The primary purpose of the fast wide field optical camera (WFOC) is to perform continuous, alert‐independent observations of optical transients and variable astrophysical sources simultaneously with space‐born wide field X‐ and &ggr;‐ray telescopes. In particular the camera can detect possible optical precursors and early prompt emission from cosmic Gamma‐Ray Bursts. The real‐time source identification software generates alerts that also could be sent to global alert distribution networks such as the GCN. We estimate that in one year of continuous observation with the WFOC we will observe the following numbers of GRB error boxes simultaneously with space‐ borne telescopes: 1.6 (WXM/HETE‐2), 0.5 (SPI/INTEGRAL), and 4 (BAT/SWIFT). © 2004 American Institute of Physics