What Happened
A developer named Nate has released AlliHat, a Safari extension that puts Claude AI directly in your browser sidebar. The extension costs $29 per year after a 7-day free trial and requires your own Anthropic API key.
Anthropic already offers a Chrome extension for Claude, but Safari users have been left out. AlliHat fills that gap with a different approach - since Safari lacks Chrome's native sidebar API, the extension injects the sidebar directly into the page HTML.
The feature set goes beyond simple chat. AlliHat offers page-aware conversations (the sidebar automatically sees whatever page you're on), text selection analysis for code or legal jargon, an agent mode that can click buttons and fill forms, saved workflows for repetitive tasks, and persistent memory across sessions.
It requires macOS 15 or later and Safari 18 or later. The extension runs entirely locally with direct API calls to Anthropic - no intermediary servers, no tracking, no analytics on the extension side.
Why It Matters
The browser-to-AI-to-browser loop is one of the most common friction points in daily AI tool use. You read something, copy it, switch tabs to Claude, paste it, read the response, switch back. Repeat dozens of times a day.
Browser sidebar extensions solve this by keeping the AI right next to your content. Google's Gemini has this built into Chrome. Anthropic built one for Chrome users. But Safari holds roughly 18% of desktop browser share, and a significant chunk of Mac-based knowledge workers use it as their default.
The BYOK (bring your own key) model is notable too. You pay $29/year for the extension itself and then pay Anthropic directly for API usage. This means no markup on token costs, but it also means you need to be comfortable managing your own API key and monitoring your spend.
Our Take
AlliHat is a solid third-party solution to a real gap in Anthropic's product lineup. The fact that someone had to build this independently says something about how slowly Anthropic has moved on browser integrations outside Chrome.
The agent mode and saved workflows are ambitious features for a one-person project. If they work reliably, this could be more useful than Anthropic's own Chrome extension, which is more limited in scope.
The $29/year price is reasonable. You're paying for the sidebar UI and automation layer, not for AI access itself. That's a fair split. Just know that your actual costs will depend on how much you use the Claude API - heavy users could easily spend $20-50/month on API calls alone on top of the extension fee.
If you're a Safari user who relies on Claude daily, this is worth trying during the free trial. If you're on Chrome, stick with Anthropic's official extension unless the agent mode features here pull you over.