Question 1

What is Tomato?

Accepted Answer

Tomato is a free web browser for the Mac. It runs on the same engine as Google Chrome, so the websites you use keep working, while its windows, menus and settings are made for the Mac. It also has an assistant that answers questions about your pages and can do some jobs in the browser for you. The assistant stays off until you turn it on.

Question 2

Which Macs can run it?

Accepted Answer

Any Mac with macOS 13 Ventura or later, with either Apple silicon or an Intel chip. There is a separate download for each kind of Mac. To check yours, open the Apple menu and choose About This Mac. A Chip line that starts with Apple means Apple silicon. A Processor line that says Intel means Intel.

Question 3

Why does my Mac warn me the first time I open it?

Accepted Answer

Apple checks apps only for developers who pay for a yearly membership. Tomato is free and has no such membership, so macOS stops it the first time. Open System Settings, then Privacy & Security, scroll down and click **Open Anyway**. You only do this once. After that, Tomato updates itself and refuses any update that is not signed the same way as the copy you have.

Question 4

Where is my data kept?

Accepted Answer

On your Mac. Your tabs, history, downloads list, insights, trends and saved passwords stay here. Passwords and keys live in your Mac's Keychain. An account is optional. If you sign in, your name, picture, bookmarks, search engine and homepage are kept in your account so your other Macs match. History does not sync in this beta.

Question 5

How does the assistant work, and which model should I choose?

Accepted Answer

Open the assistant panel with Command Shift A and turn it on there. Then choose a model: **On this Mac** downloads a model once and runs it on your Mac. Nothing you ask leaves the Mac. It is free, but slower, and slowest on Intel Macs. **Claude** or **ChatGPT** answer faster and often better, but what you ask goes to Anthropic or OpenAI. You can change the model at any time in Settings, under Assistant.

Question 6

What does using my own key mean?

Accepted Answer

To use Claude or ChatGPT you need an account with Anthropic or OpenAI and a key from them. Paste the key into Tomato once, in Settings under Assistant. Tomato checks the key with that company, keeps it in your Mac's Keychain and sends it only to that company. Anthropic or OpenAI may charge you for what you use. Tomato never charges you. Remove the key whenever you like.

Question 7

What can the agent do, and what can it never do?

Accepted Answer

Once the assistant is on, it can act for you in the browser: search, fill in forms, move between pages and tabs, and do several jobs in one request. It knows Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Keep, Gmail, X and LinkedIn by heart, and works out other sites step by step. A task that worked is saved and replayed faster next time. It can also add tasks to Apple Reminders and suggest times in your calendar. It can never open Tomato's own screens, settings pages or files on your Mac, and it cannot run programs. Text on a website cannot change what you asked for, your permissions or your settings. It never types a password, card number or one time code, and leaves CAPTCHAs to you. Press **Stop** at any time and it halts within a second.

Question 8

How well does the agent work?

Accepted Answer

It is new in this beta, and how often it succeeds on real sites has not been measured yet. It checks every step, asks before anything sensitive and tells you when it is stuck, so a miss costs you a step, not a purchase.

Question 9

What happens when a page is hard for the agent to read?

Accepted Answer

Some pages draw their buttons as a picture. The agent then looks at the screen: first with Fara, a model on your Mac, then with your Claude or ChatGPT key, and if neither can do it, it asks you. Fara is an optional download in Settings, under Assistant: 6.4 GB, Apple silicon only, and English only. The cloud model gets one screenshot of the tab, with passwords, card numbers and codes blacked out before it leaves your Mac; turn on **Ask before using the cloud** in Guardrails to be asked first.

Question 10

Why does it ask me before it acts?

Accepted Answer

By default the agent stops and shows you exactly what it will do before it signs in, buys or pays, sends a message, email or post, changes an account, deletes something, or likes, follows or comments. When a job has several of these, you see one list and tick each one you agree to. It also stops when a step does not fit what you asked, such as opening a site your request never named. You choose **Stop** or **Allow this step**. More checks are switches in Settings, under Guardrails: asking before it acts on each site, a separate agent profile, keeping your saved details out of forms, watch mode for email, bank and health sites, and others. Seven rules there are always on and have no switch.

Question 11

How does Tomato stop a web page from taking over the agent?

Accepted Answer

Before the assistant reads a page, Tomato checks it for text aimed at the assistant, such as hidden instructions. On a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 14 or later, a small model on your Mac does this beside a set of rules. On other Macs the rules do it alone. The model downloads with the assistant's own, a little over 300 megabytes. When a page looks like it is talking to the assistant, the task stops and shows you that text. Choose **Stop**, or **Carry on without this text**, which keeps that text from the assistant. Each step the agent takes is also checked against your request, and that check never reads the page.

Question 12

Are private windows really private?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A private window, opened with Command Shift N, keeps no history, no downloads list and no insights. Its cookies and sign-ins stay apart from your normal windows and are gone when you close it. The agent can work in a private window unless you turn on **No agent in private windows** in Settings, under Guardrails.

Question 13

How do tasks and calendars work?

Accepted Answer

Say or type "add this to my tasks" and Tomato adds it to a list called Tomato in Apple Reminders. Open your tasks with the Tasks button in the toolbar. Ask for time to do a task and Tomato looks for free time in your calendars, then offers a few times. Nothing is written to a calendar until you accept a time, and Tomato never changes or deletes an event that is already there.

Question 14

What happens when I connect Google?

Accepted Answer

In Settings, under Connected services, you can connect Google Calendar and Google Drive. Google's page opens in your web browser and asks you to agree. Google may say Tomato is not verified yet, because it is a beta. Tomato asks only for your calendars and for Drive files you pick, never the rest of your Drive. Google's key stays in your Mac's Keychain, and everything goes straight between your Mac and Google. Disconnect at any time from the same place.

Question 15

How does the Gmail digest work?

Accepted Answer

In Settings, under Connected services, add up to five Gmail accounts. Turn on 2 Step Verification for your Google account, create an app password named "Tomato" on Google's app password page, then enter your address and paste the password in the window Tomato opens. The password stays in your Mac's Keychain. The new tab then lists your 20 newest messages from the last 7 days, one line each, written by the model on your Mac; your mail never goes to a cloud model. Tomato only reads your Inbox: your mail stays unread, and nothing is sent, moved or deleted. Turn summaries or new mail notifications on or off, or disconnect, from the same place. If your organisation turns this off, Gmail in a tab still works as before.

Question 16

What are trends?

Accepted Answer

Trends shows how your time online changes from week to week: time on each site and each day, how it splits across topics, and when you focus best, based on labels you give your sites. It is all worked out on your Mac from your own browsing, and none of it is sent anywhere. Open it from Settings, under Privacy.

Question 17

How do I turn things off?

Accepted Answer

Update checks and downloads of the lists of dangerous sites carry nothing about you. Everything else that sends something stays off until you turn it on, and Settings turns it off again: **Usage counts:** under Privacy. **Crash reports:** sent only when you say yes. Under Crash reports, choose Ask me after each crash. **Cloud models:** choose On this Mac, or remove your key, under Assistant. **Your history, insights or calendar for cloud models:** each has its own switch under Assistant, and all start off. **Google:** Disconnect under Connected services. **Sync:** sign out from Account. Counting your time online and suggestions from your reading start on, but stay on your Mac. Turn them off under Privacy.

Question 18

How do I delete my data?

Accepted Answer

Open My data from the Tomato menu. It lists everything Tomato keeps, on this Mac or in your account. **Export everything** saves a copy, and Delete removes any part of it. To remove your account and what it holds, open Account and choose **Delete account**.

Question 19

What are the keyboard shortcuts?

Accepted Answer

Every shortcut is also in the menus. Change any of them in Settings, under Shortcuts, where each one has a Reset. When a website uses the same keys for its own job, some shortcuts let the website have them first, as Chrome does. **New tab:** Command T **New window:** Command N **New incognito window:** Shift Command N **Close tab:** Command W **Close window:** Shift Command W **Reopen closed tab:** Shift Command T **Next tab:** Option Command Right Arrow, Control Tab or Shift Command Right Bracket **Previous tab:** Option Command Left Arrow, Control Shift Tab or Shift Command Left Bracket **Go to tab 1 to 8, or the last tab:** Command 1 to Command 8, Command 9 **Search tabs:** Option Command K **Bookmark all tabs:** Shift Command D **Back:** Command Left Bracket **Forward:** Command Right Bracket **Reload:** Command R **Stop loading:** Command Period or Escape **Reload ignoring cached files:** Option Command R **Home:** Shift Command H **Open location:** Command L **Find:** Command F **Find next:** Command G **Find previous:** Shift Command G **Use selection for find:** Command E **Zoom in:** Command Plus or Command Equals **Zoom out:** Command Minus **Actual size:** Command 0 **Print:** Command P **Save page as:** Command S **Bookmark this page:** Command D **Remember this:** Shift Command R **Read this page aloud, or stop:** Option Command S **Settings:** Command Comma **History:** Command Y **Downloads:** Shift Command J **Show bookmarks bar:** Shift Command B **Bookmark manager:** Option Command B **Clear browsing data:** Shift Command Delete **Knowledge:** Shift Command K **Notes:** Shift Command E **Tasks:** Option Command T **Enter or leave full screen:** Control Command F **Keyboard shortcuts:** Command Slash **Quit Tomato:** Command Q **Assistant:** Shift Command A **Run the agent in the background:** Option Command G **Open the notch island:** Control Option Space **Talk:** Option Space **Voice mode on or off:** Option Command V **Developer tools:** Option Command I **JavaScript console:** Option Command J **View source:** Option Command U **Inspect element:** Option Command C

Question 20

How do I get help?

Accepted Answer

Read these answers first, or ask the assistant: it answers questions about Tomato from the guide that comes with it. For anything else, write to tomato@v-ai.org. Never send a password or a key.

Help and common questions.