Lightpanda

license

AGPL-3.0(OSI, copyleft)

source

public(the repository builds the browser binary)

core features withheld

no — the hosted Lightpanda cloud is a separate managed service, not a carve-out of the published engine

LICENSING.md, the LICENSE file and the GitHub metadata all agree that the project ships under AGPL-3.0, an OSI-approved license, and nothing is appended after the license text. The repository builds the browser binary itself, and the hosted Lightpanda service is a separate, managed offering sold beside the engine rather than a feature held back from it, so nothing in the core is withheld.

• https://api.github.com/repos/lightpanda-io/browser recorded 2026-08-30

  Repo metadata - license spdx_id AGPL-3.0, archived false, 34,318 stars - for lightpanda-io/browser.

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lightpanda-io/browser/main/LICENSE recorded 2026-10-07

  LICENSE body is the GNU Affero General Public License version 3 text.

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lightpanda-io/browser/main/LICENSING.md recorded 2026-10-07

  LICENSING.md body: 'The default license for this project is AGPL-3.0-only', naming licenses per the SPDX License List.

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lightpanda-io/browser/main/README.md recorded 2026-10-07

  README, read for the distribution and gating question: it documents building the browser from this repository ("Lightpanda is written with" Zig) and starting a CDP server for Puppeteer or Playwright clients, with no enterprise directory, license key, pricing or withheld component described.

Lightpanda ships as a binary rather than a package on PyPI or npm, so no download count exists and GitHub stars are the only available adoption signal. That reading should be treated as a floor rather than a precise measurement, since a star count shows attention rather than use.

• https://api.github.com/repos/lightpanda-io/browser recorded 2026-08-30

  Repo metadata - stargazers_count = 34,318 - for lightpanda-io/browser.

Lightpanda has no separate system behind it: it is the browser itself, implementing the DOM, a JavaScript runtime and the Chrome DevTools Protocol that tools such as Playwright MCP and Browser Use adapt. Because it is the system rather than a layer over one, the map assigns no capability score here.

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lightpanda-io/browser/main/README.md recorded 2026-08-30

  README documents a headless browser written in Zig implementing the DOM and a JavaScript runtime through V8 with no rendering, exposing the Chrome DevTools Protocol for Playwright and Puppeteer clients, and notes that Web API coverage is partial and in progress.