safari-cli

name	safari-cli
description	Safari browser automation via AppleScript. Use for navigating, extracting content, running JavaScript, and taking screenshots in Safari on macOS.

Safari CLI

Safari browser automation tools using AppleScript. Works with native macOS Safari.

Setup

First time setup - enable JavaScript automation:

1. Open Safari
2. Go to Safari > Settings > Advanced
3. Check "Show features for web developers"
4. In Safari menu bar: Develop > Allow JavaScript from Apple Events

Make scripts executable (if needed):

chmod +x {baseDir}/*.sh

Screenshot dependency: Requires the peekaboo skill. Install with: brew install steipete/tap/peekaboo

Navigate

{baseDir}/safari-nav.sh https://example.com
{baseDir}/safari-nav.sh https://example.com --new

Navigate to URLs. Use --new to open in a new tab.

Evaluate JavaScript

{baseDir}/safari-eval.sh 'document.title'
{baseDir}/safari-eval.sh 'document.querySelectorAll("a").length'
{baseDir}/safari-eval.sh 'Array.from(document.querySelectorAll("h1")).map(h => h.textContent)'

Execute JavaScript in the active tab. Returns the result.

Screenshot

{baseDir}/safari-screenshot.sh

Capture Safari window as PNG using Peekaboo. Returns the file path. Includes browser chrome (tabs, address bar).

For more screenshot options (Retina, specific windows, etc.), see the peekaboo skill.

Extract Page Content

{baseDir}/safari-content.sh
{baseDir}/safari-content.sh https://example.com
{baseDir}/safari-content.sh --no-reader https://docs.example.com

Extract readable content as markdown. Optionally navigate to URL first.

Uses Safari's native Reader mode when available for clean article extraction. Falls back to JavaScript DOM extraction when Reader is unavailable.

Options:

• --no-reader - Skip Reader mode, use JavaScript extraction instead

When to use --no-reader:

• Documentation sites (API docs, technical references)
• Pages with code snippets or tables that Reader simplifies too aggressively
• Sites where Reader strips important inline elements

Reader mode works best for articles and blog posts. For technical documentation (e.g., Tailwind CSS docs, MDN), use --no-reader to preserve code examples and technical details.

Tab Management

{baseDir}/safari-tabs.sh              # List all tabs
{baseDir}/safari-tab.sh 1:3           # Switch to tab 3 of window 1  
{baseDir}/safari-close.sh             # Close current tab
{baseDir}/safari-close.sh 1:2         # Close specific tab

Navigation

{baseDir}/safari-url.sh               # Get current URL
{baseDir}/safari-back.sh              # Go back
{baseDir}/safari-forward.sh           # Go forward
{baseDir}/safari-reload.sh            # Reload page

Get Page Source

{baseDir}/safari-source.sh            # Get HTML source

JavaScript Console

Capture and retrieve console output (log, warn, error, etc.) from the page.

{baseDir}/safari-console-install.sh   # Install capture (run after page load)
{baseDir}/safari-console.sh           # Get all captured messages
{baseDir}/safari-console.sh --clear   # Get messages and clear buffer
{baseDir}/safari-console.sh error     # Filter by type (log/warn/error/info/debug/uncaught)
{baseDir}/safari-console.sh --json    # Output raw JSON

Workflow:

# 1. Navigate to page
{baseDir}/safari-nav.sh https://example.com

# 2. Install console capture
{baseDir}/safari-console-install.sh

# 3. Interact with the page, then retrieve logs
{baseDir}/safari-console.sh

Note: Console capture must be installed after each page navigation. It cannot capture messages that occurred before installation.

When to Use

• Automating Safari on macOS
• Extracting content from pages requiring JavaScript
• Taking screenshots of web pages
• Managing Safari tabs programmatically
• When you need Safari specifically (vs Chrome/Chromium)

Troubleshooting

"JavaScript execution blocked" error:

• Safari > Develop > Allow JavaScript from Apple Events
• If Develop menu missing: Safari > Settings > Advanced > Show features for web developers

"No Safari window open" error:

• Open Safari first, or use safari-nav.sh to open a URL

"Peekaboo not installed" error:

• Install with: brew install steipete/tap/peekaboo