v2.18.0

Surf 2.18.0 lets you record long browser sessions as local WebM videos and use GPT-6 Astra with Pro effort through Surf Oracle. ChatGPT automation now handles the current model menu and effort slider, checking your selections before sending a prompt. You can also clean up stale sessions or give a dedicated local user group access to Surf. Existing GIF recording and private-by-default socket access are unchanged.

Highlights

• Record long-running browser sessions as local WebM videos.
• Use GPT-6 Astra with Pro effort through Surf Oracle and Pi's gpt-pro integration.
• Clean up stale or idle Surf sessions with an optional dry run.
• Share local Surf access with a dedicated user group while keeping private access as the default.

Need to know

If you use…	What to know
Video recording	Install ffmpeg with VP9 support. Video recording is local-only.
Explicit ChatGPT options	Use gpt-6-astra, latest, gpt-5.6-sol, or gpt-5.5 for model selection. Efforts are now instant, medium, high, xhigh/extra-high, and pro; update scripts using the previous names.
GPT-6 Astra at lower efforts	ChatGPT may hide the model version. Surf refuses an explicit GPT-6 request it cannot verify; choose latest only if floating model selection is intended.
Group-shared sockets	Every member of the configured group receives full Surf access. Use a dedicated, trusted group.

Full changelog

Highlights

• Record long-running browser sessions as local WebM videos.
• Use GPT-6 Astra with Pro effort through Surf Oracle and Pi's gpt-pro integration.
• Clean up stale or idle Surf sessions with an optional dry run.
• Share local Surf access with a dedicated user group while keeping private access as the default.

Added

• Local WebM video recording - Record browser sessions with surf video start|stop|status|restart. Requires ffmpeg with VP9 support and runs locally only. Existing GIF recording is unchanged.
• Session cleanup - surf session.cleanup --idle-after <duration> [--dry-run] removes stale or idle session bindings and closes only inactive Surf-created tabs or windows. Thanks to @marcoatpaladin for #233.
• Optional local socket sharing - surf install can grant a configured POSIX group access with socket mode 660. Private mode 0600 remains the default. Thanks to @marcoatpaladin for #225.

Changed

• GPT Pro default - Pi's packaged gpt-pro integration now uses GPT-6 Astra with Pro effort.
• ChatGPT selection options - Model choices include gpt-6-astra, latest, gpt-5.6-sol, and gpt-5.5. Effort options are now instant, medium, high, xhigh/extra-high, and pro, replacing the previous effort names. Explicit GPT-6 Astra requests fail rather than silently switching models when ChatGPT hides the model version; use latest only when floating model selection is intended.
• Development dependencies - Updated development tooling dependencies.

Fixed

• ChatGPT model and effort selection - Surf works with ChatGPT's current model menu and effort slider, checks the selected values, and closes the menu between operations. The requested model is checked again before the prompt is sent.