surf

name	surf
description	Control Chrome browser via CLI for testing, automation, and debugging. Use when the user needs browser automation, screenshots, form filling, page inspection, network/CPU emulation, DevTools streaming, or AI queries via ChatGPT/Gemini/Perplexity/Grok/AI Studio.

Surf Browser Automation

Control Chrome browser via CLI or Unix socket.

Native Host / Socket Notes

For WSL2 with Windows Chrome, run surf install <extension-id> inside WSL2. Surf detects WSL2 and writes the Windows-side native messaging manifest plus a wrapper that launches the WSL host. Use surf install <extension-id> --target linux only for Linux browsers running inside WSLg.

On macOS, Chrome reads the native messaging manifest at ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/surf.browser.host.json. If native messaging fails, confirm that file exists, its allowed_origins extension ID matches chrome://extensions, then rerun surf install <extension-id>, restart Chrome, reload the extension, and inspect the extension service-worker console.

If a command reports Socket connect failed, run surf doctor first, then check the Attempted socket: line. Default sockets are /tmp/surf.sock on macOS/Linux/WSL2 and //./pipe/surf on Windows. If SURF_SOCKET is set, the browser-launched host and the shell running surf must use the same value.

Remote Surf

Remote clients require a per-client credential; Tailnet reachability alone is not authorization. On the POSIX browser host, authorize the client before installing the listener:

surf remote authorize agent-macbook --output ~/agent-macbook.surf-credential.json
surf install <extension-id> --listen 100.101.102.103:4321
surf remote list

Move the mode-0600 credential to the client through a secure channel. It grants full trusted Surf authority. Use it explicitly or through SURF_REMOTE and SURF_REMOTE_CREDENTIAL:

surf --remote 100.101.102.103:4321 \
  --remote-credential ~/.config/surf/agent-macbook.json \
  page.read

surf remote revoke agent-macbook  # Run on the browser host

Remote paths are client-local by default. local:./file is explicit client-local syntax; only remote:/absolute/path accesses the browser host directly. Remote transfer supports one upload or ChatGPT/Gemini input and one screenshot, network-export, or Gemini image output. Limits are 256 MiB per file, 512 MiB and 32 files per connection, and 256 KiB decoded chunks. record, aistudio.build, smoke screenshot directories, directories, and multi-file inputs are not supported remotely. Successful action screenshots and failure --auto-capture diagnostics are transferred back to client-local paths.

CLI Quick Reference

surf --help                    # Full help
surf <group>                   # Group help (tab, scroll, page, wait, dialog, emulate, form, perf, ai)
surf --help-full               # All commands
surf --find <term>             # Search tools
surf --help-topic <topic>      # Topic guide (refs, semantic, frames, devices, windows)

Core Workflow

# 1. Navigate to page
surf navigate "https://example.com"

# 2. Read page to get element refs
surf page.read

# 3. Click by ref or coordinates
surf click --ref "e1"
surf click --x 100 --y 200

# 4. Type text
surf type --text "hello"

# 5. Screenshot
surf screenshot --output /tmp/shot.png

# Inspect animation/style changes as JSON
surf animate-audit --selector ".thing" --duration 2000 --fps 10

AI Assistants (No API Keys)

Query AI models using your browser's logged-in session. Must be logged into the respective service in Chrome.

ChatGPT

surf chatgpt "explain this code"
surf chatgpt "summarize" --with-page              # Include current page context
surf chatgpt "review" --model gpt-4o              # Specify model
surf chatgpt "analyze" --file document.pdf        # With file attachment

Gemini

surf gemini "explain quantum computing"
surf gemini "summarize" --with-page               # Include page context
surf gemini "analyze" --file data.csv             # Attach file
surf gemini "a robot surfing" --generate-image /tmp/robot.png
surf gemini "add sunglasses" --edit-image photo.jpg --output out.jpg
surf gemini "summarize" --youtube "https://youtube.com/..."
surf gemini "hello" --model gemini-3.5-flash      # Models: gemini-3.1-pro (default), gemini-3.5-flash, gemini-3.1-flash-lite
surf gemini "wide banner" --generate-image /tmp/banner.png --aspect-ratio 16:9

Perplexity

surf perplexity "what is quantum computing"
surf perplexity "explain this page" --with-page   # Include page context
surf perplexity "deep dive" --mode research       # Research mode (Pro)
surf perplexity "latest news" --model sonar       # Model selection (Pro)

Grok (via x.com - requires X.com login in Chrome)

surf grok "what are the latest AI trends on X"    # Search X posts
surf grok "analyze @username recent activity"     # Profile analysis
surf grok "summarize this page" --with-page       # Include page context
surf grok "find viral AI posts" --deep-search     # DeepSearch mode
surf grok "quick question" --model fast           # Models: auto, fast, expert, grok-4.20-beta

For exhaustive, multi-angle X research with categorized findings and full post-URL traceability, use the deep-x-research skill (skills/deep-x-research/) instead of a single Grok query.

Grok Validation & Troubleshooting:

# Validate Grok UI and check available models (no query sent)
surf grok --validate

# If models changed, save discovered models to surf.json config
surf grok --validate --save-models

AI Studio (via aistudio.google.com - requires Google login in Chrome)

surf aistudio "explain quantum computing"
surf aistudio "redteam this" --with-page          # Include current page context
surf aistudio "quick answer" --model gemini-3-flash-preview  # Model selection
surf aistudio "analyze" --timeout 600             # Custom timeout (default: 300s)

Why AI Studio over Gemini? AI Studio gives access to less restricted Gemini models. For Gemini 3 Pro the difference can be significant with certain prompts. Downside: aggressive per-day rate limits on Pro and Flash models.

Model selection is best-effort: Pass any AI Studio model id (e.g. gemini-3.1-pro-preview, gemini-3-flash-preview, gemini-flash-lite-latest). If the model isn't found, AI Studio uses whatever model was last selected in the UI.

AI Studio App Builder

surf aistudio.build "build a portfolio site"
surf aistudio.build "todo app" --model gemini-3.1-pro-preview   # Model override
surf aistudio.build "crm dashboard" --output ./out              # Extract zip to directory
surf aistudio.build "game" --keep-open --timeout 600            # Keep tab open, 10min timeout

Automates AI Studio's App Builder at aistudio.google.com/apps. Types your prompt, clicks Build, waits for completion, downloads the generated zip, and optionally extracts it.

• --output <dir> extracts the zip to a directory
• --model <id> overrides the model in Advanced Settings
• --timeout <seconds> build timeout (default: 600s)
• --keep-open leaves the AI Studio tab open after completion

Returns zipPath, extractedPath, model, buildDuration, and tookMs.

AI Tool Troubleshooting

When AI queries fail, check these common issues:

1. Not logged in: The error "login required" means you need to log into the service in Chrome (chatgpt.com, gemini.google.com, perplexity.ai, x.com, or aistudio.google.com)
2. Model selection failed: The UI may have changed. Run surf grok --validate to check
3. Response timeout: Reasoning-heavy models (ChatGPT o1, Grok Expert) can take 45+ seconds. AI Studio builds can take several minutes.
4. Element not found: The service's UI changed. Check for surf-cli updates

Debugging workflow for agents:

# 1. Check if the service is accessible and UI is valid
surf grok --validate

# 2. If models mismatch, update the local settings
surf grok --validate --save-models

# 3. Retry with explicit model name from validation output
surf grok "query" --model <model-from-validation>

# 4. If still failing, try with longer timeout
surf grok "query" --timeout 600

Tab Management

surf tab.list
surf tab.new "https://google.com"
surf tab.switch 12345
surf tab.close 12345
surf tab.move 12345 --to-window 67890
surf tab.reload                # Reload current tab

# Named tabs (aliases)
surf tab.name myapp            # Name current tab
surf tab.switch myapp          # Switch by name
surf tab.named                 # List named tabs
surf tab.unname myapp          # Remove name

# Tab groups
surf tab.group                 # Create/add to tab group
surf tab.ungroup               # Remove from group
surf tab.groups                # List all tab groups

Window Management

surf window.list                              # List all windows
surf resize 1280 720                         # Resize current browser window
surf resize 1280                             # Set current window width only
surf window.list --tabs                       # Include tab details
surf window.new                               # New window
surf window.new --url "https://example.com"   # New window with URL
surf window.new --incognito                   # New incognito window
surf window.new --unfocused                   # Don't focus new window
surf window.focus 12345                       # Focus window by ID
surf window.close 12345                       # Close window
surf window.resize --id 123 --width 1920 --height 1080
surf window.resize --id 123 --state maximized # States: normal, minimized, maximized, fullscreen

Multi-agent isolation:

# Create a separate window for one agent and keep using its ID
surf window.new "https://example.com"
surf --window-id 123 tab.list
surf --window-id 123 go "https://other.com"

# Pin work to a specific tab, or name it for easier handoff
surf read --tab-id 456
surf tab.name agent-a --tab-id 456
surf tab.switch agent-a

Use window.new, --window-id, --tab-id, and named tabs to keep parallel agents on separate targets. Surf serializes non-streaming browser CLI requests per socket with a file-based lock, so agents sharing one native host wait instead of interleaving commands. Use --no-lock only for intentional bypasses. For hard isolation, run separate browser/profile instances with separate native hosts and SURF_SOCKET values; each socket gets its own lock. Surf does not yet have session.new, session IDs, or independent per-agent CDP sessions.

Input Methods

# CDP method (real events) types at the current focus
surf type --text "hello"
surf click --x 100 --y 200

# Selector/ref targets use frame-aware DOM input
surf type "hello" --into "#input"
surf type "hello" --ref e5

# Keys
surf key Enter
surf key "cmd+a"
surf key.repeat --key Tab --count 5           # Repeat key presses

# Hover and drag
surf hover --ref e5
surf drag --from-x 100 --from-y 100 --to-x 200 --to-y 200

Page Inspection

surf page.read                 # Accessibility tree with refs + page text
surf page.read --no-text       # Interactive elements only (no text content)
surf animate-audit --selector ".thing" --duration 2000 --fps 10  # JSON animation timeline
surf page.read --ref e5        # Get specific element details
surf page.read --depth 3       # Limit tree depth
surf page.read --compact       # Minimal output for LLM efficiency
surf page.read --max-bytes 2000 # Cap visible text at a UTF-8 byte boundary
surf page.text                 # Plain text content only
surf page.state                # Modals, loading state, scroll info

Semantic Element Location

Find and act on elements by role, text, or label instead of refs:

# Find by ARIA role
surf locate.role button --name "Submit" --action click
surf locate.role textbox --name "Email" --action fill --value "[e-mail]"
surf locate.role link --all                    # Return all matches

# Find by text content
surf locate.text "Sign In" --action click
surf locate.text "Accept" --exact --action click

# Find form field by label
surf locate.label "Username" --action fill --value "john"
surf locate.label "Password" --action fill --value "secret"

Actions: click, fill, hover, text (get text content)

Text Search

surf search "login"                    # Find text in page
surf search "Error" --case-sensitive   # Case-sensitive
surf search "button" --limit 5         # Limit results
surf find "login"                      # Alias for search

Element Inspection

surf element.styles e5                 # Get computed styles by ref
surf element.styles ".card"            # Or by CSS selector
# Returns: font, color, background, border, padding, bounding box

Scrolling

surf scroll down 800           # Scroll down 800px
surf scroll up 400             # Scroll up 400px
surf scroll bottom             # Scroll to bottom
surf scroll top                # Scroll to top
surf scroll.bottom             # Dot command form also works
surf scroll.top
surf scroll.to --ref e5        # Scroll element into view
surf scroll.info               # Get scroll position

Waiting

surf wait 2                    # Wait 2 seconds
surf wait.element ".loaded"    # Wait for element
surf wait.network              # Wait for network idle
surf wait.url "/success"       # Wait for URL pattern
surf wait.dom --stable 100     # Wait for DOM stability
surf wait.load                 # Wait for page load complete

Dialog Handling

surf dialog.info               # Get current dialog type/message
surf dialog.accept             # Accept (OK)
surf dialog.accept --text "response"  # Accept prompt with text
surf dialog.dismiss            # Dismiss (Cancel)

Device/Network Emulation

# Network throttling
surf emulate.network slow-3g   # Presets: slow-3g, fast-3g, 4g, offline
surf emulate.network reset     # Disable throttling

# CPU throttling
surf emulate.cpu 4             # 4x slower
surf emulate.cpu 1             # Reset

# Device emulation (19 presets)
surf emulate.device "iPhone 14"
surf emulate.device "Pixel 7"
surf emulate.device --list     # List available devices

# Custom viewport
surf emulate.viewport --width 1280 --height 720
surf emulate.touch --enable    # Enable touch emulation

# Geolocation
surf emulate.geo --lat 37.7749 --lon -122.4194
surf emulate.geo --clear

Form Automation

surf page.read                 # Get element refs first

# Fill by ref
surf form.fill --data '[{"ref":"e1","value":"John"},{"ref":"e2","value":"[e-mail]"}]'

# Checkboxes: true/false
surf form.fill --data '[{"ref":"e7","value":true}]'

# Dropdown selection
surf select e5 "Option A"                    # By value (default)
surf select e5 "Option A" "Option B"         # Multi-select
surf select e5 --by label "Display Text"     # By visible label
surf select e5 --by index 2                  # By index (0-based)

File Upload

surf upload --ref e5 --files "/path/to/file.txt"
surf upload --ref e5 --files "/path/file1.txt,/path/file2.txt"

Iframe Handling

surf frame.list                # List frames with IDs
surf frame.switch "FRAME_ID"   # Switch to iframe context
surf frame.main                # Return to main frame
surf frame.js --id "FRAME_ID" --code "return document.title"

# After frame.switch, subsequent commands target that frame:
surf frame.switch "iframe-1"
surf page.read                 # Reads iframe content
surf click e5                  # Clicks in iframe
surf frame.main                # Back to main page

Network Inspection

surf network                   # List captured requests
surf network --stream          # Real-time network events
surf network.get --id "req-123"   # Full request details
surf network.body --id "req-123"  # Get response body
surf network.curl --id "req-123"  # Generate curl command
surf network.origins           # List origins with stats
surf network.stats             # Capture statistics
surf network.export            # Export all requests
surf network.clear             # Clear captured requests

Console

surf console                   # Get console messages
surf console --stream          # Real-time console
surf console --stream --level error  # Errors only

JavaScript Execution

surf js "return document.title"
surf js "document.querySelector('.btn').click()"

Performance

surf perf.metrics              # Current metrics snapshot
surf perf.start                # Start trace
surf perf.stop                 # Stop and get results

Screenshots

surf screenshot                           # Auto-saves to /tmp/surf-snap-*.png
surf screenshot --output /tmp/shot.png    # Save to specific file
surf screenshot --selector ".card"        # Element only
surf screenshot --full-page               # Full page scroll capture
surf screenshot --full-page /tmp/full.png # Full page saved to path
surf screenshot --no-save                 # Return base64 only, don't save file

Zoom

surf zoom                      # Get current zoom level
surf zoom 1.5                  # Set zoom to 150%
surf zoom 1                    # Reset to 100%

Cookies & Storage

surf cookie list               # List cookies for current page
surf cookie list --domain .google.com
surf cookie set --name "token" --value "abc123"
surf cookie get "token"
surf cookie clear --all        # Clear all cookies
surf cookie delete "token"     # Clear one cookie

History & Bookmarks

surf history --query "github" --max 20
surf bookmarks --query "docs"
surf bookmark.add --url "https://..." --title "My Bookmark"
surf bookmark.remove

Health Checks & Smoke Tests

surf health --url "http://localhost:3000"
surf smoke --urls "http://localhost:3000" "http://localhost:3000/about"
surf smoke --urls "..." --screenshot /tmp/smoke

Workflows

Execute multi-step browser automation as a single command with smart auto-waits.

Inline Workflows

# Pipe-separated commands
surf do 'go "https://example.com" | click e5 | screenshot'

# Multi-step login flow
surf do 'go "https://example.com/login" | type "[e-mail]" --selector "#email" | type "pass" --selector "#password" | click --selector "button[type=submit]"'

# Validate without executing
surf do 'go "url" | click e5' --dry-run

Named Workflows

Save workflows as JSON files in ~/.surf/workflows/ (user) or ./.surf/workflows/ (project):

# List available workflows
surf workflow.list

# Show workflow details
surf workflow.info my-workflow

# Run by name with arguments
surf do my-workflow --email "[e-mail]" --password "secret"

# Validate workflow file
surf workflow.validate workflow.json

Workflow JSON Format

{
  "name": "Login Flow",
  "description": "Automate login process",
  "args": {
    "email": { "required": true },
    "password": { "required": true },
    "url": { "default": "https://example.com/login" }
  },
  "steps": [
    { "tool": "navigate", "args": { "url": "%{url}" } },
    { "tool": "type", "args": { "text": "%{email}", "selector": "input[name=email]" } },
    { "tool": "type", "args": { "text": "%{password}", "selector": "input[name=password]" } },
    { "tool": "click", "args": { "selector": "button[type=submit]" } },
    { "tool": "screenshot", "args": {}, "as": "result" }
  ]
}

Loops and Step Outputs

{
  "steps": [
    // Capture step output for later use
    { "tool": "js", "args": { "code": "return [1,2,3]" }, "as": "items" },

    // Fixed iterations
    { "repeat": 5, "steps": [
      { "tool": "click", "args": { "ref": "e5" } }
    ]},

    // Iterate over array
    { "each": "%{items}", "as": "item", "steps": [
      { "tool": "js", "args": { "code": "console.log('%{item}')" } }
    ]},

    // Repeat until condition
    { "repeat": 20, "until": { "tool": "js", "args": { "code": "return done" } }, "steps": [...] }
  ]
}

Workflow Options

--file, -f <path>     # Load from JSON file
--dry-run             # Parse and validate without executing
--on-error stop|continue  # Error handling (default: stop)
--step-delay <ms>     # Delay between steps (default: 100, 0 to disable)
--no-auto-wait        # Disable automatic waits
--json                # Structured JSON output

Auto-waits: Commands automatically wait for completion:

• Navigation (go, back, forward) → waits for page load
• Clicks, key presses, form fills → waits for DOM stability
• Tab switches → waits for tab to load

Why use do? Instead of 6-8 separate CLI calls with LLM orchestration between each, a workflow executes deterministically. Faster, cheaper, and more reliable.

Error Diagnostics

# Auto-capture screenshot + console on failure
surf wait.element ".missing" --auto-capture --timeout 2000
# Saves to /tmp/surf-error-*.png

Common Options

--tab-id <id>         # Target specific tab
--window-id <id>      # Target specific window
--json                # Raw JSON output
--auto-capture        # Screenshot + console on error
--timeout <ms>        # Override default timeout

Tips

1. First CDP operation is slow (~5-8s) - debugger attachment overhead, subsequent calls fast
2. Use refs from page.read for reliable element targeting over CSS selectors
3. JS method for contenteditable - Modern editors (ChatGPT, Claude, Notion) need --method js
4. Named tabs for workflows - tab.name app then tab.switch app
5. Auto-capture for debugging - --auto-capture saves diagnostics on failure
6. AI tools use browser session - Must be logged into the service (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok, AI Studio), no API keys needed
7. Grok validation - Run surf grok --validate if queries fail to check UI changes
8. Long timeouts for reasoning-heavy models - ChatGPT o1 and Grok Expert can take 60+ seconds. AI Studio builds default to 600s.
9. AI Studio for unrestricted Gemini - surf aistudio gives less filtered responses than surf gemini for the same models
10. Use surf do for multi-step tasks - Reduces token overhead and improves reliability
11. Dry-run workflows first - surf do '...' --dry-run validates without executing
12. Window isolation - Use window.new + --window-id or --tab-id to keep agent work separate from your browsing
13. Request lock - Non-streaming browser CLI requests serialize per socket; use --no-lock only when you intentionally want to bypass it
14. Native host diagnostics - If commands fail with socket/native-host errors, run surf doctor or surf doctor --browser all before guessing at reinstall steps
15. Animation capture - Use surf record --duration 2000 --fps 10 --output /tmp/anim.gif when the agent needs to see motion; use animate-audit for numeric timelines and perf-audit for jank/layout-shift snapshots
16. Hard isolation - Use separate browser/profile instances plus separate SURF_SOCKET values when agents must not share a host or target
17. Semantic locators - locate.role, locate.text, locate.label for more robust element finding
18. Frame context - Use frame.switch before interacting with iframe content

Socket API

For programmatic access:

echo '{"type":"tool_request","method":"execute_tool","params":{"tool":"tab.list","args":{}},"id":"1"}' | nc -U /tmp/surf.sock