# Magnitude review

> Magnitude is an open-source, vision-first browser agent in TypeScript that controls a browser with natural language for automation, data extraction, and testing.

Devtoolwatch Board, the week of Oct 25–31, 2026. Canonical page: https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/magnitude/

## TL;DR

Magnitude is an open-source TypeScript browser agent that uses a visually grounded model to see pages and act on pixel coordinates instead of the DOM structure. Magnitude is for developers who automate web tasks, extract structured data, or test web apps. It includes a test runner with visual assertions and supports both granular actions and higher-level flows.

## Magnitude at a glance

- **Category:** [Browser and computer use](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/categories/browser-and-computer-use/)
- **Maintained by:** Magnitude (organization, [@magnitudedev](https://github.com/magnitudedev) on GitHub)
- **License:** Apache 2.0
- **Language:** TypeScript, JavaScript, HTML
- **Repository:** [github.com/magnitudedev/browser-agent](https://github.com/magnitudedev/browser-agent)
- **Website:** [magnitude.run](https://magnitude.run)
- **npm package:** [magnitude-core](https://www.npmjs.com/package/magnitude-core) 0.3.1
- **Latest release:** [magnitude-core@0.3.1](https://github.com/magnitudedev/browser-agent/releases/tag/magnitude-core%400.3.1) on GitHub, Feb 8, 2026
- **First published:** Mar 20, 2025

## What Magnitude does

- Magnitude navigates web interfaces by looking at them and planning actions with a vision model.
- Magnitude executes mouse and keyboard actions, such as dragging an item into a column, from natural-language instructions.
- Magnitude extracts structured data that matches a provided zod schema, including new insights like difficulty ratings.
- Magnitude ships a test runner, magnitude-test, with visual assertions for testing web apps.
- Magnitude handles both high-level tasks and low-level actions, and accepts optional data for the agent to use.
- Magnitude supports custom actions and prompts at the agent and action level.
- Magnitude offers a pause and resume API as of magnitude-core 0.3.1.

### How it works

Magnitude runs as a TypeScript library. You call methods like agent.act and agent.extract. A visually grounded LLM looks at the page and specifies pixel coordinates for each action, so it does not depend on DOM structure. The project ships separate packages: magnitude-core, magnitude-test, magnitude-mcp, and create-magnitude-app.

## How to install Magnitude

**New automation project**

```
npx create-magnitude-app
```

**Test runner in an existing web app**

```
npm i --save-dev magnitude-test && npx magnitude init
```

### Requirements

- A large visually grounded LLM. The README recommends Claude Sonnet 4 and also names Qwen-2.5VL 72B as compatible.
- Node.js tooling with npm and npx to run the install commands.

### First steps

1. Run npx create-magnitude-app to create a project, follow the setup steps, then run the generated example script.
2. For testing, run the magnitude-test install and init command to create a tests/magnitude directory.
3. Edit magnitude.config.ts for configuration and use example.mag.ts as a template for test files.
4. Configure a large visually grounded model, such as Claude Sonnet 4 or Qwen-2.5VL 72B.

## Who Magnitude is for

- Developers automating web tasks or integrating between apps that have no APIs.
- Teams writing end-to-end tests for web apps with visual assertions.
- Developers extracting structured data from web pages into typed schemas.
- Developers building their own browser agents on a TypeScript foundation.

### Limitations

- Magnitude needs a large visually grounded model, which rules out small text-only models.
- Deterministic runs through the native caching system are still in progress, according to the README.
- Magnitude dropped support for separated grounding in magnitude-core 0.3.0.

## Usage data (the week of Oct 25–31, 2026)

- Not ranked this week
- New GitHub stars per week (last 12 weeks): Aug 9: 7; Aug 16: 5; Aug 23: 1; Aug 30: 8; Sep 6: 4; Sep 13: 2; Sep 20: 4; Sep 27: 5; Oct 4: 3; Oct 11: 2; Oct 18: 3; Oct 25: 5

## Magnitude alternatives

| Rank | Tool | Stars | Downloads/wk |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | [ego lite](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/citrolabs-ego-lite/) | 21k | – |
| #2 | [Moli](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/lexmount-moli/) | 21.9k | – |
| #3 | [Cua](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/cua/) | 31.4k | – |
| #4 | [Browser Harness](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/browser-use-browser-harness/) | 18.8k | 3.3M |
| #5 | [Jev Ultrafast](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/browser-use-jev-ultrafast/) | 24k | – |
| #6 | [Stagehand](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/stagehand/) | 25.9k | 3M |

## Magnitude FAQ

### Is Magnitude free and open source?

Yes. Magnitude's source code is on GitHub (magnitudedev/browser-agent) under the Apache 2.0 license, so you can use it for free.

### How do I install Magnitude?

Run `npx create-magnitude-app`. The install section above has the other options from the project's README.

### Is Magnitude still maintained?

Activity has slowed: the magnitudedev/browser-agent repository was last updated on Feb 8, 2026, and the latest release, magnitude-core@0.3.1 on GitHub, came out on Feb 8, 2026.

### How popular is Magnitude?

Magnitude has 4.1k GitHub stars as of Nov 1, 2026. It gained 5 new stars in the week of Oct 25–31, 2026, against a 12-week average of 4 a week.

### What are the best alternatives to Magnitude?

Other browser and computer-use agents on the Devtoolwatch Board in the week of Oct 25–31, 2026, by momentum: ego lite (#1), Moli (#2), Cua (#3), Browser Harness (#4), Jev Ultrafast (#5). The alternatives table above has their numbers.

### How is Magnitude different from DOM-based browser agents?

Magnitude is vision-first. A visually grounded LLM specifies pixel coordinates instead of drawing numbered boxes around DOM elements. The README says this generalizes better on complex modern sites and can extend to desktop apps and VMs.

### Which models does Magnitude work with?

Magnitude needs a large visually grounded model. The README recommends Claude Sonnet 4 and lists Qwen-2.5VL 72B as compatible. In release 0.3.1, the default model changed to Haiku 4.5.

### Can Magnitude run tests in CI/CD?

Yes. Magnitude includes the magnitude-test runner, and its docs explain how to run tests and integrate them into CI/CD.

### Does Magnitude have an MCP server?

Yes. Magnitude publishes a magnitude-mcp package. Version 0.1.3 added a stability wait after MCP action sets.

### How does Magnitude extract data?

Magnitude uses agent.extract with an instruction and a zod schema. It returns data that matches the schema and can add derived fields, such as a difficulty rating.

## Sources

1. [magnitudedev/browser-agent on GitHub](https://github.com/magnitudedev/browser-agent)
2. [Magnitude README](https://github.com/magnitudedev/browser-agent/blob/main/README.md)
3. [magnitude-core on npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/magnitude-core)
4. [Magnitude website](https://magnitude.run)
5. [Release magnitude-core@0.3.1 (Feb 8, 2026)](https://github.com/magnitudedev/browser-agent/releases/tag/magnitude-core%400.3.1)
6. [Release magnitude-test@0.3.13 (Feb 8, 2026)](https://github.com/magnitudedev/browser-agent/releases/tag/magnitude-test%400.3.13)
7. [Release magnitude-mcp@0.1.3 (Feb 8, 2026)](https://github.com/magnitudedev/browser-agent/releases/tag/magnitude-mcp%400.1.3)
8. [Devtoolwatch Board, the week of Oct 25–31, 2026](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/)