🤯NativeMind: Local AI Inside Your Browser

#ai #productivity #tooling #extensions

Hello Devs 👋

Have you ever found yourself switching between multiple tools just to get AI into your workflow? Copying prompts, switching tabs, and manually pasting results… it kills productivity. 😥

What if AI assistant could just live inside your browser and always available, context-aware, and super fast?

I recently tried out NativeMind, a browser extension that brings AI directly into the pages you’re already working on. No tab-switching, no copy–paste, and no sending sensitive text to cloud servers. It runs locally (or with your own model), which makes it both fast and private.

It transforms your browser into a privacy-first, on-device AI assistant powered by open-source models the latest gpt-oss, and Deepseek, Qwen, LLaMa, (Gemma, Mistral) and more without requiring a login or internet connection.

In this article, we’ll look at:

What NativeMind is and why it’s different
Its main features
Step-by-step setup guide
A few practical demos

What is NativeMind?

NativeMind is a private, open-source alternative to ChatGPT, a fully local browser extension built on_ Ollama_ that brings local AI models into your workflow.

NativeMind is an open-source, browser-native AI assistant that lets you interact with webpage content in real-time. It runs locally on your device through Ollama, a tool that makes it easy to use large language models (LLMs) on your computer.

That means:

No cloud uploads
No data tracking
Everything stays on your machine

It works as a Chromium/Firefox extension and lets you interact with webpage content in real time. For example, you can highlight an article and ask for a summary, translate a full page, or chat with AI about what’s on your screen.

🚀 Main Features

100% privacy: No servers, no tracking, no leaks. Everything runs locally on your machine.
Seamless in-browser use: Summarize, translate, or draft directly while browsing.
Lightweight & fast: Runs smoothly without heavy system requirements.
Full control: Works offline, respects your data, and stays transparent.
Language Model Flexibility: Supports Open-source LLMs like LLaMA, Qwen, Deepseek, Gemma, Mistral via Ollama.

💡 What You Can Do with NativeMind：

✅ Chat across tabs: Ask questions and continue conversations while browsing, even across pages.
✅ Summarize any webpages: Turn long articles into short, clear overviews in one click.
✅ Translate immersively: Translate full pages instantly.
✅ Search locally: Ask questions and get answers right in your browser.

How to Get started?

Step 1: Install the Extension

Add NativeMind to Chrome from the Web Store

Once installed, pin it to your toolbar so it’s easy to access.

Step 2: Install Ollama

What is Ollama?

If you’re new to Ollama:

Ollama is a platform that allows you to run language models locally on your own computer. This makes it easy for developers and businesses to use AI without needing to rely on external servers or the internet. It simplifies the process of integrating AI into your applications by providing tools to build, train, and deploy models directly from your local environment. 😃

Go to https://ollama.com/ and download it for your OS.

After installation, open your terminal and type ollama

If it’s working, you’ll see Ollama running.

Step 3: Connect NativeMind
Once you install ollama, Open your Chrome browser and click on NativeMind Extension.

It will automatically check if Ollama is running.

Now, you can select and download model of your choice. (This is first-time download only)

That’s it, start chatting with your AI assistant right inside the browser. 🔥

If you don't want to install Ollama, you can also use WebLLM (Qwen-0.6B) directly in the browser, with zero setup 😉

Examples

Summarizing an article

Asking questions about the current tab

Wrapping Up ✨

NativeMind is a simple but powerful way to bring AI right into your browser. No extra tabs, no complex setup, and most importantly, your data stays with you.

If you’ve been looking for a private, easy-to-use AI assistant that works across the web, this extension is worth trying out.

Resources: