{"slug": "lightpanda-headless-browser-written-in-zig", "title": "Lightpanda headless browser written in Zig", "summary": "Lightpanda released version 1.0 of its headless browser, a browser engine written from scratch in Zig for automation, crawling and AI agents that executes JavaScript without graphical rendering. The company reports 10,000 commits and 1.7 million passing Web Platform Tests subtests, and cites a 9x smaller memory footprint and 11x faster execution than Chrome, with support for the Chrome DevTools Protocol and compatibility with Puppeteer. Lightpanda positions the release as production-ready and safer than running Chrome in the cloud, where persistent cookies and sessions across tasks create shared-state security risks.", "body_md": "**Lightpanda 1.0 is out**\n\n10K commits, 1.7M passing WPT subtests. Safer and ready for production.\n\n[Read more](https://lightpanda.io/blog/posts/lightpanda-1-0)\n\n# The first browserfor machines, not humans\n\n## A fast, lightweight browser engine for automation, crawling and AI agents. JavaScript execution, no graphical rendering.\n\n## AI agents\n\n### deserve a 100x better web browser\n\n### Built from scratch\n\nNot reliant on existing browsers.\n\n### Created with Zig\n\nDeveloped in a low-level system programming language designed for performance and efficiency.\n\n### Focused and opinionated\n\nPurpose-built for headless operation, without rendering overhead.\n\n[See benchmark details](https://github.com/lightpanda-io/demo/blob/main/BENCHMARKS.md#crawler-benchmark)\n\n###### Integrated into leading agent frameworks\n\n### Web automation is being held back\n\nWeb browsers lack the speed, durability, and security for AI workloads.\n\n### Chrome wasn’t built for the cloud\n\n- Running Chrome in the cloud is expensive and slow.\n- You’re paying for decades of code built for people, not systems.\n\n### Browsers are slow and brittle\n\n- Real-time automation shouldn't wait for browsers.\n- Chrome takes seconds to start, which multiply across every process.\n\n### Shared state is a security risk\n\n- Automation needs isolated environments.\n- Traditional browsers carry persistent state, cookies & sessions across tasks.\n\n## Developers are talking about Lightpanda\n\n##### Asher | 16\n\n@asher_on_it_all\n\n@lightpanda_io is going to change the world. I'm calling it!!! I don't understand why i don't hear anything about their browser. - CDP support - most features you need are already supported - most websites already work - insanely low memory use - insanely fast WHAT?\n\n##### Adam\n\n@urbanisierung\n\nThe performance comparison between chrome headless is super promising! github.com/lightpanda-io/…\n\n##### atenkrotos\n\n@AtenKrotos\n\nSuper excited for @lightpanda_io\n\n##### Arjun\n\n@arjunz\n\nMemory footprint of @lightpanda_io browser, wow\n\n##### Guillermo Rauch\n\n@rauchg\n\nI’ve done it but speaking of cost efficiencies you’ll probably be better off with a specialized cloud browser runtime like @browserbasehq or @lightpanda_io\n\n##### Sébastien Chopin\n\n@Atinux\n\nAn open source headless browser rewritten in Zig designed for AI and automation. • 9x less memory footprint than Chrome • 11x faster execution than Chrome Very exciting times.\n\n##### Awesome kid\n\n@algonacci\n\nbenchmarking lightpanda.io built on top of zig vs chrome\n\n##### Viacheslav Biriukov\n\n@brk0v\n\n⚡️“I chose Zig because I'm not smart enough to build a big project in C++ or Rust.” - @bouvierfrancis This article is a fantastic deep dive into why you might want to build your next project in Zig #zig\n\n##### Mitchell Hashimoto\n\n@mitchellh\n\nLightpanda is a cool one that just announced too. Also @steeve ZML!\n\n##### Peter Steinberger\n\n@steipete\n\nHuh, they wrote a completely new browser in Zig. github.com/lightpanda-io/…\n\n##### Jit\n\n@jit_infinity\n\nI think you can reduce your server cost much!!! By using lightpanda. https://github.com/lightpanda-io/browser I came accross it in github. And it goes perfectly with puppeteer.\n\n##### Berlian Gor\n\n@berliangor\n\n@levelsio try to replace chromium with lightpanda - it's faster and still compatible with puppeteer! github.com/lightpanda-io/…\n\n##### Tijs Teulings\n\n@tijs.org\n\nFinally got a data scraper job working I wanted to try out for a while with lightpanda.io pretty neat. Using the hosted service for now but no reason to believe this would not work equally well locally for some sort om MCP setup for instance.\n\n##### 一丝不go\n\n@yisibl\n\nOMG! Not based on Chromium, Blink or WebKi? Is this a brand new browser kernel written in zig?\n\n##### Baudouin\n\n@b_arbaretier\n\nSo bullish on lightpanda MUCH NEEDED missing block also... 🇫🇷\n\n##### GAM\n\n@Gatindogbe\n\nWe use @lightpanda_io for the headless requests in our @amanni_xyz browser. It’s currently the fastest and most efficient solution for agent-based navigation.\n\n## Cloud Offer\n\n### Engineered for your workflows\n\nScale effortlessly with your existing tools (Puppeteer, Playwright)\n\n### Lightpanda innovation, \n\n Chrome reliability\n\nChoose from Chrome or Lightpanda's browser to ensure all use cases are covered\n\n```\nimport puppeteer from \"puppeteer\"\n// Replace puppeteer.launch with puppeteer.connect.\nconst browser = await puppeteer.connect({\n browserWSEndpoint: \"wss://euwest.cloud.lightpanda.io/ws?token=YOUR_TOKEN\",\n})\n// The rest of your script remains the same.\nconst page = await browser.newPage()\n```\n## About Lightpanda\n\nBuilding a web browser from scratch is a monumental challenge, one that few have attempted.\n\nWe took it on because automation and AI demand a fresh foundation, not wrappers on a legacy tech stack.\n\nAt our previous company, we scraped millions of web pages a day, and spent years navigating the pain of scaling scraping infrastructure with Chrome.\n\nWe knew the only real solution was to start over.\n\nLightpanda is here to change the game. We want to enable developers and businesses to do more with less.\n\nWe're building something ambitious and unconventional.\n\n## Ambitious. Unconventional.\n\n### And just getting started", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/lightpanda-headless-browser-written-in-zig", "canonical_source": "https://lightpanda.io", "published_at": "2026-10-16 01:48:06+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-16 02:00:37.221077+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-agents", "ai-crawlers", "developer-tools", "ai-tools"], "entities": ["Lightpanda", "Zig", "Chrome", "Chrome DevTools Protocol", "Puppeteer", "Guillermo Rauch", "Mitchell Hashimoto", "Sébastien Chopin"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/lightpanda-headless-browser-written-in-zig", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/lightpanda-headless-browser-written-in-zig.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/lightpanda-headless-browser-written-in-zig.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/lightpanda-headless-browser-written-in-zig.jsonld"}}