nowfound

AI · March 26, 2025

DM

Donobu – Mac app turns prompts into deterministic browser tests

Hi HN, we’re Vasusen and Justin, and we’re building Donobu (https://www.donobu.com), a Mac desktop app. It turns prompts like “ensure onboarding works” into reliable browser tests, with optional AI (BYOK). It’s local-first, privacy-focused, and built with insights from our Coursera days—where testing hundreds of features across thousands of pages was a nightmare. Your feedback last year inspired us to double down and enhance Donobu—improving performance, simplifying, and adding seamless integrations with CI/CD. Here's what's new: - 4x smaller install: rewritten in TypeScript,…

Donobu – Mac app turns prompts into deterministic browser tests launched on March 26, 2025 with 13 votes, #1,748 of 7,215 launches that month and more than 75% of that year's launches.

Alternativestop 24% of March 2025

In plain words

Donobu is a Mac desktop app that converts natural language prompts into browser tests using Playwright. It generates deterministic, repeatable tests that can be exported and integrated into CI/CD pipelines. The app operates locally and prioritizes privacy, with optional AI capabilities. It's designed for teams testing complex applications across many features and pages, offering features like smart failover handling and support for remote browsers across different locales.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

In the maker’s words, at launch

Hi HN, we’re Vasusen and Justin, and we’re building Donobu (https://www.donobu.com), a Mac desktop app. It turns prompts like “ensure onboarding works” into reliable browser tests, with optional AI (BYOK). It’s local-first, privacy-focused, and built with insights from our Coursera days—where testing…

Does a similar job

all alternatives →
  • Donobu – Mac App for Web Automation and Testing2024 · donobu.com · ▲134

    Been working on a desktop app for Mac that lets you create web flows and rerun them (https://www.donobu.com/). You can optionally use AI (BYOK: bring your own keys) to create flows for you and to do other interesting things, like making vision-based semantic assertions. Also, your data lives on your own filesystem, and we do not see any of it (further still, there is no phoning home at all). A nice benefit of this being a desktop app rather than a SAAS product, is that if you happen to be developing/iterating on a webpage locally, this has no problem hooking into it. What…

  • TypeBoostFeb 2026 · typeboost.ai · ▲361

    Your personal AI writing toolkit. Inside any app.

  • InvokoJun 2026 · tryclico.com · ▲472

    Clico is an AI studio that unifies deep web research, file Q&A, and image and video generation in a single conversational workspace. Use Clico Web in your browser, Clico Desktop across Mac apps, or the Chrome Extension beside any page. Choose models like Claude, GPT, Gemini,

  • TypoTab 2025 · typotab.com · ▲191

    Refine your writing in seconds on macOS

  • TestDino2025 · testdino.com · ▲69

    AI-native, Playwright Test Reporting & Management with MCP

  • AI BrowserNov 2025 · aibrowser.surf · ▲143

    Hey HN! I built Browser AI after getting frustrated with the official Playwright MCP server in Claude Code. If you've used it, you know the pain: - 20+ separate tools that Claude has to juggle (click, fill, navigate, wait_for_selector, etc.) - Context window explosions from verbose screenshot data and DOM snapshots - Constant tool selection errors where Claude picks the wrong tool or forgets parameters Browser AI wraps Playwright MCP with a single natural language interface. Instead of Claude managing dozens of tools, you get one: browser_ai.execute. Just tell it what you want in plain…

More ai this month

the category →
  • Video model that turns script into viral social media videos

    AI · 18d ago · spira.ai

  • The browser where Claude Code and Codex work beside you

    AI · 18d ago · rill.love

  • Kolibri is Aleph Alpha

    AI · 19d ago · tej.as

  • Paintings by AI models: programs run through a simulation of oil paint.

    AI · 21d ago · stillwet.art

  • A real-time world model you can explore and change

    AI · 29d ago · world.pixverse.video

  • Beam.win▲378

    Run AI agents on one Mac and use its windows on another

    AI · 4d ago · beam.win

Source: Show HN post ↗ · launch text quoted in part

Launched alongside, March 2025

the whole month →
  • Mimic Human Research & Save Findings in AI Knowledge Base

    AI · 2025 · sider.ai

  • Turn your ideas into products that sell

    AI · 2025 · atoms.dev

  • Aha▲1,152

    The world's first AI influencer marketing team

    AI · 2025 · ahacreator.com

  • Fluently▲976

    Start speaking English as well as your native language

    AI · 2025 · getfluently.app

  • Conversational AI surveys, interviews, user tests, polls

    AI · 2025 · theysaid.io

  • Record your screen, share instantly, look like a PRO

    Growth · 2025 · supercut.ai