Browser Automation with agent-browser

First-time Setup

On the first use, the browser (Chromium) may not be downloaded yet. If you get an error like "Executable doesn't exist", run this first:

agent-browser install

This downloads Chromium (~160MB, one-time). Inform the user it may take a minute. After installation, all subsequent commands will work immediately.

Core Workflow

Every browser automation follows this pattern:

1. Navigate:

   agent-browser open <url>

2. Snapshot:

   agent-browser snapshot -i

   (get element refs like

   @e1

   ,

   @e2

   )
3. Interact: Use refs to click, fill, select
4. Re-snapshot: After navigation or DOM changes, get fresh refs

agent-browser open https://example.com/form
agent-browser snapshot -i
# Output: @e1 [input type="email"], @e2 [input type="password"], @e3 [button] "Submit"

agent-browser fill @e1 "user@example.com"
agent-browser fill @e2 "password123"
agent-browser click @e3
agent-browser wait --load networkidle
agent-browser snapshot -i  # Check result

Command Chaining

Commands can be chained with

&&

in a single shell invocation. The browser persists between commands via a background daemon, so chaining is safe and more efficient than separate calls.

# Chain open + wait + snapshot in one call
agent-browser open https://example.com && agent-browser wait --load networkidle && agent-browser snapshot -i

# Chain multiple interactions
agent-browser fill @e1 "user@example.com" && agent-browser fill @e2 "password123" && agent-browser click @e3

# Navigate and capture
agent-browser open https://example.com && agent-browser wait --load networkidle && agent-browser screenshot page.png

When to chain: Use

&&

when you don't need to read the output of an intermediate command before proceeding (e.g., open + wait + screenshot). Run commands separately when you need to parse the output first (e.g., snapshot to discover refs, then interact using those refs).

Essential Commands

# Navigation
agent-browser open <url>              # Navigate (aliases: goto, navigate)
agent-browser close                   # Close browser

# Snapshot
agent-browser snapshot -i             # Interactive elements with refs (recommended)
agent-browser snapshot -i -C          # Include cursor-interactive elements (divs with onclick, cursor:pointer)
agent-browser snapshot -s "#selector" # Scope to CSS selector

# Interaction (use @refs from snapshot)
agent-browser click @e1               # Click element
agent-browser click @e1 --new-tab     # Click and open in new tab
agent-browser fill @e2 "text"         # Clear and type text
agent-browser type @e2 "text"         # Type without clearing
agent-browser select @e1 "option"     # Select dropdown option
agent-browser check @e1               # Check checkbox
agent-browser press Enter             # Press key
agent-browser keyboard type "text"    # Type at current focus (no selector)
agent-browser keyboard inserttext "text"  # Insert without key events
agent-browser scroll down 500         # Scroll page
agent-browser scroll down 500 --selector "div.content"  # Scroll within a specific container

# Get information
agent-browser get text @e1            # Get element text
agent-browser get url                 # Get current URL
agent-browser get title               # Get page title

# Wait
agent-browser wait @e1                # Wait for element
agent-browser wait --load networkidle # Wait for network idle
agent-browser wait --url "**/page"    # Wait for URL pattern
agent-browser wait 2000               # Wait milliseconds

# Downloads
agent-browser download @e1 ./file.pdf          # Click element to trigger download
agent-browser wait --download ./output.zip     # Wait for any download to complete
agent-browser --download-path ./downloads open <url>  # Set default download directory

# Capture
agent-browser screenshot              # Screenshot to temp dir
agent-browser screenshot --full       # Full page screenshot
agent-browser screenshot --annotate   # Annotated screenshot with numbered element labels
agent-browser pdf output.pdf          # Save as PDF

# Diff (compare page states)
agent-browser diff snapshot                          # Compare current vs last snapshot
agent-browser diff snapshot --baseline before.txt    # Compare current vs saved file
agent-browser diff screenshot --baseline before.png  # Visual pixel diff
agent-browser diff url <url1> <url2>                 # Compare two pages
agent-browser diff url <url1> <url2> --wait-until networkidle  # Custom wait strategy
agent-browser diff url <url1> <url2> --selector "#main"  # Scope to element

Common Patterns

Form Submission

agent-browser open https://example.com/signup
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser fill @e1 "Jane Doe"
agent-browser fill @e2 "jane@example.com"
agent-browser select @e3 "California"
agent-browser check @e4
agent-browser click @e5
agent-browser wait --load networkidle

Authentication with Auth Vault (Recommended)

# Save credentials once (encrypted with AGENT_BROWSER_ENCRYPTION_KEY)
# Recommended: pipe password via stdin to avoid shell history exposure
echo "pass" | agent-browser auth save github --url https://github.com/login --username user --password-stdin

# Login using saved profile (LLM never sees password)
agent-browser auth login github

# List/show/delete profiles
agent-browser auth list
agent-browser auth show github
agent-browser auth delete github

Authentication with State Persistence

# Login once and save state
agent-browser open https://app.example.com/login
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser fill @e1 "$USERNAME"
agent-browser fill @e2 "$PASSWORD"
agent-browser click @e3
agent-browser wait --url "**/dashboard"
agent-browser state save auth.json

# Reuse in future sessions
agent-browser state load auth.json
agent-browser open https://app.example.com/dashboard

Session Persistence

# Auto-save/restore cookies and localStorage across browser restarts
agent-browser --session-name myapp open https://app.example.com/login
# ... login flow ...
agent-browser close  # State auto-saved to ~/.agent-browser/sessions/

# Next time, state is auto-loaded
agent-browser --session-name myapp open https://app.example.com/dashboard

# Encrypt state at rest
export AGENT_BROWSER_ENCRYPTION_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
agent-browser --session-name secure open https://app.example.com

# Manage saved states
agent-browser state list
agent-browser state show myapp-default.json
agent-browser state clear myapp
agent-browser state clean --older-than 7

Data Extraction

agent-browser open https://example.com/products
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser get text @e5           # Get specific element text
agent-browser get text body > page.txt  # Get all page text

# JSON output for parsing
agent-browser snapshot -i --json
agent-browser get text @e1 --json

Parallel Sessions

agent-browser --session site1 open https://site-a.com
agent-browser --session site2 open https://site-b.com

agent-browser --session site1 snapshot -i
agent-browser --session site2 snapshot -i

agent-browser session list

Connect to Existing Chrome

# Auto-discover running Chrome with remote debugging enabled
agent-browser --auto-connect open https://example.com
agent-browser --auto-connect snapshot

# Or with explicit CDP port
agent-browser --cdp 9222 snapshot

Color Scheme (Dark Mode)

# Persistent dark mode via flag (applies to all pages and new tabs)
agent-browser --color-scheme dark open https://example.com

# Or via environment variable
AGENT_BROWSER_COLOR_SCHEME=dark agent-browser open https://example.com

# Or set during session (persists for subsequent commands)
agent-browser set media dark

Visual Browser (Debugging)

agent-browser --headed open https://example.com
agent-browser highlight @e1          # Highlight element
agent-browser record start demo.webm # Record session
agent-browser profiler start         # Start Chrome DevTools profiling
agent-browser profiler stop trace.json # Stop and save profile (path optional)

Local Files (PDFs, HTML)

# Open local files with file:// URLs
agent-browser --allow-file-access open file:///path/to/document.pdf
agent-browser --allow-file-access open file:///path/to/page.html
agent-browser screenshot output.png

iOS Simulator (Mobile Safari)

# List available iOS simulators
agent-browser device list

# Launch Safari on a specific device
agent-browser -p ios --device "iPhone 16 Pro" open https://example.com

# Same workflow as desktop - snapshot, interact, re-snapshot
agent-browser -p ios snapshot -i
agent-browser -p ios tap @e1          # Tap (alias for click)
agent-browser -p ios fill @e2 "text"
agent-browser -p ios swipe up         # Mobile-specific gesture

# Take screenshot
agent-browser -p ios screenshot mobile.png

# Close session (shuts down simulator)
agent-browser -p ios close

Requirements: macOS with Xcode, Appium (

npm install -g appium && appium driver install xcuitest

)

Real devices: Works with physical iOS devices if pre-configured. Use

--device "<UDID>"

where UDID is from

xcrun xctrace list devices

.

Security

All security features are opt-in. By default, agent-browser imposes no restrictions on navigation, actions, or output.

Content Boundaries (Recommended for AI Agents)

Enable

--content-boundaries

to wrap page-sourced output in markers that help LLMs distinguish tool output from untrusted page content:

export AGENT_BROWSER_CONTENT_BOUNDARIES=1
agent-browser snapshot
# Output:
# --- AGENT_BROWSER_PAGE_CONTENT nonce=<hex> origin=https://example.com ---
# [accessibility tree]
# --- END_AGENT_BROWSER_PAGE_CONTENT nonce=<hex> ---

Domain Allowlist

Restrict navigation to trusted domains. Wildcards like

*.example.com

also match the bare domain

example.com

. Sub-resource requests, WebSocket, and EventSource connections to non-allowed domains are also blocked. Include CDN domains your target pages depend on:

export AGENT_BROWSER_ALLOWED_DOMAINS="example.com,*.example.com"
agent-browser open https://example.com        # OK
agent-browser open https://malicious.com       # Blocked

Action Policy

Use a policy file to gate destructive actions:

export AGENT_BROWSER_ACTION_POLICY=./policy.json

Example

policy.json

:

{"default": "deny", "allow": ["navigate", "snapshot", "click", "scroll", "wait", "get"]}

Auth vault operations (

auth login

, etc.) bypass action policy but domain allowlist still applies.

Output Limits

Prevent context flooding from large pages:

export AGENT_BROWSER_MAX_OUTPUT=50000

Diffing (Verifying Changes)

Use

diff snapshot

after performing an action to verify it had the intended effect. This compares the current accessibility tree against the last snapshot taken in the session.

# Typical workflow: snapshot -> action -> diff
agent-browser snapshot -i          # Take baseline snapshot
agent-browser click @e2            # Perform action
agent-browser diff snapshot        # See what changed (auto-compares to last snapshot)

For visual regression testing or monitoring:

# Save a baseline screenshot, then compare later
agent-browser screenshot baseline.png
# ... time passes or changes are made ...
agent-browser diff screenshot --baseline baseline.png

# Compare staging vs production
agent-browser diff url https://staging.example.com https://prod.example.com --screenshot

diff snapshot

output uses

+

for additions and

-

for removals, similar to git diff.

diff screenshot

produces a diff image with changed pixels highlighted in red, plus a mismatch percentage.

Timeouts and Slow Pages

The default Playwright timeout is 25 seconds for local browsers. This can be overridden with the

AGENT_BROWSER_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT

environment variable (value in milliseconds). For slow websites or large pages, use explicit waits instead of relying on the default timeout:

# Wait for network activity to settle (best for slow pages)
agent-browser wait --load networkidle

# Wait for a specific element to appear
agent-browser wait "#content"
agent-browser wait @e1

# Wait for a specific URL pattern (useful after redirects)
agent-browser wait --url "**/dashboard"

# Wait for a JavaScript condition
agent-browser wait --fn "document.readyState === 'complete'"

# Wait a fixed duration (milliseconds) as a last resort
agent-browser wait 5000

When dealing with consistently slow websites, use

wait --load networkidle

after

open

to ensure the page is fully loaded before taking a snapshot. If a specific element is slow to render, wait for it directly with

wait <selector>

or

wait @ref

.

Session Management and Cleanup

When running multiple agents or automations concurrently, always use named sessions to avoid conflicts:

# Each agent gets its own isolated session
agent-browser --session agent1 open site-a.com
agent-browser --session agent2 open site-b.com

# Check active sessions
agent-browser session list

Always close your browser session when done to avoid leaked processes:

agent-browser close                    # Close default session
agent-browser --session agent1 close   # Close specific session

If a previous session was not closed properly, the daemon may still be running. Use

agent-browser close

to clean it up before starting new work.

Ref Lifecycle (Important)

Refs (

@e1

,

@e2

, etc.) are invalidated when the page changes. Always re-snapshot after:

• Clicking links or buttons that navigate
• Form submissions
• Dynamic content loading (dropdowns, modals)

agent-browser click @e5              # Navigates to new page
agent-browser snapshot -i            # MUST re-snapshot
agent-browser click @e1              # Use new refs

Annotated Screenshots (Vision Mode)

Use

--annotate

to take a screenshot with numbered labels overlaid on interactive elements. Each label

[N]

maps to ref

@eN

. This also caches refs, so you can interact with elements immediately without a separate snapshot.

agent-browser screenshot --annotate
# Output includes the image path and a legend:
#   [1] @e1 button "Submit"
#   [2] @e2 link "Home"
#   [3] @e3 textbox "Email"
agent-browser click @e2              # Click using ref from annotated screenshot

Use annotated screenshots when:

• The page has unlabeled icon buttons or visual-only elements
• You need to verify visual layout or styling
• Canvas or chart elements are present (invisible to text snapshots)
• You need spatial reasoning about element positions

Semantic Locators (Alternative to Refs)

When refs are unavailable or unreliable, use semantic locators:

agent-browser find text "Sign In" click
agent-browser find label "Email" fill "user@test.com"
agent-browser find role button click --name "Submit"
agent-browser find placeholder "Search" type "query"
agent-browser find testid "submit-btn" click

JavaScript Evaluation (eval)

Use

eval

to run JavaScript in the browser context. Shell quoting can corrupt complex expressions -- use

--stdin

or

-b

to avoid issues.

# Simple expressions work with regular quoting
agent-browser eval 'document.title'
agent-browser eval 'document.querySelectorAll("img").length'

# Complex JS: use --stdin with heredoc (RECOMMENDED)
agent-browser eval --stdin <<'EVALEOF'
JSON.stringify(
  Array.from(document.querySelectorAll("img"))
    .filter(i => !i.alt)
    .map(i => ({ src: i.src.split("/").pop(), width: i.width }))
)
EVALEOF

# Alternative: base64 encoding (avoids all shell escaping issues)
agent-browser eval -b "$(echo -n 'Array.from(document.querySelectorAll("a")).map(a => a.href)' | base64)"

Why this matters: When the shell processes your command, inner double quotes,

!

characters (history expansion), backticks, and

$()

can all corrupt the JavaScript before it reaches agent-browser. The

--stdin

and

-b

flags bypass shell interpretation entirely.

Rules of thumb:

• Single-line, no nested quotes -> regular

  eval 'expression'

  with single quotes is fine
• Nested quotes, arrow functions, template literals, or multiline -> use

  eval --stdin <<'EVALEOF'

• Programmatic/generated scripts -> use

  eval -b

  with base64

Anti-Detection & Configuration

Anti-detection defaults are pre-configured in

~/.agent-browser/config.json

— headed mode, hidden

navigator.webdriver

, realistic window size/UA, persistent browser profile. No extra flags needed for normal use.

Persistent login: The browser profile at

~/.playwright-mcp-profile/

persists cookies/localStorage across sessions. If a site requires login, guide the user to log in once in the headed browser window — subsequent runs will reuse the authenticated session automatically.

If a site still blocks: override per-command with CLI flags (temporary), or edit the config file (persistent). CLI flags always override the config file.

# Temporary: override UA for one command
agent-browser --user-agent "custom UA" open https://target.com

Persistent config edits: edit

~/.agent-browser/config.json

. IMPORTANT: This file is auto-managed by MyAgents — it regenerates on every app startup when

"_managed_by": "myagents"

is present. To make persistent edits that survive restarts, you must first delete the

"_managed_by"

field, then save your changes.

args

field is split by both comma and newline — avoid args containing commas (e.g.

--window-size=W,H

will be split incorrectly; use

--start-maximized

instead). All CLI flags map to camelCase keys (

--executable-path

→

executablePath

).

Config priority (lowest → highest):

~/.agent-browser/config.json

<

./agent-browser.json

< env vars < CLI flags.

Deep-Dive Documentation

Reference	When to Use
references/commands.md	Full command reference with all options
references/snapshot-refs.md	Ref lifecycle, invalidation rules, troubleshooting
references/session-management.md	Parallel sessions, state persistence, concurrent scraping
references/authentication.md	Login flows, OAuth, 2FA handling, state reuse
references/video-recording.md	Recording workflows for debugging and documentation
references/profiling.md	Chrome DevTools profiling for performance analysis
references/proxy-support.md	Proxy configuration, geo-testing, rotating proxies

Ready-to-Use Templates

Template	Description
templates/form-automation.sh	Form filling with validation
templates/authenticated-session.sh	Login once, reuse state
templates/capture-workflow.sh	Content extraction with screenshots

./templates/form-automation.sh https://example.com/form
./templates/authenticated-session.sh https://app.example.com/login
./templates/capture-workflow.sh https://example.com ./output