Courser

Coursers are synth hunters and operatives designated to carry out specific surface missions for the Institute. They operate around the Commonwealth

Background
Brian Virgil describes them as "designed for one purpose" stating that they are "hunters" and that if "operations go wrong, a synth goes missing, a Courser is dispatched. They're very good at what they do." The director of the Synth Retention Bureau, Justin Ayo, states they are "a third-generation synth assigned to operate on the surface" and describes them as "highly self-sufficient, trained in combat, infiltration and tracking."

Once an escaped synth is found, a courser uses the synth's recall code to wipe its memories and disable it. Once done, the synth is brought back to the Institute to restore neural pathways to their original configuration.

The SRB monitors the Gen-3 synth population, looking for specific traits such as tenacity, fearlessness and independence. Those chosen undergo a training regiment that consists of armed and unarmed combat, investigative techniques, psychology and mechanical skills. Those who pass a final evaluation become Coursers, and have a Courser chip installed in their head to relay them into and out of the Institute. The rest have their memories wiped and return to their former duties.

Named

 * B-263 - A dead courser found during the Creation Club creation "Noir Penthouse."
 * X4-18 - During the quest The Battle of Bunker Hill he is found waiting for the arrival of the Sole Survivor.
 * X6-88 - He is a possible companion who is assigned to the Sole Survivor in Synth Retention. He is available as a companion after Mankind - Redefined. He also appears in Kellogg's memories.
 * X9-27 - He is met during the quest Operation Ticonderoga hunting for the Railroad agents as ordered by the Institute.
 * Z2-47 - He is encountered in Greenetech Genetics during the Hunter/Hunted quest while killing the resident Gunners on his mission to recover a runaway synth. He is the first courser to physically appear in the game.
 * X1-02, X2-36, X2-71, X3-24, X3-28, X3-37, X3-51, X4-72, X5-76, X6-57, X7-55, X9-73 - Coursers mentioned only in either dialogue or Institute terminal entries.
 * Chase - She worked for the Institute until she met DiMA and was convinced of his mission.
 * Reinhart VII, a courser unused in Far Harbor.

Technical

 * LvlSynthCourserNoTeleport_Institute [NPC_:0024944E]
 * LvlSynthCourserNoTeleport [NPC_:001EB9A7]
 * InstituteCourserPatroller1_Institute [NPC_:001CC89E]
 * InstituteCourserPatroller2_Institute [NPC_:001F252B]
 * Inst307CourserFinal [NPC_:000DF319]
 * InstituteCourserSRB_Institute [NPC_:001C27AC]
 * RR301InstituteCourser "Institute Courser" [NPC_:0010C4FA]
 * EncSynthCourser01Template "Institute Courser" [NPC_:000BE184]

Appearances
Coursers appear

Behind the scenes
There is a binary sequence printed on each Courser's neck. The sequence reads "01110011 01111001 01101110 01110100 01101000" and means "synth" in ASCII encoding.