What is Phi Browser?

Phi Browser is the browser that knows you, and gets things done.

It is an intelligent browser for macOS, built on the Chromium engine with a native macOS interface. The core is open source, your data stays local-first, and the AI is included. Phi is free to use, with AI usage on us. It learns how you work, anticipates what you need, and takes care of routine tasks for you.

These guides give you the big picture and the thinking behind how Phi is built. For quick, specific answers, see the FAQ.

Made for macOS

Phi runs on Apple Silicon Macs (M1 and newer) on macOS 14 or later. It feels at home there: a native interface, a vertical sidebar, and a choice of three layout modes so you decide how much space goes to the page and how much to browser controls.

New to Phi? Start with Getting Started to install it and walk through first run, then learn your way around in Layouts & Navigation.

A browser with four AI parts

Phi's AI is built in and on once you are signed in. Rather than one vague "AI", it comes in four parts that each do something different:

• Memory quietly builds context from how you browse, so the assistant understands you without you teaching it anything.
• The assistant is a chat companion you name yourself, ask questions, and delegate work to.
• Agentic tasks actually do things for you, from one-off actions to background and scheduled work that runs on its own.
• Browser Skills are reusable workflows the assistant can run on demand.

Read Meet your assistant for Memory, talking to it, and Skills, and Automation & Phi Link for agentic tasks and using Phi from your phone.

Your data stays yours

Phi is local-first. What Phi remembers lives on your Mac, is never used to train AI models, and stays under your control. You can view it, manage it, and delete it.

There is a second half to that, and it is worth knowing before you rely on it: when the assistant answers a question, the content needed to answer goes to the model provider you picked, because that is the only way a model can answer. It passes through us without being stored. If you would rather it never left your Mac at all, Phi Sentinel can run models locally instead.

See Privacy & Your Data for the details.

Where to go next

• Getting Started, install Phi and first run.
• Switching to Phi, migration notes for Chrome, Safari, Arc, and Dia users.
• Layouts & Navigation, modes, the sidebar, tabs, Split View, and Tab Groups.
• Spaces & Profiles, separate workspaces, isolated Profiles, and URL routing rules.
• Bookmarks & Pinned Tabs, bookmarks that open in place as tabs, and pinned tabs.
• Themes & Appearance, colour themes, light and dark, and what the theme colours.
• Meet your assistant, Memory, talking to it, and Skills.
• Memory, how the assistant learns from your browsing and how you stay in control.
• Browser Skills, reusable workflows: browse the built-in set and create your own.
• The phi-browser skill, letting an outside AI agent drive Phi.
• New Tab & Widgets, the personalised new tab and its widgets.
• Automation & Phi Link, agentic tasks, Phi Sentinel, and Telegram.
• Phi Sentinel, the background app that runs automation and hosts Private AI.
• Agent Password Manager, how agents sign in without seeing your passwords.
• Privacy & Your Data, how your data is handled.
• Time Machine Backups, rolling back to a previous version after a major update.
• FAQ, quick answers to specific questions.