How Steel.dev Turns AI Agents Into True Browser Ninjas

Customer

Steel.dev

Founders

Hussien Hussien

Nasr Mohamed

Building browser automation should be easy—like, "why didn't anyone do this sooner?" easy. But spinning up cloud browsers that AI agents can programmatically control usually means battling through Kubernetes configurations or praying your Puppeteer scripts don't choke on Docker weirdness. Thankfully, Steel.dev is rewriting the rules.

Browser Automation for AI Agents, Without the Headaches

Hussien Hussien and Nasr Mohamed co-founded Steel.dev with a mission: equip AI agents with browsers they can truly control—no compromises. Their open-source APIs allow developers to spin up Chrome browsers in the cloud, designed explicitly for AI-driven use cases. Agents go from being just smart software to wielding a full-blown virtual browser, mouse, keyboard, and all. Steel.dev took off fast, hitting thousands of GitHub stars and capturing the imagination of devs building ambitious automation.

Cloud Browsers at Scale—No Ops Team Required

With just two co-founders (soon expanding, thanks to their early success), Steel.dev needed infrastructure that didn't slow them down. Kubernetes? Too much configuration. Raw Firecracker VMs? Painful shell scripts and headaches. That's when Fly.io's Machines API became their secret weapon. "We wanted super-fast VMs without the Kubernetes nightmare," recalls co-founder Nasr Mohamed. "Fly.io just made sense."

Now, Steel.dev's deployment spans multiple U.S. regions, orchestrated elegantly through Fly.io. A main orchestrator API routes sessions to ready-to-go browser instances, spinning them up or down instantly based on user demand. Everything runs securely behind WireGuard tunnels, ensuring browser instances remain completely hidden from the public network. "It's reassuring to know that even at scale, nothing is exposed publicly," says Mohamed. "Fly.io's built-in security has been crucial."

Scaling at the Speed of Thought

With thousands of users on their free plan—and hundreds already paying—Steel.dev can't afford downtime or lag. Fly.io's regional distribution and flexible Machines API help them effortlessly handle spikes. Their orchestrator smartly scales browser instances when demand surges, ensuring smooth performance every single time. Mohamed notes, "Without Fly.io, we'd probably still be stuck tweaking node groups and worrying about start-up times."

Keeping Devs Happy (and Teams Small)

Fly.io's straightforward tools allow Steel.dev to focus on what really matters—turning browser automation into a seamless, delightful experience for developers. "We went from Kubernetes config hell to launching a highly scalable infrastructure overnight," says Mohamed. "It's like a cheat code for startups."