electron

name	Electron
description	Automate Electron desktop apps (VS Code, Slack, Discord, Figma, Notion, Spotify, etc.) via Chrome DevTools Protocol. USE WHEN the user needs to interact with an Electron desktop app, automate a native app, connect to a running Electron app, or test an Electron application.
allowed-tools	Bash(agent-browser:*)

Automate any Electron desktop app using agent-browser. Electron apps are built on Chromium and expose a Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) port that agent-browser can connect to, enabling the same snapshot-interact workflow used for web pages.

Core Workflow

1. Launch the Electron app with remote debugging enabled
2. Connect agent-browser to the CDP port
3. Snapshot to discover interactive elements
4. Interact using element refs
5. Re-snapshot after navigation or state changes

# Launch an Electron app with remote debugging
slack --remote-debugging-port=9222

# Connect agent-browser to the app
agent-browser connect 9222

# Standard workflow from here
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser click @e5
agent-browser screenshot slack-desktop.png

Launching Electron Apps with CDP

Every Electron app supports --remote-debugging-port since it is built into Chromium.

Important: If the app is already running, quit it first, then relaunch with the flag. The --remote-debugging-port flag must be present at launch time.

Linux

# Slack
slack --remote-debugging-port=9222

# VS Code
code --remote-debugging-port=9223

# Discord
discord --remote-debugging-port=9224

# Spotify
spotify --remote-debugging-port=9225

macOS

# Slack
open -a "Slack" --args --remote-debugging-port=9222

# VS Code
open -a "Visual Studio Code" --args --remote-debugging-port=9223

# Discord
open -a "Discord" --args --remote-debugging-port=9224

# Figma
open -a "Figma" --args --remote-debugging-port=9225

# Notion
open -a "Notion" --args --remote-debugging-port=9226

# Spotify
open -a "Spotify" --args --remote-debugging-port=9227

Connecting

# Connect to a specific port (all subsequent commands target connected app)
agent-browser connect 9222

# Or pass --cdp on each command without a persistent connect
agent-browser --cdp 9222 snapshot -i

# Auto-discover a running Chromium-based app
agent-browser --auto-connect snapshot -i

Tab Management

Electron apps often have multiple windows or webviews. Use tab commands to list and switch between them:

# List all available targets (windows, webviews, etc.)
agent-browser tab

# Switch to a specific tab by index
agent-browser tab 2

# Switch by URL pattern
agent-browser tab --url "*settings*"

Webview Support

Electron <webview> elements are automatically discovered when using --native mode. Webviews appear as separate targets in the tab list:

# Connect in native mode
agent-browser --native connect 9222

# List targets -- webviews appear alongside pages
agent-browser tab
# Example output:
#   0: [page]    Slack - Main Window     https://app.slack.com/
#   1: [webview] Embedded Content        https://example.com/widget

# Switch to a webview
agent-browser tab 1
agent-browser snapshot -i

Note: Webview support requires --native mode. The Playwright-based mode does not support webview targets.

Common Patterns

Inspect and Navigate an App

slack --remote-debugging-port=9222
sleep 3  # Wait for app to start
agent-browser connect 9222
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser click @e10
agent-browser snapshot -i

Take Screenshots of Desktop Apps

agent-browser connect 9222
agent-browser screenshot app-state.png
agent-browser screenshot --full full-app.png
agent-browser screenshot --annotate annotated-app.png

Extract Data from a Desktop App

agent-browser connect 9222
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser get text @e5
agent-browser snapshot --json > app-state.json

Fill Forms in Desktop Apps

agent-browser connect 9222
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser fill @e3 "search query"
agent-browser press Enter
agent-browser wait 1000
agent-browser snapshot -i

Run Multiple Apps Simultaneously

Use named sessions to control multiple Electron apps at the same time:

agent-browser --session slack connect 9222
agent-browser --session vscode connect 9223

agent-browser --session slack snapshot -i
agent-browser --session vscode snapshot -i

Color Scheme

Playwright overrides the color scheme to light by default when connecting via CDP. To preserve dark mode:

agent-browser connect 9222
agent-browser --color-scheme dark snapshot -i

Or set it globally for the session:

AGENT_BROWSER_COLOR_SCHEME=dark agent-browser connect 9222

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
"Connection refused"	Ensure the app was launched with --remote-debugging-port=NNNN
App running but connect fails	Quit and relaunch with the flag; wait a few seconds after launch (sleep 3)
Port in use	Check with lsof -i :9222; use a different port number
Elements missing from snapshot	Use agent-browser tab to list targets; app may use multiple webviews
Cannot type in input fields	Try agent-browser keyboard type "text" or agent-browser keyboard inserttext "text" for custom inputs

Supported Apps

Any app built on Electron works, including:

• Communication: Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, Signal, Telegram Desktop
• Development: VS Code, GitHub Desktop, Postman, Insomnia
• Design: Figma, Notion, Obsidian
• Media: Spotify, Tidal
• Productivity: Todoist, Linear, 1Password