Crown
Natural-language browser-tab switcherfor macOS
Type a keyword or description, find any of your open browser tabs instantly.
Default hotkey: OPTION + T
HOW IT WORKS
Drag to Applications
Double click the DMG, drag Crown to your Apps folder. No installer needed.
Grant Permissions & Hit Option+T
Allow Automation for your browser. Then press Option+T and start typing — find any tab instantly.
First Launch: Model Download
Crown downloads its on-device model once, about 3 GB, in the background. Keyword search works right away; search by meaning switches on when the download finishes. Settings shows progress.
FEATURES
- ✓On-device matching by meaning. Crown understands what each tab is about from its title, site, and a short snippet of page text, so "travel" finds the hotel booking even when the word isn't in the title.
- ✓Instant keyword matching. Words in a tab's title or address match as you type, ready from the first launch.
- ✓Private. Everything runs on your Mac. Nothing you browse leaves the device.
- ✓Menu bar only. No Dock icon.
- ✓Keyboard driven. Up/Down or Cmd-J/K to navigate, Enter to switch.
REQUIREMENTS
- • Apple silicon Mac (M1 or later). Intel Macs are not supported.
- • macOS 14 (Sonoma) or newer
- • About 3 GB of disk for the model
- • Works with your default browser on Mac
- • Tested on Chrome and Safari
PRIVACY & PERMS
Requires (a) Automation access to control your browser, and (b) "Allow JavaScript from Apple Events" in your browser's Develop menu for content-aware matching.
Nothing you browse is sent anywhere. Each tab's title, site, and a short snippet of page text are matched on your Mac and cached locally in Application Support. For a tab whose site icon Chrome hasn't cached, Crown fetches that site's own favicon, with no cookies. Beyond that, the only network requests Crown makes are the one-time model download from Hugging Face and a once-a-day check of GitHub for a newer version.
FAQ
What is Crown?
Crown is a free menu-bar app for Mac, made by AIFirst LLC, that takes you straight to any open browser tab. Press ⌥T (Option-T), type a few words about the tab you want, and it switches to that tab in Chrome or Safari. It matches keywords instantly and also matches by meaning, so the words you type don't need to be in the tab's title.
Is Crown private? Does it send my browsing anywhere?
Yes. Tab matching happens locally with an on-device model, and nothing you browse leaves your Mac. Beyond fetching a site's own icon for tabs Chrome hasn't cached, the only network requests Crown makes are a one-time model download and a daily check for a new version.
What does Crown cost?
Crown is free. Download it from GitHub; there is no account to create and no API key to enter.
What Mac do I need to run Crown?
You need an Apple silicon Mac (M1 or later) running macOS 14 Sonoma or newer, plus about 3 GB of disk space for the model. Intel Macs are not supported.
How does Crown match tabs by meaning?
Google's Gemma 3n language model runs on your Mac and reads each open tab's title, site and a short snippet of page text, then picks the tab that fits the words you typed. Typing "travel", for example, can find a hotel booking. On first launch, keyword matching works right away while the model downloads.
What permissions does Crown need?
Crown needs Automation access to control your browser, which macOS requests the first time you use it. For content-aware matching, turn on "Allow JavaScript from Apple Events" in the browser's developer menu (View > Developer in Chrome, Develop in Safari). Crown does not need Accessibility or screen recording access.