Deta Surf is already drawing attention from students, engineers, designers, and knowledge workers. [Limhi’s experience](https://deta.surf/people/limhi) 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. 🌐 [Apply for early access](https://deta.space/surf)

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.

🌐 Apply for early access