Show HN: Donobu – Mac app turns prompts into deterministic browser tests
Hi HN, we’re Vasusen and Justin, and we’re building Donobu (https://www.donobu.com), a Mac desktop app. It turns prompts like “ensure onboarding works” into reliable browser tests, with optional AI (BYOK). It’s local-first, privacy-focused, and built with insights from our Coursera days—where testing hundreds of features across thousands of pages was a nightmare.
Your feedback last year inspired us to double down and enhance Donobu—improving performance, simplifying, and adding seamless integrations with CI/CD.
Here's what's new:
- 4x smaller install: rewritten in TypeScript, doubles as a local API server at localhost:31000/api.
- Deterministic, repeatable Playwright tests exported, with smart failover (no single-selector fragility).
- Browserbase (and other remote browsers) support for testing from different locales.
- npm package (`npm install donobu`): a superset of Playwright, allowing smart, AI-driven test actions to be added to your existing test suites and enabling integration into CI/CD workflows (e.g., GitHub Actions).
- GitHub repo for demo tests created using Donobu, providing practical examples to get you started quickly: https://github.com/donobu-inc/playwright-flows
- Full support for major LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, AWS Bedrock) plus extended compatibility via Vercel’s AI SDK. `gemini-2.5-experimental` is also supported.
- Convenience: download a pre-made llms.txt file from https://www.donobu.com/llms.txt to provide custom context to your preferred LLM chatbot, helping it better understand Donobu usage and generate test cases or API requests.
- Added update checks and anonymous, completely disablable, telemetry to notify you about new versions Your prompts, keys, and test data always remain local and private—we don't collect or store them.
- Callback URL for integration into your automation systems.
- Crafting and running browser tests, especially on local dev pages.
- Testing open-ended, dynamic features like AI-based onboarding flows.
- Automating repetitive setup flows
Fun things to try:
- Asking it to simply test a website (Vibe Testing).
- Semantic assertions with visual, subjective tests (e.g., "assert there's a happy theme").
- Prompt in a different language or with a code snippet.
We'd love your feedback, particularly around the desktop app (https://www.donobu.com/download) and npm package.
Thanks, Vasusen & Justin