Aera release notes

Aera v0.6.0 — including the Agent tab, subagents, context summarization, and MCP screenshots — is now available on macOS. Download at getaera.app.

Claude Opus 4.7 is now available in Aera via the model selector. Pick it for the most complex multi-step browser workflows — and as always, switch models per task with no lock-in.

A really big upgrade.

What's new

• Agent Tab — manage multiple agents simultaneously and monitor the background tabs they (and their subagents) are using. Toggle between the Agent tab and the sidebar to suit your workflow, and control how tabs auto-close when agents finish.
• Subagents — agents can now spawn subagents to work in parallel and keep the main agent's context lean. Complex multi-step tasks complete dramatically faster. Available to subscribers on named models.
• Context summarization — on by default so long chats don't blow up the context window and burn credits. Want the full window? Toggle Ultra mode in the model dropdown.
• Screenshots via MCP — your IDEs and CLIs can now actually see the page and make informed decisions.
• Google login — sign in or sign up with Google, and link Google to an existing Aera account.
• New sidebar / Agent tab UI — tool calls, thoughts, and subagents group together, separating actions from answers.
• Profile-scoped chats, tasks, and notifications — create browser profiles whose agents only see what that profile is logged into.
• New model — Kimi K2.5, a lightweight, cost-effective model that works well in multi-agent workflows.
• Plus a list of bug fixes too long to print.

Notes

Initially available for Windows x64 and ARM; the macOS build followed on April 20.

A micro-patch for Windows resolving agent text entry issues and scheduled tasks not updating properly.

What's new

• Vision — Aera can now visually understand pages and act on what it sees rather than purely programmatically. Complex web apps like Canva and Google Sheets finally work. Available on paid plans.
• Background mode for chats — background tabs for chats and scheduled tasks now group together in the top bar; click to focus any of them.
• Windows Defender SmartScreen resolved — installs are no longer blocked; signing is fully set up.
• Verification subprocesses — the agent now prefers to confirm its actions actually completed instead of assuming.
• New models — GPT 5.4 and Mercury 2 (extremely fast).

To update: download from getaera.app or Settings → About Aera → Relaunch.

What's new

• Free version of Aera — use the sidebar for free, within limits, indefinitely, just by signing up. No payment information required. This is not a trial.
• New frontier models — Opus 4.6, Gemini 3.1 Pro, and GPT 5.3 Codex.
• MCP dashboard — monitor MCP activity and status, and replicate Aera's own tool calls when building your automations. Nothing is hidden behind the scenes. MCP is also significantly more stable.
• PDF and wider document support — the sidebar can now read PDFs and many more document types.
• Longer-running tasks — stability fixes for long sessions, including on the free tier.
• Auto-update fixes — the update button now appears reliably, and updates apply automatically going forward.
• New agent tools for broader functionality across more sites.

To update: download from getaera.app or go to Settings → About Aera → Relaunch.

After a month and a half of migration work, the all-new Chromium-based Aera is available for macOS and Windows (x64 and ARM).

What's new

• Full browser migration — bring ALL your browsing history, preferences, autofill, and more from Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Internet Explorer with a single button.
• Data tables for Scheduled Tasks — tasks can now store information across runs, building long-running datasets and lists from repeated executions.
• MCP persists while the browser is off — connect your tools, close the browser, and they'll wake it when needed.
• Claude Opus 4.6 available in the model selector.

Important

This version will not auto-update from the previous Electron version — download it directly from getaera.app and uninstall the old version first to avoid confusion.

Gemini 3 Flash is now available in the model selector.

The big one.

What's new

• Subscriptions — the agent sidebar no longer requires manual OpenRouter setup or self-funded API keys. All other functionality remains completely free.
• Secure password manager — encrypted, OS-keychain-backed password storage and autofill.
• Model descriptions and pricing on hover, so you know the relative cost before you pick (some models, like Opus, are expensive).
• Usage dashboard — subscribers can see billing-cycle usage on their account page.
• Overhauled settings dropdown and a sidebar accessibility button on every page.
• Further improved startup times.

Fixes

• Stray permission popups and permission notification wording.

With core browser functionality mostly complete, focus now shifts to agentic features.

GPT 5.2 High, GPT 5.2 Low, and GPT 5.2 Chat are now available in Aera via the model selector.

What's new

• Login no longer required — use Aera as a regular browser (without agentic features) with no account at all.
• Removed the login splash screen — you land directly on the browser home page.
• Basic Auth website support — no more Unauthorized errors on Basic Auth sites.
• Global download and update hosting — much faster downloads outside North America.
• Automatic update on restart once an update finishes downloading in the background.
• Classic URL bar stability improvements and better onboarding.

Fixes

• URL/search overlay no longer covers settings and unrelated pages.
• Sidebar links open in a new tab instead of a new window.

(v0.1.13 and v0.1.14 were skipped due to deployment testing.)

What's new

• Massively improved text input and clicking — Aera now rarely gets caught on text entry or buttons across most websites.
• Classic URL bar layout — pick the traditional layout under Settings → Appearance → URL Bar.
• OpenRouter credit notifications when your account balance is low (previously it just silently returned nothing).
• Sidebar links open in a new tab, onboarding sequence for new users, and scheduled tasks ordered by next run.

Fixes

• Sign-in pages can be dragged by their header.
• Scheduled task cards in the sidebar are clickable.
• The stop button now stops streaming instantly and no longer eats trailing thought messages.
• OS notifications suppressed while Aera is focused.

Fun milestone: Aera is now #17 worldwide in Qwen 3 Coder usage on OpenRouter.

Major improvements as Aera approaches its first official release.

What's new

• Chrome Web Store support — install extensions directly from the store or import them from Chrome.
• Expanded extension APIs (some OAuth extensions not fully functional yet).
• Message queues — queue follow-up messages while the agent is still running.
• Find-in-page (Ctrl + F) inside embedded browser views.
• Mainstream browser shortcuts — the majority of standard shortcuts now work.
• Permissions manager — per-website permission access with proper passthrough for all permission types.
• Better tab navigation for the agent — it now moves between tabs instead of opening new ones.
• Loading animations for tool calls, much faster tab resizing, flicker-free inline completions, visible "in-use" tabs for scheduled tasks, removed legacy page caching, and an Electron security update.

Fixes

A long list, including: correct tab switching, search focus on launch, downloads button visibility, global shortcut conflicts with other apps, OS notification titles, chat restoration opening the right chat, bidirectional scrolling for the scroll tool, network requests returning null, scheduled tasks ending correctly, and focus_tab never returning responses.

Grok 4.1 Fast Free is now available in the model selector — usable without adding credits to your OpenRouter account. Restart the browser to see it.

What's new

• Gemini 3 Pro support, and models are now dynamically loaded — new models can be added the day they're released, without waiting for an Aera update.
• Background chat support — chats can drive tabs in the background while you keep browsing. Tabs in use by a chat glow in the tab bar, and chats stay constrained to their own tabs.
• Downloads management — a downloads button with live progress appears when you download files.
• New Tab button labels option under Settings → Appearance.

Fixes

• Fullscreen video is now truly fullscreen.
• Search bar no longer carries the previous tab's URL into new tabs.
• Backspace no longer re-triggers inline autocompletion.
• List spacing in chats, Discord activities in production builds, and search overlay rendering.

Note: if you had scheduled tasks with predefined models, re-select the model in the task settings — model loading changed in this release.

What's new

• macOS and Linux support — the two most-requested platforms, now available alongside Windows at getaera.app/download.
• Chrome extension support (experimental) — extensions may not persist across restarts yet and need per-extension permissions for now.
• Password reset from the login screen.
• Faster startup and install — dramatically reduced cold-start time.
• 9 built-in themes under Settings → Appearance, plus custom theme support.

Fixes

• Background persistence setting for scheduled tasks.
• Tabs close instantly without waiting for animations.
• Custom theme image selection UX issues.

Development is now tracked on a public Trello board — and thank you to the contributors whose feedback shaped this release.

A same-day hotfix for v0.1.6 resolving an issue that caused the browser to hang indefinitely after navigating to a page or attempting to read it. If you're on v0.1.6, the update button will appear automatically.

What's new

• Scheduled Tasks — create periodic tasks from the sidebar (or manually) that run in the foreground or background while Aera is running. This is the foundation of recurring automation in Aera.
• In-place updates are fully functional — from this version onward, updating and restarting takes under a second.
• Localhost and local .html file support for development workflows.
• Massively reduced startup time, with startup race conditions around settings and chats resolved.
• Background image darkening, a Detailed New Tab layout, dark-mode scrollbars, and new global shortcuts (Ctrl + Shift + B, Ctrl + Alt + N).
• Heavily tuned system prompt for better agent persistence on long tasks.

Fixes

• Search overlay and tabs no longer overlap the bookmarks bar.
• OpenRouter API key now loads reliably on startup.
• New Tab layout handles empty states properly.

New models

• DeepSeek v3.2 EXP

Downloads now available directly from getaera.app/download.

What's new

• Background images and themes — customize Aera's look entirely.
• DOM-aware JavaScript execution tool for the agent and MCP.
• Console viewing and execution tools for the agent and MCP.
• Network request inspection tools for the agent and MCP.
• MCP logs overhaul — track and replicate agent/browser communications when building your own automations.
• Multi chat tab management and simultaneous agent runs.
• Draggable, reorderable tabs; bookmarks open in a new tab; much faster search overlay.

Fixes

• Window/sidebar resize no longer breaks the layout.
• Search overlay closes properly when switching tabs.
• Quick access links open in the focused tab.
• Favicon race condition and OCR image-read failures resolved.

Updater note

The app moved to a new in-place updater, cutting install size from 800 MB to 292 MB. One more manual install is required before in-place updates kick in.

What's new

• Bookmarks with a reorderable bookmarks bar and management page.
• Quick access section on the New Tab page.
• History search and removal across chats and browsing history, with multiple filters.
• OS notifications (and icon flashing) when the agent completes or needs input.
• Smarter autocomplete — search ranking now weights sites you visit often and prioritizes sites beginning with your query.
• Improved drag-and-drop and general UI in the sidebar.

Fixes

• White flash on startup and on navigation to certain sites.
• Right-click context menus for tabs and browser UI.
• Startup sometimes requiring multiple launches.
• Settings/bookmarks/downloads/history tabs now show proper titles and icons.
• Sidebar no longer opens below its minimum width.

What's new

• Preferred search engine — used for direct searches and taken into account by the agent.
• Default browser support — Aera can be set as your system default and handle URLs opened from the OS.
• Sidebar state persistence — open/closed state carries across sessions.
• MCP keep-alive options — keep the MCP server running while the browser is closed, with a system-tray indicator.

Fixes

• Context engine fully repaired — no more OCR fallback for page content, with a massive performance improvement on all agent tasks.
• Search overlay no longer blocks clicks on underlying elements.
• Search suggestions now populate instantly while typing.

New models

• claude-sonnet-4.5
• qwen3-coder (very fast)

Pushed ahead of schedule — the failing read_page tool was a major limitation in v0.1.1.

Fixes

• Resolved bundling issues that caused the browser to fail to read pages.
• OCR is now the primary fallback for page content while the context engine is reworked.
• Login sessions now persist across browser restarts.

A day-one round of fixes from working directly with the early access team.

What's new

• Navigation shortcuts — Ctrl + ← and Ctrl + → for back/forward.
• Windows UI controls added to the title bar.
• New models — gpt-5-high and gpt-5-low.

Fixes

• Maximized-window sizing on Windows.
• History and settings button placement.
• Chat shaking while scrolling, and auto-scroll now stops when you scroll up.
• Models migrated to unique IDs.
• Reduced circular chain-of-thought loops in thinking-model configurations.

The first alpha build of Aera Browser is here.

This release is an early testing build for Windows. The agentic sidebar runs bring-your-own-key via OpenRouter; MCP usage is entirely free and requires no key.

What it can do

Aera can autonomously surf the web, perform actions, conduct in-depth research, create job listings, investigate social media account performance, break down personal finances, send emails, add events to your calendar, create charts, and more. Sidebar and MCP functionality are virtually identical — anything the sidebar can do, your own programs can do through MCP. The MCP logs tab lets you follow along with the agent's tool calls to model your own automations.

Aera also works as a fully standalone browser. Local sessions persist, so once you log into a site, the agent can use that context to act on your behalf.

MCP setup

Enable the MCP server from the server icon on any new tab, then point any MCP-compatible tool at it:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aera-browser": {
      "url": "http://localhost:3001/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Useful shortcuts

• Ctrl + M — toggle sidebar
• Ctrl + K — search / URL bar
• Ctrl + N — new tab
• Ctrl + Shift + T — MCP logs
• Ctrl + Shift + I — dev tools

Known limitations

Complex web apps and some PWAs (e.g. composing social media posts) are weak spots in this build, some banking sites block non-mainstream browsers, and continuing very old chats can occasionally error the agent. Keys, chats, and browsing history are stored entirely locally and never touch Aera's servers.