Deta Surf: Reclaim Your Digital World
Deta Surf: Reclaim Your Digital World
We spend so much time in our web browsers today—they’ve become the central hub of our digital lives. But more often than not, it feels like we’re just navigating a scattered mess. We’re constantly switching between remote apps and services where our information lives, disconnected from context.
Enter Deta Surf — a new, invite-only alpha browser handcrafted in Berlin that rethinks what a browser can be.
Deta’s mission is to elevate minds through delightfully human computing—tools that enhance our intelligence and keep us in control.
Surf blends the power of a browser, a file manager, and an AI assistant into one coherent interface. It aims to bring back the “personal” in personal computing by keeping your data local, contextual, and always accessible.
Bringing Your “Stuff” Together
One of Surf’s key features is the concept of “Stuff.” This is a central place where you can collect and manage various types of digital content. This isn’t limited to just bookmarks; you can:
- Save websites as tabs
- Drag in files from your local machine
- Add images, YouTube videos, PDFs
- Capture super-powered screenshots
The idea is that it’s all multimedia, all in one place, and easily searchable.
“It’s a game changer for collecting wisdom, research, and notes,” said Limhi, a life guide and former law graduate, who appreciates that Surf keeps everything in one place and makes it easy to trust it to surface what’s needed.
Organizing with Contexts
To help manage the complexity of different projects or areas of your life, Surf introduces “Contexts.” These are like smart, focused environments—whether for work, reading, programming, or personal finances.
Within a context, you can:
- Open tabs (like a traditional browser)
- Add long-term storage items
- Visually arrange items on a “desktop”
Surf remembers where you left off in each context, and you can switch between them freely.
You can create contexts manually or use “Smart Contexts” by simply describing a topic—like “linear algebra” or “ramen recipes”—and Surf will automatically group related content from your Stuff. These are dynamic and update live.
AI That Actually Makes Sense
Surf’s standout feature is its thoughtful AI integration—not just AI for AI’s sake.
“What You See is What You Chat”
You can select any area on your screen (like a block of text, image, or a YouTube video), draw a rectangle around it, and ask a question. The AI takes visual and contextual input into account to explain technical concepts or summarize information.
Surf can process:
- Dozens of open tabs
- Thousands of pages of content
- Transcripts from YouTube videos
All without you needing to copy/paste or switch context.
Use AI with Any Source
You can ask questions based on:
- The active tab
- All open tabs
- A specific “Stuff” collection
- A particular Context
Surf will cite its sources so you can click and jump back to the original document or tab.
Currently supported LLMs include:
- Claude 3.7 Sonnet (default)
- GPT-4o
- Gemini Flash
(Some models may not support vision features yet.)
Spatial Browsing and Local Data
Taking cues from older desktop operating systems, Surf introduces spatial interfaces.
Each context can have its own desktop—an open canvas where you can arrange:
- Tabs
- PDFs
- Images
- Notes
- Other contexts
You can set a photo as the background to personalize each space. Think of it as infinite desktops, linked together like a mind map.
Local First. Cloud Second.
Deta Surf is built on a strong privacy foundation: your data lives locally.
- Files are stored on your device
- Local database powers search
- Local embeddings fuel the AI
- Even the local LLM can run offline
Cloud features will exist, but as a secondary option—similar to Obsidian’s sync model.
Who is Using Surf?
Deta Surf is already drawing attention from students, engineers, designers, and knowledge workers.
Limhi’s experience shows how Surf helps with:
- Organizing research
- Synthesizing large topics
- Revisiting trusted information
Alpha Status and the Road Ahead
Surf is still in its early days—invite-only, alpha-stage software. That means:
- You’ll encounter bugs
- It’s not ready as a full Chrome replacement (yet)
- It’s completely free for now
In the future, Deta plans to charge for cloud-based features but promises to keep the local-first experience intact. Their broader mission is to create joyful tools that enhance human intelligence—not replace it.
Try It Out
If you’re tired of feeling scattered—and excited by the idea of a browser that works with your context, understands your content, and respects your local data—then Deta Surf is absolutely worth watching.
