BELL

BELL is a reference architecture and sample application for building personal AI assistants that execute tasks on a user's behalf, combining browser automation, an agent framework, web research, payments, and messaging into one stack.

What is BELL?

BELL is an open source reference architecture and sample app for assembling a personal AI assistant that acts for its operator. It runs on Node.js 24 with pnpm 10.33.4 and is published by Browserbase under the MIT license. The app takes an operator's instructions through messaging channels and a browser runtime, and produces executed actions such as browsing, research, spend approvals, and checkout. It is a sample built for one trusted operator rather than a multi-tenant product.

Key Features

• Browserbase + Stagehand browser runtime — browser sessions, automation, saved Contexts, and human handoff for authenticated browsing and actions.
• Eve by Vercel agent framework — agent configuration, tool definitions, conversation state, and channels.
• Parallel web research — public-web research plus persistent watches with configurable frequency, enabled by setting PARALLEL_API_KEY.
• Linq messaging — iMessage and SMS delivery through a signed webhook and a sender allowlist.
• Link by Stripe payments — wallet authorization, spend approval, and checkout initiated through Linq.
• 1Password credentials — operator credentials and OTP retrieval for the browser runtime; personal Agentic Autofill is disabled by default.
• Baselayer identity — proves a verified person is behind the agent using short-lived credentials.
• Built-in checks — pnpm check runs tests, type checking, lint, and the production build; live provider checks are opt-in.

Who is it for?

• Developers prototyping AI assistants: clone the repo, set OPENAI_API_KEY and BROWSERBASE_API_KEY, and start from a working multi-provider integration instead of wiring every service from scratch.
• Teams evaluating agent stacks: read the per-integration guides under docs/ to compare how browser automation, research, payments, and messaging fit together.
• Engineers building authenticated browser agents: use the browser runtime guide to configure credentials, OTP handling, and human handoff.

What can you do with BELL?

• Automate authenticated browsing: point the assistant at a target site via BELL_DEMO_URL and run saved Contexts with human handoff when a step needs a person.
• Run research and watches: set PARALLEL_API_KEY to enable public-web research and recurring watches, keeping research inputs public.
• Approve and complete purchases: authorize a wallet and approve spend through Linq messaging, then complete checkout with Link by Stripe.

How does BELL work?

Clone the repository, install dependencies with a frozen lockfile, copy .env.example to .env, then set the OpenAI and Browserbase keys. Optional providers are enabled by setting PARALLEL_API_KEY in the same file. Run pnpm dev to start locally. Before deploying, the project documentation instructs configuring application authentication and durable storage, since the sample targets a single trusted operator.