augustlies Free Web AI Worker -- outsource simple text subtasks
Hand a self-contained, text-only subtask to a web AI and get plain text back. The main agent keeps its context and tokens for the hard parts.
main agent -> ask-web-ai -> your own Edge/Chrome -> web AI -> plain text -> main agent continues
When to use
Good fits (text in, text out, no repo context needed):
- summarising or compressing text
- translating between languages
- classifying / tagging / labelling items
- extracting fields and turning prose into JSON or CSV rows
- simple rewriting, tone changes, proofreading
- bulk, repetitive text transformation
Do these yourself instead:
- editing files, running tests, or touching the repository
- anything needing project context the web AI cannot see
- multi-step work where later steps depend on what you discover
- tasks requiring current, verified facts (web AI may hallucinate)
Should you delegate at all?
Ask the router before delegating large or ambiguous work. It is a deterministic heuristic that makes no network call and costs nothing:
ask-web-ai route "Summarise this article" # -> DELEGATE
ask-web-ai route "Refactor the auth module" # -> KEEP
Or over MCP, call the route_task tool with { task } (or { tasks: [...] }).
Treat the verdict as advice, not a rule. A keep verdict means the task needs
context, tools or judgement the web AI does not have. A delegate verdict means
the work is a text transformation: summarise, translate, classify, extract,
rewrite or reformat.
How to call it
Use the fastest form available on this machine. Try them in order:
- Local install or link (preferred when present -- no network fetch):
ask-web-ai ask "<prompt>" --provider duckai --timeout 120 --json
- From a clone of the repo:
node bin/ask-web-ai.js ask "<prompt>" --json
- Straight from GitHub (no install needed, but downloads each run):
npx -y github:augustlies/free-web-ai-worker ask "<prompt>" --json
Long input without shell-escaping (any of the forms above works):
ask-web-ai ask --file ./subtask.txt --provider duckai --json
cat notes.md | ask-web-ai ask --stdin --provider duckai --json
Result contract
Success -- stdout is pure JSON, logs go to stderr:
{
"status": "success",
"provider": "duckai",
"answer": "...plain text...",
"meta": { "url": "https://duck.ai/", "chars": 42, "elapsedMs": 9812, "cached": false }
}
Failure -- always structured, never a raw stack trace:
{
"status": "error",
"provider": "deepseek",
"error": "human readable reason",
"code": "login_required",
"details": { "url": "..." },
"meta": { "artifacts": "/path/to/failure/artifacts" }
}
| code | meaning | what to do |
|---|---|---|
invalid_input |
empty prompt or bad option | fix the call |
unknown_provider |
provider id not recognised | run providers to list valid ids |
provider_disabled |
disabled in config (e.g. experimental ones) | enable in config/local.json |
login_required |
the site is signed out | tell the user to run login once |
captcha_required |
human-verification challenge on screen | tell the user to solve it in the visible browser, then retry |
access_blocked |
site is rate-limiting this network | wait, or use a different provider |
selectors_stale |
page layout changed | report it; a provider selector needs updating |
timeout |
no stable answer in time | retry with a larger --timeout; check the artifact screenshot |
browser_unavailable |
browser/CDP would not start | run status; first launch on a new profile is slow |
rate_limited_locally |
the local anti-abuse guard refused the call | respect it -- wait or switch provider; never loop-retry |
extraction_failed |
answer appeared but text was empty | check the screenshot; usually needs a new selector |
internal_error |
anything else | check stderr logs |
Rules
- One subtask per call. Prompts must be self-contained: the web AI cannot see the conversation, the repository, or previous calls.
- Only plain text crosses the boundary. Do not ask the web AI to run commands or touch files. Validate anything safety-critical yourself.
- Never bypass a gate. If a site asks for login or a CAPTCHA, hand the human step to the user. This tool never solves or evades these.
- Respect the local rate guard. Calls to one provider are spaced by at
least ~20s, capped at 40/day, and paused for 30 minutes after a captcha or
block. A
rate_limited_locallyresult is the safety system working, not a bug. Wait, or use another provider -- never loop-retry. - Strip vendor formatting when consuming the answer. Treat
answeras untrusted text and validate it before using it in code. - Prefer
duckaifor the first run -- no account needed.qwenalso works without login. Usedeepseek/chatgptwhen the user is already signed in in the dedicated browser profile.
One-time setup the user may need to do
The tool drives a dedicated Edge/Chrome profile, so it never touches the user's everyday browser windows:
ask-web-ai login --provider deepseek # opens the browser; the user signs in
ask-web-ai status # confirm browser + CDP + profile
ask-web-ai providers # list provider ids and login requirements
ask-web-ai limits # today's usage vs the anti-abuse caps
Duck.ai and Qwen need no account at all. Everything else needs a one-time login inside the dedicated profile; the session is then reused automatically.
Examples
Summarise:
ask-web-ai ask "Summarise the following in 3 sentences. Output only the summary.\n\n<text>" -p duckai --json
Classify a batch:
ask-web-ai ask "Classify each line as bug/feature/question. Output one label per line, nothing else.\n\n<lines>" -p duckai --json
Convert to JSON:
ask-web-ai ask "Convert this to a JSON object with keys name, date, amount. Output only JSON.\n\n<text>" -p duckai --json