Autosearch fetch-playwright

Interactive browser automation (click, type, wait, screenshot, navigate) for dynamic pages that need user-like actions — pagination, login, form submission, infinite scroll. Uses Microsoft's official @playwright/mcp server; no autosearch-side Python. Use when fetch-jina and fetch-crawl4ai still cannot get the content.

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/0xmariowu/Autosearch

Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/0xmariowu/Autosearch "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/autosearch/skills/tools/fetch-playwright" ~/.claude/skills/0xmariowu-autosearch-fetch-playwright && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: autosearch/skills/tools/fetch-playwright/SKILL.md

source content

Drive a real Chromium browser from the runtime AI via Microsoft's official

@playwright/mcp

server. Use this when

fetch-jina

(cheapest) and

fetch-crawl4ai

(depth + basic JS) still cannot reach the content — typically because the page requires clicking, typing, scrolling, waiting for an event, or capturing a screenshot.

Architecture (why there is no Python file in this skill)

This skill is documentation-only. The runtime AI calls

playwright-mcp

tools directly through its MCP client — autosearch does not wrap them. The skill exists so the runtime AI knows:

When to reach for Playwright (vs. fetch-jina / fetch-crawl4ai).
How to install
```
@playwright/mcp
```
.
Which MCP tools to call for common web-research patterns.

Install

claude mcp add

(writes to

~/.claude.json

); for project-scoped config use

<project>/.mcp.json

. Cursor reads

~/.cursor/mcp.json

; Zed reads

<project>/.zed/mcp.json

. Schema for any of them:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playwright": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@playwright/mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

On first run,

npx

will download

@playwright/mcp

and Playwright will install a Chromium bundle. No API keys. Works offline for local pages.

Common Tool Calls (as used by the runtime AI)

Tool names below come from

@playwright/mcp

. Exact schemas are served by the MCP server itself; the runtime AI enumerates them via the MCP client.

```
browser_navigate(url)
```
— go to a URL.
```
browser_snapshot()
```
— accessibility tree of the current page (cheap text form, no screenshot).

browser_click(ref)

browser_type(ref, text)

browser_press_key(key)

— interact with elements from the snapshot.

```
browser_wait_for(text | time | element)
```
— wait for an event or selector.
```
browser_take_screenshot()
```
— capture the current page as an image.
```
browser_evaluate(script)
```
— run custom JS (use sparingly).

browser_network_requests()

browser_console_messages()

— inspection.

```
browser_tabs(...)
```
— open, list, select, close tabs.
```
browser_close()
```
— release the browser.

When to Use

Page requires clicking a "Show more" / "Accept cookies" before content renders.
Login-gated content where the user has supplied a session (via storage state).
Infinite-scroll feed where lazy-load fires on scroll.
Verifying a production flow where screenshots are the deliverable.
Debugging network / console errors on a third-party page.

When NOT to Use

Static article, documentation, blog post →
```
fetch-jina
```
is cheaper.
Lightly JS-rendered page that works with plain crawl →
```
fetch-crawl4ai
```
.
Paid, hardened anti-bot site →
```
fetch-firecrawl
```
(paid) may still succeed where an ordinary Chromium cannot.

Limits

```
@playwright/mcp
```
requires Node.js >= 18 and writes a Playwright browser bundle to the user's cache on first run (~200 MB).
Long sessions consume memory; the runtime AI should call
```
browser_close()
```
when a task ends.
Headful mode requires a desktop; CI / headless servers must use the default headless mode.
Cookie / profile / storage state setup is the caller's responsibility (see
```
@playwright/mcp
```
docs for
```
storageState
```
).

Downgrade / Upgrade Chain

Below:
```
fetch-crawl4ai
```
(Playwright, same browser engine but no interactive control) →
```
fetch-jina
```
(HTTP Markdown only).
Above:
```
fetch-firecrawl
```
(paid, stronger anti-bot and managed infra).

This tool does not produce a summary. The runtime AI processes the tool outputs directly; autosearch provides only the routing guidance in this SKILL.md.

Quality Bar

Evidence items have non-empty title and url.
No crash on empty or malformed API response.
Source channel field matches the channel name.