How to use Beacon

1. Install and link Beacon in Chrome. Open setup
2. Connect your editor with your MCP key: Cursor, Claude Code, Claude web, or any client with remote MCP. MCP setup
3. Add the beacon-browser skill so your agent knows the playbook. Get the skill
4. Ask for something. Keep Chrome open; that's where the work happens.

Type /beacon-browser followed by the job. Say the site, the goal, and where to stop.

• /beacon-browser open Gmail and summarize my unread mail from today
• /beacon-browser find a flight to Goa next Friday under ₹6000, stop before paying
• /beacon-browser test signup on localhost:3000 and tell me what breaks
• /beacon-browser in my work profile, post “standup in 5” to Discord #general

The agent reads the page as a list of named controls, acts on the exact one it named, then checks the result: a badge count, a new message, a changed URL. It reuses a tab already on the right site instead of opening a duplicate.

Tips: give budgets and limits up front (“under ₹1500”, “first three results”). Say “stop before paying” or “ask me before sending” for anything you can't undo.

• Personal (default): Beacon works in the tab you're looking at. Good for “do this on this page.”
• Agent: Beacon opens its own tabs in the background and never touches your active tab, so you keep browsing while it works.

Switch in the side panel: ⚙ → Agent mode. Or tell your agent “switch Beacon to agent mode.” The mode is per Chrome profile.

When a site needs you (a login, a captcha, a payment confirm), the agent brings that tab to the front and tells you what to do.

Run several chats at once: one finds flights while another clears your inbox. Each job gets its own tabs and its own colored tab group named after the job (“Mail agent”, “Flight agent”).

You don't name them yourself: the beacon-browser skill picks one per job. Without the skill, jobs share one set of tabs and run one after another.

• Agents close the tabs they opened when they finish. One that sits idle for 10 minutes is closed for you, unless you're looking at its tab.
• Tabs you opened yourself are never closed, and one agent can never act in another agent's tab.
• Don't want tab groups? ⚙ → turn off Group agent tabs.

Turn on agent mode and the side panel becomes a board of every agent in that profile: its goal, status, last action, tab count, and running time.

• Click a row to jump to that agent's tab.
• Stop halts it at once; its chat is told you stopped it. Reset clears a stopped row so the job can run again.
• Add tasks, one per line, and press Start. Each line runs as its own agent.
• Rows closed by the idle timer say so, so nothing just vanishes.

Link your Chrome profiles to one account. Each keeps its own logins, so “work Gmail” and “personal Gmail” are just different profiles.

1. In Account, press Link another profile to get an 8-character code. It stays valid for 30 minutes.
2. In the other profile, install Beacon and open its side panel.
3. Enter a label (like “work”) and the code. Account shows it the moment it joins.

Already signed in to this site in that profile? Installing Beacon there links it automatically, no code needed.

The first profile you linked is your primary profile. In a prompt, say “in my work profile” or “in primary” to pick one. Rename or remove profiles in Account.

The same key works in every MCP client. You see it once, when it's created. If you lose it, generate a new one in Account. The old key stops working everywhere, so paste the new one into each client's MCP config.

• Click disabled buttons or force them on.
• Act in a Chrome profile you haven't linked.
• Close tabs you opened, or the tab you're looking at.
• Pay, send, or submit without checking the result: actions you can't undo need a verification step.

Side panel says Not connected

Press Reconnect in the side panel. If it keeps failing, reload Beacon from chrome://extensions.

“No Chrome connected for your account”

Open Chrome in a profile where Beacon is linked to this account. The agent can retry right away.

That profile is busy

Wait a minute, or stop one agent on the Agent Board, then ask again.

Agent asks which profile

You have more than one profile online. Name it in your prompt: “in my work profile”, or “primary”.

“Stopped by user”

Someone pressed Stop on the Agent Board. Press Reset on that row, then ask again.

“MCP key rejected”

Your key was replaced. Generate a new one in Account and paste it into your MCP config.

Code says too many attempts

Ten wrong pairing codes from one network locks it for 15 minutes. Wait, then use a fresh code.

Agent clicked the wrong thing

Tell it what went wrong in the same chat; it reads the page again. Report patterns on the feedback page.

Still stuck? Send feedback or check the FAQ.