A new beta of Blanc, the AI-built web browser, is available for testing – and this one is built directly on Chromium.
Current versions of Blanc use castLabs’ Electron fork, which includes Widevine so sites like Netflix work. But Electron only includes enough Chromium to display web pages, and not so many of the pieces that make a browser a browser.
Blanc 2.0 rebases on Chromium proper, allowing it to reuse code for tabs, history and other features instead of custom code.
The downside is that the developer (and his token spend) will need to keep pace with Chromium’s faster release schedule.But that will improve security since castLabs’ Electron is only updated once a month.
The port should improve support for Chrome extensions and allow desktop password managers, like 1Password and Bitwarden, to work with it as they often only integrate with browsers they recognise.
Blance 2.0 beta isn’t on Linux – yet
Blanc is made using AI. The browser’s developer, Anthony Loria, uses Claude and Codex to build, code and test releases. Loria had previously ruled out using Chromium, arguing that its rapid release cadence creates too much work for one person to keep up with.
It seems the plan is to develop this Chromium version in an attempt to reach feature parity with the Electron version, then decide which works best and build that one going forward.
Blanc v2.0 is currently pre-release software available in beta, not recommended for everyday usage. It runs as a separate app that can be used alongside an existing Blanc 1.x build without any overlap, as each has its own data folder, settings and so on.
There are a few feature limitations compared to the regular build, per the planning notes, which includes no Widevine.
Want to test?
At the time of writing there is no Linux or Windows beta build, only test builds for macOS (Apple Silicon only). Blanc’s developer says builds for other platforms will be available ‘shortly’ – keep an eye on the project GitHub if you’re keen to test.
I tried the most recent Blanc 2.0 beta (v6) on macOS. It looks and behaves the same as the stable Blanc does, which is a good thing for those familiar with. That includes the floating island UI, minimal design and features like glances, workspaces and splits.
On a related note, I did see a Linux user ask to join the development team recently, so that benefit future Linux versions.