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[ARTICLE · art-73210] src=dev.to ↗ pub= topic=developer-tools verified=true sentiment=· neutral

Stop letting your coding agent claim "pixel-perfect". Make it prove 97.49%.

A developer built hwatu, a browser designed for coding agents to verify UI changes via pixel diffing, achieving a 97.49% match in about 87 ms per verification loop. The tool runs headlessly on Linux using WebKitGTK, supports CLI and MCP integration, and aims to replace blind 'pixel-perfect' claims with measurable proof.

read1 min views1 publishedJul 25, 2026

Your coding agent edits a component, runs the build, and reports the UI is now "pixel-perfect." It never opened a browser. It's guessing.

I got tired of that, so I built hwatu, a browser designed specifically for the agent verification loop.

hwatu --headless http://localhost:3000   # open, no focus steal
hwatu wait-load                          # block until loaded
hwatu eval 'document.title'              # DOM-level checks
hwatu shot /tmp/check.png                # screenshot
hwatu diff --id 1 --baseline before.png  # pixel diff: 97.49% match + heatmap
hwatu close 1

The whole loop, screenshot included, runs in about 87 ms on my laptop. Cheap enough that the agent can verify after every edit instead of claiming success blind.

webkitgtk-6.0

. No 170 MB download per project.hwatu mcp

), plain CLI, and a 1-line JSON socket. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Jcode, or any harness.Every benchmark in the repo was measured on real runs with scripts you can rerun: window spawn medians of 13-16 ms, ~87 ms full verification loop, memory measured via PSS across all WebKit child processes. Methodology in docs/benchmarks.md.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hongnoul/hwatu/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
hwatu setup   # detects Claude Code, Cursor, Jcode, or generic MCP

MIT licensed. Linux (WebKitGTK). Feedback and issues welcome: https://github.com/hongnoul/hwatu

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