-21. There is no changelog and no tag history to check it against.

Load unpacked, then reload after every edit

Building the part that does work is four steps. Install dependencies, run the Vite build, open `chrome://extensions/`, turn on developer mode, choose Load unpacked and select the `dist` folder. Then open the extension's settings page to add the API keys.

npm install

npm run build

Because there is no published package and no store listing, this manual step is the whole installation process, and it repeats. Development runs with `npm run dev` for hot reload on the front end, but the README is explicit that you then reload the extension in Chrome after each change, since a Manifest V3 service worker and content script are not hot-swapped the way React components are.

Two documentation files sit next to the README for when that is not enough: a FAQ with quick troubleshooting and a longer troubleshooting guide for common issues. Neither is reproduced in the repository front page, which is where the practical knowledge is.

The reference list points at the projects this one leans on rather than at prior art in the same category: Composio's platform and Tool Router documentation, ChatGPT Atlas as OpenAI's browser automation agent, and Google's Gemini Computer Use model and API documentation.

Editorial conclusion

Adopt open-chatgpt-atlas if you want a sidebar chat inside Chrome with visual browser control, and you are willing to load an unpacked extension rather than install a published package. Do not plan around the Electron browser described in the README, since the npm scripts it tells you to run are absent from the manifest. Verify two things before you start. Check the repository for a licence file, because the project calls itself a free open source alternative while GitHub records no licence. Then decide which of the two tool modes you actually need, since the Google key is mandatory and the Composio key gates everything else.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. composio-community/open-chatgpt-atlas on GitHub
2. Issues
3. README