Google recently made waves by dropping "Antigravity," their new "agent-first" integrated development environment (IDE).

It's a fascinating fork of VS Code designed to let AI agents not just write code, but actively test it by taking control of a web browser.

Non members can read here :)

It's an exciting promise:

An AI that can build a button, open a browser, click the button, and verify it works.

But if you are a privacy-conscious developer, you probably hit a snag during setup.

By default, Antigravity demands Google Chrome to run its browser agents.

If you've moved to Brave (or another Chromium-based browser) for its built-in privacy shields and ad-blocking, installing Chrome just for an IDE feels like a step backward, right?

The good news?

Because Brave is built on the Chromium engine, you can force Antigravity to use it.

Disclaimer: This is an unofficial workaround. Antigravity is in early preview and designed specifically for Chrome. While Brave works on the same engine, you are officially "off-roading." You may encounter stability issues with browser profiles.

Here is how to set up Brave as your default agent browser on Windows.

Step 1: Locate your Brave Executable Path

First, Antigravity needs to know exactly where brave.exe is located on your computer.

On the vast majority of Windows installations, Brave resides in the standard Program Files directory. You will need this exact path:

C:\Program Files\BraveSoftware\Brave-Browser\Application\brave.exe

(Note: If you installed Brave as a non-admin user, it might be in your AppData local folder instead, but start with the path above.)

Copy that path to your clipboard.

Step 2: Point Antigravity to Brave

Now, tell the IDE to stop looking for Chrome and look for Brave instead.

  • Open the Antigravity editor.
  • Open Settings by pressing Ctrl + , (comma) or clicking the gear icon in the bottom left.
  • In the settings search bar, type "Browser Executable" or locate the Brave extension settings section.
  • You will see a field for the browser path. It might be empty by default (letting the system search for Chrome).
  • Paste the Brave executable path you copied in Step 1 into this field.

Step 3: Trigger the Onboarding and Install the Extension

This is the crucial step. The AI agent can't control the browser without a bridge — specifically, the Antigravity Browser Extension.

Since you haven't installed this in Brave yet, the first time you try to use a browser-based feature, Antigravity will try to help you install it.

  • In Antigravity, trigger an action that requires the browser (like asking the agent to "open localhost:3000 and check the page title").
  • Antigravity will launch your Brave browser.
  • Brave will automatically navigate to a special local URL, usually something like http://localhost:54321/onboarding (the port may vary).

You will see a screen prompting you to install the required extension to aid the agent.

Step 4: Add to Brave

Because Brave is Chromium-based, it is fully compatible with Chrome extensions.

  • Follow the prompt on the onboarding page. It will redirect you to the Chrome Web Store page for the Antigravity extension.
  • Click the "Add to Brave" button.
  • Confirm the permissions in the pop-up.

Once the exension is installed, Brave may close and reopen, or the onboarding page in Brave should refresh to confirm that the connection is successful.

Go back to the Antigravity editor.

Your AI agent should now be able to launch Brave instances, navigate pages, and perform tests using your preferred browser infrastructure.

While Google may optimize the experience for Chrome in the future, this workaround allows Brave users to explore the future of agentic coding right now without compromising their browser choice :)