| name | steel-browser |
| allowed-tools | ["Bash(steel:*)"] |
| description | Use this skill for live web tasks where WebFetch or curl would fail or be insufficient: JavaScript-rendered pages, forms, screenshots, PDFs, login flows, CAPTCHA/bot-protection flows, and multi-step navigation. It runs a real Steel cloud browser through the Steel CLI. Use when the agent should visit, click, type, scrape, screenshot, or extract now. Do not use for writing reusable Steel SDK/API code; use steel-developer for code. If a live task fails, hand off to steel-session-debugging; if evidence points to bot detection, proxies, CAPTCHA, or identity, hand off to steel-reliability. |
| license | MIT |
| compatibility | claude-code,codex,cursor,opencode,pi |
| metadata | {"owner":"steel","category":"operate","stage":"ga"} |
Steel Browser
Use Steel CLI browser tools to complete live web work now.
Setup
If Steel is missing or unauthenticated:
steel --version
steel login
steel doctor --preflight
If the CLI or installed skills look broken, run:
steel skills doctor
Done when this smoke test succeeds:
steel scrape https://example.com
Choose The Right Path
- Static page content:
steel scrape <url>
- Screenshot:
steel screenshot <url>
- PDF:
steel pdf <url>
- Multi-step interaction, login, forms, or JS-heavy pages:
steel browser ...
- Bot detection, CAPTCHA, proxy, or login reliability failure: collect evidence with
steel-session-debugging, then use steel-reliability
- Reusable application code: use
steel-developer
Start with the smallest tool that can finish the task. Escalate from scrape/screenshot/PDF to an interactive browser session only when interaction or state is required.
Interactive Session Workflow
steel browser start --session my-task --session-timeout 3600000
steel browser navigate https://example.com --session my-task
steel browser snapshot -i --session my-task
steel browser click @e1 --session my-task
steel browser wait --load networkidle --session my-task
steel browser snapshot -i --session my-task
steel browser stop --session my-task
Rules:
- Always use the same
--session <name> on every command.
- Take a fresh
snapshot -i after navigation or DOM changes because element refs expire.
- Prefer
@eN refs from snapshots over brittle CSS selectors.
- Use
steel browser batch when a sequence needs an action and immediate re-snapshot.
- Release/stop sessions unless the user explicitly asks to keep them open.
Troubleshooting
- Run
steel skills doctor for install or CLI-skill mismatch issues.
- Run
steel doctor --preflight for auth/API issues.
- Use
steel browser sessions and steel browser live --session <name> for active sessions.
- For failed completed sessions, load
steel-session-debugging.
- For bot/proxy/CAPTCHA/identity fixes, load
steel-reliability.
References
references/steel-browser-commands.md: command reference.references/steel-browser-lifecycle.md: session lifecycle discipline.references/troubleshooting.md: recovery playbooks.references/migration-agent-browser.md: migration from upstream agent-browser.
