Fauxmium — The Infinite Synthetic Web

Everything you see inside the Fauxmium browser is generated on the fly. It is not real.

Fauxmium is a synthetic AI browser engine that creates an effectively infinite web as you browse. Rather than requesting real servers, Fauxmium launches a Chromium browser with request interception and routes every navigation, image, video, and audio request to a local multi-modal proxy. Frontier LLMs and generative media models synthesize complete, authentic HTML5/CSS/JS documents, images, video clips, and soundscapes in real time.

Visit the interactive project site and live simulator at https://paulkinlan.github.io/fauxmium/.

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Key Capabilities

1. Multi-Modal Synthetic Engine

• Streaming HTML5 Documents (GET /html): Synthesizes responsive, accessible HTML with semantic tags, inline CSS, modular JavaScript, forms, and client-side clocks. Streams tokens via SSE / chunked transfer encoding directly to the browser.
• AI Image Generation (GET /image): Generates photorealistic or stylized imagery via Google Gemini and OpenAI DALL-E. Automatically infers semantic image roles (logo, avatar, hero, product, thumbnail), calculates human-readable aspect ratios (16:9, 1:1, 9:16, 4:3, 21:9), adopts the domain's brand color palette, and detects named real people to provide stylized artistic vector avatars rather than failing synthesis. Serves styled, lightweight SVG placeholders if image generation is disabled or fails.
• AI Video Generation (GET /video): Synthesizes continuous video via Google Veo 3.1 (veo-3.1-fast-generate-preview). Supports poster-frame visual continuity (seeding video generation from the video's poster image), camera motion directives (pan, dolly, drone, orbit, static), and full HTTP 206 Partial Content byte-range streaming for seamless video seeking.
• Hybrid Audio Synthesis (GET /audio): Supports OpenAI TTS (tts-1, gpt-4o-mini-tts) and Google Gemini TTS (gemini-3.8-flash-tts) for spoken dialogue and podcasts. Includes a built-in, zero-dependency Node.js procedural 16-bit PCM WAV synthesizer (synth-wav) producing chiptunes, sound effects, ambient pads, and tempo-scaled music at 0ms latency and $0.00 cost.

2. Browsing Lenses (Era & Aesthetic Time-Travel)

Browse any modern or imaginary URL through distinct historical, subcultural, and artistic lenses:

• modern — Clean contemporary web standards, responsive layouts, subtle depth, neutral typography.
• retro-90s — 1990s GeoCities nostalgia, bevel tables, marquee banners, tiled backgrounds, Times New Roman, bright primary links.
• y2k — Late 90s/early 2000s glossy bubblegum cyber aesthetic, metallic gradients, futuristic rounded pill buttons, tech badges.
• cyberpunk-2077 — Dark neon cyber-grid, high-contrast cyan/magenta palette, scanlines, monospace telemetry, terminal readouts.
• brutalist — Raw, high-contrast neobrutalism, stark borders, oversized sans-serif typography, asymmetric grid layouts.
• vaporwave — 1980s aesthetic, pastel sunset gradients, statues, Japanese typography, retro computer wireframes.
• noir-1940s — Monochromatic film noir, dramatic high-contrast lighting, vintage art-deco typography, smoky textures.
• arcade-8bit — 1980s coin-op arcade, scanline CRT simulation, pixel typography, flashing coin prompts.
• custom — Supply any freeform aesthetic prompt via --lens custom --custom-lens "..." or through the extension popup.

Lenses apply consistently across HTML layout, color palettes, typography, image framing, video cinematography, and procedural audio synthesis.

3. Site-Level & Link-Level Coherence (lib/siteMemory.js)

Fauxmium avoids the disjointed "amnesia" typical of LLM web generation by maintaining deep memory across clicks:

• Design DNA Extraction: Extracts established domain brand titles, typography (Google Fonts / @font-face), :root CSS variables, main navigation links, and cached media asset URLs. Sub-pages on the same domain automatically adopt the exact same CSS variables and navigation bars.
• a => b Click Intent Capture: When you click a link on page A, __fauxmiumCaptureClick inspects the enclosing card, article title, contextual snippet, and data-context attribute. When page B renders, it knows exactly which story, product, or video was selected—even for opaque slugs like /watch?v=xyz or /item?id=42.
• Domain Session State (domainState): Automatically captures and tracks URL query parameters and form POST data (search queries, cart items, selected filters, categories). For form logins, masks sensitive passwords (********), marks authenticated="true", and preserves the active username/session across all pages on the domain.
• Multi-Turn Navigation Threads: Preserves a sliding window of previous user and assistant turns for the active domain, allowing the LLM to inspect its own previous HTML structure for visual and structural consistency.

4. Prompt Prefix Caching Architecture

To maximize LLM cache hit rates and reduce inference costs by 75%–90%:

• 100% Invariant System Prompt (prompts/html-system.txt): A comprehensive, variable-free system prompt (>1,800 tokens) that remains byte-for-byte identical across every request, hitting provider prompt caches automatically.
• Tiered User Prompt (prompts/html.txt): Segregates stable session environment variables (bucketed 64px viewports, normalized language, day-level date) from dynamic per-request routing.
• Prompt Cache Cost Tracking: Automatically extracts cached input token metrics from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Gemini responses, billing cached tokens at a 75% discount in costCalculator.js.

5. Declarative Model Catalog & Pluggable Providers (config/models.json)

Declarative JSON configuration declaring available models, capabilities, aliases, and pricing:

• Google Gemini: gemini-3.8-flash (default text), gemini-3.8-pro, gemini-3.8-flash-lite, gemini-3.1-flash-image (default image), veo-3.1-fast-generate-preview (default video), gemini-3.8-flash-tts (audio).
• OpenAI: gpt-6-sol (default text), gpt-6.1-sol, gpt-6-luna, gpt-6-astra, gpt-image-2.5 (image), gpt-4o-mini-tts / tts-1 (audio).
• Anthropic: claude-sonnet-5-5 (default text), claude-opus-5-5, claude-haiku-5-5.
• Groq: openai/gpt-oss-120b (default text), qwen/qwen3.8-27b, llama-3.3-70b-versatile.
• DeepSeek: deepseek-v4-flash (default text), deepseek-v4, deepseek-reasoner, deepseek-chat (OpenAI-compatible protocol with automated <think> reasoning tag stripping).
• Zhipu AI (GLM): glm-5-flash (default text), glm-5-plus, glm-5-air.
• Moonshot AI (Kimi): kimi-k2.5-flash (default text), kimi-k2.5, kimi-k2-thinking.
• OpenRouter: deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash, z-ai/glm-5, moonshotai/kimi-k2.5 multi-model gateway.
• Ollama (Offline Local): qwen3.8:14b, llama3.3:70b, deepseek-r1:14b with zero-key local execution on http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1.
• Synth: synth-wav (built-in procedural WAV generator).
• User Models Overlay: Inject custom providers, models, and fallback pricing via FAUXMIUM_MODELS_PATH, ./fauxmium.models.json, or ~/.fauxmium/models.json.
• Automatic Pricing & Model Discovery: Fetches live Gemini models and updates token pricing from LiteLLM with a 24-hour disk cache fallback.

6. Dynamic In-Page APIs & Element Remix Wand

• Dynamic In-Page Fetch (/api/*): Synthetic pages can make real fetch('/api/todos'), fetch('/api/weather?city=tokyo'), or fetch('/api/search') requests. Fauxmium dynamically synthesizes authentic, contextual JSON responses matching the page's design DNA and active browsing lens.
• Alt+Click Element Remix Wand: Hold Alt in any synthetic page to highlight elements with a purple wand indicator. Click any element to open a floating prompt modal and remix that individual element in-place with View Transitions!

7. Chrome Extension & Single-File Page Export

Fauxmium automatically installs a companion Chrome Extension (extension/) providing:

• Live Browsing Lens Switcher: Change the active lens in real time with auto-save and tab regeneration.
• 📦 Single-File Page Export: Click the Export button to download a self-contained .html file with all cached images, videos, and audio converted into base64 data URIs for 100% offline viewing without a server!
• Live Accounting & Token Tracker: Real-time breakdown of API costs across Text, Image, Video, and Audio modalities with cache badge indicators (⚡).
• Modality Toggles: Enable or disable image, video, or audio generation on the fly.
• Adaptive Light/Dark Theme: Vector toolbar icon and popup UI matching your operating system color scheme.

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Quick Start

Installation

Clone the repository and install dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/paulkinlan/fauxmium.git
cd fauxmium
npm install

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the project root:

# Google Gemini (Default for text, image, and video)
GEMINI_API_KEY=your_gemini_api_key

# OpenAI (Optional: for GPT-6 text, DALL-E, or TTS)
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key

# Anthropic (Optional: for Claude 5.5 Sonnet)
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_anthropic_api_key

# Groq (Optional: for ultra-fast Llama / Qwen / GPT-OSS inference)
GROQ_API_KEY=your_groq_api_key

Launching Fauxmium

Launch Fauxmium with default settings (Gemini 3.8 Flash, Modern lens):

npm start

Or run via npx:

npx fauxmium

Launch with DevTools opened:

npm start -- --devtools

Launch in a specific Browsing Lens:

npm start -- --lens cyberpunk-2077
npm start -- --lens retro-90s
npm start -- --lens noir-1940s
npm start -- --lens arcade-8bit

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## CLI Options & Flags

Usage: fauxmium [options] [command]

The infinite generative AI web browser

Options: -H, --hostname Proxy server hostname (default: "127.0.0.1") -p, --port Proxy server port (default: 3001) --devtools Launch browser with DevTools open (default: false) --verbose Log detailed prompt and model diagnostics (default: false) --lens Initial Browsing Lens (default: "modern") --custom-lens Custom aesthetic instructions when --lens is "custom"

Text Provider & Model: -m, --model Text generation model or provider:model (e.g. "gemini-3.8-flash", "deepseek:deepseek-v4-flash", "ollama:qwen3.8:14b") --api-key API key for active text provider --base-url Custom OpenAI-compatible base URL (e.g. "http://127.0.0.1:11434/v1")

Image Options: --image-provider Image provider: "gemini" | "openai" (default: "gemini") -i, --image-model Image model (e.g. "gemini-3.1-flash-image", "gpt-image-2.5") --no-image Disable image generation (serves styled SVG fallbacks)

Video Options: --video-provider Video provider: "gemini" (default: "gemini") -v, --video-model Video model (e.g. "veo-3.1-fast-generate-preview") --no-video Disable video generation (serves fallback MP4)

Audio Options: --audio-provider Audio provider: "synth" | "gemini" | "openai" (default: "synth") --audio-model Audio model (e.g. "synth-wav", "gemini-3.8-flash-tts", "tts-1") --no-audio Disable audio generation (serves silent WAV)

Other Options: --no-model-sync Skip background live model and pricing discovery -h, --help Display help for command

### CLI Command Examples

```bash
# 1. Cyberpunk 2077 net browsing with Gemini 3.8 Pro
npx fauxmium --lens cyberpunk-2077 -m gemini-3.8-pro

# 2. Browse with Anthropic Claude 5.5 Sonnet
npx fauxmium anthropic -m claude-sonnet-5-5

# 3. Fast local browsing with Groq GPT-OSS 120B and procedural audio
npx fauxmium groq -m openai/gpt-oss-120b --audio-provider synth

# 4. Zero-key 100% offline local inference with Ollama
npx fauxmium ollama -m qwen3.8:14b

# 5. DeepSeek V4 Reasoner with thinking tags stripped automatically
npx fauxmium deepseek -m deepseek-reasoner

# 6. Text-only reading mode (images, video, audio disabled for instant speed)
npx fauxmium --no-image --no-video --no-audio

# 7. Y2K Aesthetic with custom OpenAI TTS voice
npx fauxmium --lens y2k --audio-provider openai --audio-model tts-1

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Architecture & Server Endpoints

Fauxmium starts a lightweight Node.js HTTP proxy server (server/index.js) that Puppeteer routes network requests to:

Endpoint	Method	Purpose
/html	GET	Generates streaming HTML document for target URL with decomposed route, link intent, and domain session state
/image	GET	Generates AI image matching description, dimensions, semantic role, and site color palette
/video	GET	Generates AI video clip (Veo 3.1) seeded by companion poster frame with HTTP 206 range streaming
/audio	GET	Generates audio track (TTS speech or procedural WAV) matching description, type, transcript, and tempo
/api / /api/*	GET/POST	Synthesizes dynamic in-page REST JSON API responses or executes Alt+Click Element Remix wand (action=remix)
/export	GET	Bundles and exports current cached page into a self-contained single-file HTML document with inlined base64 media
/config	GET	Returns active runtime configuration, model selections, and available lenses
/config	POST	Dynamically updates runtime configuration, active lens, and media enabled states
/cost	GET	Returns cumulative session cost and per-modality breakdown (Text, Image, Video, Audio)
/cost/reset	POST	Resets all accumulated session costs
/cache/clear	POST	Flushes in-memory image, video, audio, and HTML page caches, as well as site memory
/cache/stats	GET	Returns count of currently cached media and HTML assets
/link-context	POST	Receives clicked link metadata (__fauxmiumCaptureClick) from browser context
/models	GET	Returns available declarative models and live discovered models

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Media URL Conventions

When Fauxmium synthesizes HTML documents, the LLM emits synthetic media URLs with rich query parameters that the proxy intercepts:

1. Images (<img>)

<img src="https://example.com/img/hero.jpg?description=futuristic+autonomous+vehicle+on+rainy+highway&width=1280&height=720&role=hero"
     alt="Autonomous Vehicle"
     width="1280"
     height="720">

• description: Detailed visual description of the subject.
• width & height: Target pixel dimensions (used to calculate aspect ratio).
• role: Semantic framing: logo, avatar, hero, thumbnail, product, icon.

2. Video (<video>)

<video poster="https://example.com/img/poster.jpg?description=starship+docked+at+orbital+station&width=1280&height=720&role=hero"
       src="https://example.com/vid/launch.mp4?description=starship+ignites+engines+and+accelerates+into+hyperspace&width=1280&height=720&camera=pan&poster=https://example.com/img/poster.jpg?description=starship+docked+at+orbital+station"
       controls playsinline width="1280" height="720"></video>

• description: Continuous video action description.
• camera: Camera cinematography motion: pan, dolly, drone, orbit, static.
• poster: URL of the starting poster frame image (provides visual continuity).

3. Audio (<audio>)

<!-- Background Music / Ambience -->
<audio src="https://example.com/audio/theme.wav?description=cyberpunk+ambient+downtempo&type=music&bpm=110&mood=tense" controls loop></audio>

<!-- Spoken Dialogue / Speech -->
<audio src="https://example.com/audio/host.mp3?description=podcast+greeting&type=speech&transcript=Welcome+to+the+synthetic+web!&voice=alloy" controls></audio>

• description: Soundscape or audio description.
• type: music, sfx, ambient, speech, chiptune.
• transcript: Verbatim text to speak for speech synthesis.
• bpm: Music tempo (scaled note rate).
• mood: Emotional vibe (chill, tense, heroic, mysterious).
• voice: Preferred TTS voice (alloy, echo, nova).

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Running Tests

Fauxmium includes a comprehensive unit test suite covering declarative models, multi-modal cost calculations, byte-range video streaming, procedural WAV synthesis, prompt prefix caching, site memory coherence, and documentation integrity:

npm test

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License

Apache-2.0 — see LICENCE for details. Created by Paul Kinlan. Not affiliated with any employer or product.