# MagenticLite (Magentic-UI)

> MagenticLite (10.1k stars, MIT, v0.2.1 May 2026) is the new version of Microsoft's Magentic-UI. A local web app pairs an orchestrator model (MagenticBrain) with a browser-use model (Fara1.5-9B), both MIT-licensed weights. The browser runs in a lightweight VM sandbox, and the agent checks in before critical actions; you can steer or take over. You must host both models behind OpenAI-compatible endpoints (about 48 GB and 96 GB GPU, or paid Hugging Face or Azure endpoints). Tested on Apple Silicon and Windows via WSL2. An experimental research app: no slides, schedules or app connectors.

- Repository: https://github.com/microsoft/magentic-ui
- Official docs: https://github.com/microsoft/magentic-ui/blob/main/docs/installation.md
- Checked: 2026-10-16

## What it replaces
- Manus: Autonomous web browsing, File and code tasks in a sandbox (partial). Sandboxed browsing plus local file work with human approval; needs large self-hosted models; no slides, schedules or connectors.

## Facts, with sources

| Question | Status | Answer | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on my machine? | Confirmed | Yes, local web app; models run on endpoints you host or rent | https://github.com/microsoft/magentic-ui#readme | 2026-10-16 |
| Code licence | Confirmed | MIT | https://github.com/microsoft/magentic-ui#license | 2026-10-16 |
| Model weights licence | Confirmed | MIT for both MagenticBrain and Fara1.5-9B weights | https://huggingface.co/microsoft/Fara1.5-9B | 2026-10-16 |
| Commercial use | Confirmed | Yes, MIT code and MIT model weights | https://github.com/microsoft/magentic-ui#license | 2026-10-16 |
| Paid services needed? | Partial | Nothing paid if you host both models on your own GPUs with vLLM; otherwise paid Hugging Face or Azure Foundry endpoints | https://github.com/microsoft/magentic-ui/blob/main/docs/model-hosting-guide.md | 2026-10-16 |
| Hardware | Confirmed | Self-hosted models need GPUs with about 48 GB (Fara) and 96 GB (MagenticBrain); the app needs KVM on WSL for the sandbox VM | https://github.com/microsoft/magentic-ui/blob/main/docs/model-hosting-guide.md | 2026-10-16 |
| Operating systems | Confirmed | macOS on Apple Silicon and Windows x64 via WSL2 tested; native Linux untested; Windows ARM64 unsupported | https://github.com/microsoft/magentic-ui/blob/main/docs/installation.md | 2026-10-16 |
| Setup effort | Confirmed | Medium for the app (uv pip install); hard overall because you must host two model endpoints | https://github.com/microsoft/magentic-ui/blob/main/docs/installation.md | 2026-10-16 |

GitHub: 10097 stars, 1019 forks, last push 2026-09-23, archived: no.
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Source: RepoQuarry (https://repoquarry.dev/projects/magentic-ui). Data licence: CC BY 4.0. Quotes are from project documentation and belong to their authors.