Skills browserbase-cli

Name: browserbase-cli
Author: browserbase

Use the Browserbase CLI (`bb`) for Browserbase Functions and platform API workflows. Use when the user asks to run `bb`, deploy or invoke functions, manage sessions, projects, contexts, or extensions, fetch a page through the Browserbase Fetch API, search the web through the Browserbase Search API, or scaffold starter templates. Prefer the Browser skill for interactive browsing; use `bb browse` only when the user explicitly wants the Browserbase CLI path.

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/browserbase/skills

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

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/browserbase/skills "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/skills/browserbase-cli" ~/.claude/skills/browserbase-skills-browserbase-cli && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: skills/browserbase-cli/SKILL.md

source content

Browserbase CLI

Use the official

bb

CLI for Browserbase platform operations, Functions workflows, and Fetch API calls.

Setup check

Before using the CLI, verify it is installed:

which bb || npm install -g @browserbasehq/cli
bb --help

For authenticated commands, set the API key:

export BROWSERBASE_API_KEY="your_api_key"

If using

bb functions dev

bb functions publish

, also set:

export BROWSERBASE_PROJECT_ID="your_project_id"

When to use this skill

Use this skill when the user wants to:

run Browserbase commands through
```
bb
```
scaffold, develop, publish, or invoke Browserbase Functions
inspect or manage Browserbase sessions, projects, contexts, or extensions
fetch a page through Browserbase without opening a browser session
search the web through Browserbase without opening a browser session
browse or scaffold starter templates with
```
bb templates
```

When not to use this skill

For interactive browsing, page inspection, screenshots, clicking, typing, or login flows, prefer the
```
browser
```
skill.
For simple HTTP content retrieval where the user does not care about using the CLI specifically, the dedicated
```
fetch
```
skill is often a better fit.
Use
```
bb browse ...
```
only when the user explicitly wants the CLI wrapper or is already working in a
```
bb
```
-centric workflow.

Command selection

```
bb functions
```
for local dev, packaging, publishing, and invocation

bb sessions

bb projects

bb contexts

bb extensions

for Browserbase platform resources

```
bb fetch <url>
```
for Fetch API requests
```
bb search "<query>"
```
for Search API requests
```
bb templates
```
to browse and scaffold starter templates
```
bb browse ...
```
to forward to the standalone
```
browse
```
binary (requires
```
@browserbasehq/browse-cli
```
)
```
bb skills install
```
to install Browserbase agent skills for Claude Code

For

bb browse

, the standalone

browse

CLI behavior is the source of truth:

bb browse env local

uses a clean isolated local browser by default, and

bb browse env local --auto-connect

opts into reusing an existing local Chrome session.

Common workflows

Functions

bb functions init my-function
cd my-function
bb functions dev index.ts
bb functions publish index.ts
bb functions invoke <function_id> --params '{"url":"https://example.com"}'

Use

bb functions invoke --check-status <invocation_id>

to poll an existing invocation instead of creating a new one.

Platform APIs

bb projects list
bb sessions create --proxies --advanced-stealth --region us-east-1
bb sessions create --solve-captchas --context-id ctx_abc --persist
bb sessions get <session_id>
bb sessions downloads get <session_id> --output session-artifacts.zip
bb contexts create --body '{"region":"us-west-2"}'
bb extensions upload ./my-extension.zip

Fetch API

bb fetch https://example.com
bb fetch https://example.com --allow-redirects --output page.html

Search API

bb search "browser automation"
bb search "web scraping" --num-results 5
bb search "AI agents" --output results.json

Templates

bb templates list
bb templates list --language python
bb templates clone form-filling --language typescript
bb templates clone amazon-product-scraping --language python ./my-scraper

Best practices

Prefer
```
bb --help
```
and subgroup
```
--help
```
before guessing flags.
Use dash-case flags exactly as shown in CLI help.
Use
```
--output <file>
```
on
```
bb fetch
```
and
```
bb search
```
to save results to a file.
Use environment variables for auth unless the user explicitly wants one-off overrides.
Pass structured request bodies with JSON strings in
```
--body
```
or
```
--params
```
.
Remember that
```
bb functions ...
```
uses
```
--api-url
```
, while platform API commands use
```
--base-url
```
.
If
```
bb browse
```
fails because
```
browse
```
is missing, either install
```
@browserbasehq/browse-cli
```
or switch to the
```
browser
```
skill.

Troubleshooting

Missing API key: set
```
BROWSERBASE_API_KEY
```
or pass
```
--api-key
```

Missing project ID on

bb functions dev

bb functions publish

: set

BROWSERBASE_PROJECT_ID

or pass

--project-id

Unknown flag: rerun the relevant command with
```
--help
```
and use the exact dash-case form

bb browse

install error: run

npm install -g @browserbasehq/browse-cli

For command-by-command reference and more examples, see REFERENCE.md.