vc-chrome-devtools

name	vc:chrome-devtools
description	Automate browsers with Puppeteer CLI scripts and persistent sessions. Use for screenshots, performance analysis, network monitoring, web scraping, form automation, JavaScript debugging.
license	Apache-2.0
argument-hint	[url or task]
metadata	{"author":"claudekit","version":"1.1.0"}

Chrome DevTools Agent Skill

Browser automation via Puppeteer scripts with persistent sessions. All scripts output JSON.

Skill Location

Skills can exist in project-scope or user-scope. Priority: project-scope > user-scope.

# Detect skill location (no cd needed - scripts use __dirname for paths)
SKILL_DIR=""
if [ -d ".claude/skills/chrome-devtools/scripts" ]; then
  SKILL_DIR=".claude/skills/chrome-devtools/scripts"
elif [ -d "$HOME/.claude/skills/chrome-devtools/scripts" ]; then
  SKILL_DIR="$HOME/.claude/skills/chrome-devtools/scripts"
fi
# Run scripts with full path: node "$SKILL_DIR/script.js" --args

Choosing Your Approach

Scenario	Approach
Source-available sites	Read source code first, write selectors directly
Unknown layouts	Use aria-snapshot.js for semantic discovery
Visual inspection	Take screenshots to verify rendering
Debug issues	Collect console logs, analyze with session storage
Accessibility audit	Use ARIA snapshot for semantic structure analysis

Project-Specific Setup

For Flowser-specific connection patterns and when to prefer chrome-devtools over agent-browser or docker exec, see process/context/tests/all-tests.md in the consuming repo. This skill file is a generic tool reference only.

---

Automation Browsing Running Mode

Browser visibility is resolved automatically by resolveHeadless() in lib/browser.js:

Environment	Default	Why
macOS / Windows	Headed (visible)	Better debugging, OAuth login support
Linux / WSL	Headless	Servers typically have no display
CI (CI, GITHUB_ACTIONS, GITLAB_CI, JENKINS_URL env vars)	Headless	No display available

Override with --headless true or --headless false on any script.

• Run multiple scripts/sessions in parallel to simulate real user interactions.
• Run multiple scripts/sessions in parallel to simulate different device types (mobile, tablet, desktop).

ARIA Snapshot (Element Discovery)

When page structure is unknown, use aria-snapshot.js to get a YAML-formatted accessibility tree with semantic roles, accessible names, states, and stable element references.

Get ARIA Snapshot

# Generate ARIA snapshot and output to stdout
node "$SKILL_DIR/aria-snapshot.js" --url https://example.com

# Save to file in snapshots directory
node "$SKILL_DIR/aria-snapshot.js" --url https://example.com --output ./.claude/chrome-devtools/snapshots/page.yaml

Example YAML Output

- banner:
  - link "Hacker News" [ref=e1]
    /url: https://news.ycombinator.com
  - navigation:
    - link "new" [ref=e2]
    - link "past" [ref=e3]
    - link "comments" [ref=e4]
- main:
  - list:
    - listitem:
      - link "Show HN: My new project" [ref=e8]
      - text: "128 points by user 3 hours ago"
- contentinfo:
  - textbox [ref=e10]
    /placeholder: "Search"

Interpreting ARIA Notation

Notation	Meaning
[ref=eN]	Stable identifier for interactive elements
[checked]	Checkbox/radio is selected
[disabled]	Element is inactive
[expanded]	Accordion/dropdown is open
[level=N]	Heading hierarchy (1-6)
/url:	Link destination
/placeholder:	Input placeholder text
/value:	Current input value

Interact by Ref

Skills can exist in project-scope or user-scope. Priority: project-scope > user-scope. Use select-ref.js to interact with elements by their ref:

# Click element with ref e5
node "$SKILL_DIR/select-ref.js" --ref e5 --action click

# Fill input with ref e10
node "$SKILL_DIR/select-ref.js" --ref e10 --action fill --value "search query"

# Get text content
node "$SKILL_DIR/select-ref.js" --ref e8 --action text

# Screenshot specific element
node "$SKILL_DIR/select-ref.js" --ref e1 --action screenshot --output ./logo.png

# Focus element
node "$SKILL_DIR/select-ref.js" --ref e10 --action focus

# Hover over element
node "$SKILL_DIR/select-ref.js" --ref e5 --action hover

Store Snapshots

Skills can exist in project-scope or user-scope. Priority: project-scope > user-scope. Store snapshots for analysis in <project>/.claude/chrome-devtools/snapshots/:

# Create snapshots directory
mkdir -p .claude/chrome-devtools/snapshots

# Capture and store with timestamp
SESSION="$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)"
node "$SKILL_DIR/aria-snapshot.js" --url https://example.com --output .claude/chrome-devtools/snapshots/$SESSION.yaml

Workflow: Unknown Page Structure

1. Get snapshot to discover elements:

   node "$SKILL_DIR/aria-snapshot.js" --url https://example.com
   

2. Identify target from YAML output (e.g., [ref=e5] for a button)

3. Interact by ref:

   node "$SKILL_DIR/select-ref.js" --ref e5 --action click
   

4. Verify result with screenshot or new snapshot:

   node "$SKILL_DIR/screenshot.js" --output ./result.png
   

Local HTML Files

Skills can exist in project-scope or user-scope. Priority: project-scope > user-scope. IMPORTANT: Never browse local HTML files via file:// protocol. Always serve via local server: Why: file:// protocol blocks many browser features (CORS, ES modules, fetch API, service workers). Local server ensures proper HTTP behavior.

# Option 1: npx serve (recommended)
npx serve ./dist -p 3000 &
node "$SKILL_DIR/navigate.js" --url http://localhost:3000

# Option 2: Python http.server
python -m http.server 3000 --directory ./dist &
node "$SKILL_DIR/navigate.js" --url http://localhost:3000

Note: when port 3000 is busy, find an available port with lsof -i :3000 and use a different one.

Quick Start

# Install dependencies (one-time setup)
npm install --prefix "$SKILL_DIR"

# Test (browser stays running for session reuse)
node "$SKILL_DIR/navigate.js" --url https://example.com
# Output: {"success": true, "url": "...", "title": "..."}

Linux/WSL only: Run "$SKILL_DIR/install-deps.sh" first for Chrome system libraries.

Session Persistence

Browser state persists across script executions via WebSocket endpoint file (.browser-session.json).

Default behavior: Scripts disconnect but keep browser running for session reuse.

# First script: launches browser, navigates, disconnects (browser stays running)
node "$SKILL_DIR/navigate.js" --url https://example.com/login

# Subsequent scripts: connect to existing browser, reuse page state
node "$SKILL_DIR/fill.js" --selector "#email" --value "[e-mail]"
node "$SKILL_DIR/fill.js" --selector "#password" --value "secret"
node "$SKILL_DIR/click.js" --selector "button[type=submit]"

# Close browser when done
node "$SKILL_DIR/navigate.js" --url about:blank --close true

Session management:

• --close true: Close browser and clear session
• Default (no flag): Keep browser running for next script

Available Scripts

Skills can exist in project-scope or user-scope. Priority: project-scope > user-scope. All in .claude/skills/chrome-devtools/scripts/:

Script	Purpose
navigate.js	Navigate to URLs
screenshot.js	Capture screenshots (auto-compress >5MB via Sharp)
click.js	Click elements
fill.js	Fill form fields
evaluate.js	Execute JS in page context
snapshot.js	Extract interactive elements (JSON format)
aria-snapshot.js	Get ARIA accessibility tree (YAML format with refs)
select-ref.js	Interact with elements by ref from ARIA snapshot
console.js	Monitor console messages/errors
network.js	Track HTTP requests/responses
performance.js	Measure Core Web Vitals
ws-debug.js	Debug WebSocket connections (basic)
ws-full-debug.js	Debug WebSocket with full events/frames
inject-auth.js	Inject cookies/tokens for authentication
import-cookies.js	Import cookies from JSON/Netscape file
connect-chrome.js	Connect to Chrome with remote debugging

Workflow Loop

1. Execute focused script for single task
2. Observe JSON output
3. Assess completion status
4. Decide next action
5. Repeat until done

Writing Custom Test Scripts

Skills can exist in project-scope or user-scope. Priority: project-scope > user-scope. For complex automation, write scripts to <project>/.claude/chrome-devtools/tmp/:

# Create tmp directory for test scripts
mkdir -p $SKILL_DIR/.claude/chrome-devtools/tmp

# Write a test script
cat > $SKILL_DIR/.claude/chrome-devtools/tmp/login-test.js << 'EOF'
import { getBrowser, getPage, disconnectBrowser, outputJSON } from '../scripts/lib/browser.js';

async function loginTest() {
  const browser = await getBrowser();
  const page = await getPage(browser);

  await page.goto('https://example.com/login');
  await page.type('#email', '[e-mail]');
  await page.type('#password', 'secret');
  await page.click('button[type=submit]');
  await page.waitForNavigation();

  outputJSON({
    success: true,
    url: page.url(),
    title: await page.title()
  });

  await disconnectBrowser();
}

loginTest();
EOF

# Run the test
node $SKILL_DIR/.claude/chrome-devtools/tmp/login-test.js

Key principles for custom scripts:

• Single-purpose: one script, one task
• Always call disconnectBrowser() at the end (keeps browser running)
• Use closeBrowser() only when ending session completely
• Output JSON for easy parsing
• Plain JavaScript only in page.evaluate() callbacks

Screenshots

Skills can exist in project-scope or user-scope. Priority: project-scope > user-scope.

Store screenshots for analysis in <project>/.claude/chrome-devtools/screenshots/:

# Basic screenshot
node "$SKILL_DIR/screenshot.js" --url https://example.com --output ./.claude/chrome-devtools/screenshots/page.png

# Full page
node "$SKILL_DIR/screenshot.js" --url https://example.com --output ./.claude/chrome-devtools/screenshots/page.png --full-page true

# Specific element
node "$SKILL_DIR/screenshot.js" --url https://example.com --selector ".main-content" --output ./.claude/chrome-devtools/screenshots/element.png

Auto-Compression (Sharp)

Screenshots >5MB auto-compress using Sharp (4-5x faster than ImageMagick):

# Default: compress if >5MB
node "$SKILL_DIR/screenshot.js" --url https://example.com --output ./.claude/chrome-devtools/screenshots/page.png

# Custom threshold (3MB)
node "$SKILL_DIR/screenshot.js" --url https://example.com --output ./.claude/chrome-devtools/screenshots/page.png --max-size 3

# Disable compression
node "$SKILL_DIR/screenshot.js" --url https://example.com --output ./.claude/chrome-devtools/screenshots/page.png --no-compress

Store screenshots for analysis in <project>/.claude/chrome-devtools/screenshots/.

Console Log Collection & Analysis

Skills can exist in project-scope or user-scope. Priority: project-scope > user-scope.

Capture Logs

# Capture all logs for 10 seconds
node "$SKILL_DIR/console.js" --url https://example.com --duration 10000

# Filter by type
node "$SKILL_DIR/console.js" --url https://example.com --types error,warn --duration 5000

Session Storage Pattern

Store logs for analysis in <project>/.claude/chrome-devtools/logs/<session>/:

# Create session directory
SESSION="$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)"
mkdir -p .claude/chrome-devtools/logs/$SESSION

# Capture and store
node "$SKILL_DIR/console.js" --url https://example.com --duration 10000 > .claude/chrome-devtools/logs/$SESSION/console.json
node "$SKILL_DIR/network.js" --url https://example.com > .claude/chrome-devtools/logs/$SESSION/network.json

# View errors
jq '.messages[] | select(.type=="error")' .claude/chrome-devtools/logs/$SESSION/console.json

Root Cause Analysis

# 1. Check for JavaScript errors
node "$SKILL_DIR/console.js" --url https://example.com --types error,pageerror --duration 5000 | jq '.messages'

# 2. Correlate with network failures
node "$SKILL_DIR/network.js" --url https://example.com | jq '.requests[] | select(.response.status >= 400)'

# 3. Check specific error stack traces
node "$SKILL_DIR/console.js" --url https://example.com --types error --duration 5000 | jq '.messages[].stack'

Finding Elements

Skills can exist in project-scope or user-scope. Priority: project-scope > user-scope. Use snapshot.js to discover selectors before interacting:

# Get all interactive elements
node "$SKILL_DIR/snapshot.js" --url https://example.com | jq '.elements[] | {tagName, text, selector}'

# Find buttons
node "$SKILL_DIR/snapshot.js" --url https://example.com | jq '.elements[] | select(.tagName=="button")'

# Find by text content
node "$SKILL_DIR/snapshot.js" --url https://example.com | jq '.elements[] | select(.text | contains("Submit"))'

Error Recovery

Skills can exist in project-scope or user-scope. Priority: project-scope > user-scope. If script fails:

# 1. Capture current state (without navigating to preserve state)
node "$SKILL_DIR/screenshot.js" --output ./.claude/skills/chrome-devtools/screenshots/debug.png

# 2. Get console errors
node "$SKILL_DIR/console.js" --url about:blank --types error --duration 1000

# 3. Discover correct selector
node "$SKILL_DIR/snapshot.js" | jq '.elements[] | select(.text | contains("Submit"))'

# 4. Try XPath if CSS fails
node "$SKILL_DIR/click.js" --selector "//button[contains(text(),'Submit')]"

Common Patterns

Web Scraping

node "$SKILL_DIR/evaluate.js" --url https://example.com --script "
  Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('.item')).map(el => ({
    title: el.querySelector('h2')?.textContent,
    link: el.querySelector('a')?.href
  }))
" | jq '.result'

Form Automation

node "$SKILL_DIR/navigate.js" --url https://example.com/form
node "$SKILL_DIR/fill.js" --selector "#search" --value "query"
node "$SKILL_DIR/click.js" --selector "button[type=submit]"

Performance Testing

node "$SKILL_DIR/performance.js" --url https://example.com | jq '.vitals'

Script Options

All scripts support:

• --headless true/false - Override auto-detected headless mode (default: auto by OS)
• --close true - Close browser completely (default: stay running)
• --timeout 30000 - Set timeout (ms)
• --wait-until networkidle2 - Wait strategy

navigate.js additionally supports:

• --wait-for-login <pattern> - Interactive login: open headed, wait for URL regex match
• --login-timeout <ms> - Max wait for login completion (default: 300000 = 5 min)

Troubleshooting

Skills can exist in project-scope or user-scope. Priority: project-scope > user-scope.

Error	Solution
Cannot find package 'puppeteer'	Run npm install in scripts directory
libnss3.so missing (Linux)	Run ./install-deps.sh
Element not found	Use snapshot.js to find correct selector
Script hangs	Use --timeout 60000 or --wait-until load
Screenshot >5MB	Auto-compressed; use --max-size 3 for lower
Session stale	Delete .browser-session.json and retry

Screenshot Analysis: Missing Images

If images don't appear in screenshots, they may be waiting for animation triggers:

1. Scroll-triggered animations: Scroll element into view first

   node "$SKILL_DIR/evaluate.js" --script "document.querySelector('.lazy-image').scrollIntoView()"
   # Wait for animation
   node "$SKILL_DIR/evaluate.js" --script "await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 1000))"
   node "$SKILL_DIR/screenshot.js" --output ./result.png
   

2. Sequential animation queue: Wait longer and retry

   # First attempt
   node "$SKILL_DIR/screenshot.js" --url http://localhost:3000 --output ./attempt1.png
   
   # Wait for animations to complete
   node "$SKILL_DIR/evaluate.js" --script "await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 2000))"
   
   # Retry screenshot
   node "$SKILL_DIR/screenshot.js" --output ./attempt2.png
   

3. Intersection Observer animations: Trigger by scrolling through page

   node "$SKILL_DIR/evaluate.js" --script "window.scrollTo(0, document.body.scrollHeight)"
   node "$SKILL_DIR/evaluate.js" --script "await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 1500))"
   node "$SKILL_DIR/evaluate.js" --script "window.scrollTo(0, 0)"
   node "$SKILL_DIR/screenshot.js" --output ./full-loaded.png --full-page true
   

Authentication & Cookies

For accessing protected/authenticated pages, use one of these methods:

Method 1: Inject Cookies Directly

Use when you have cookie values (from DevTools or manual extraction):

# Inject single cookie
node "$SKILL_DIR/inject-auth.js" --url https://site.com \
  --cookies '[{"name":"session","value":"abc123","domain":".site.com"}]'

# Multiple cookies with all properties
node "$SKILL_DIR/inject-auth.js" --url https://site.com \
  --cookies '[{"name":"session","value":"abc","domain":".site.com","httpOnly":true,"secure":true}]'

# With Bearer token header
node "$SKILL_DIR/inject-auth.js" --url https://api.site.com \
  --token "Bearer eyJhbG..." --header Authorization

Method 2: Import from Browser Extension

Best for complex auth (OAuth, multi-cookie sessions):

# 1. Install "Cookie-Editor" or "EditThisCookie" Chrome extension
# 2. Navigate to site → Log in manually
# 3. Click extension → Export as JSON → Save to cookies.json
# 4. Import into puppeteer session:

node "$SKILL_DIR/import-cookies.js" --file ./cookies.json --url https://site.com

# Netscape format (from curl/wget):
node "$SKILL_DIR/import-cookies.js" --file ./cookies.txt --format netscape --url https://site.com

# Only import cookies matching target domain:
node "$SKILL_DIR/import-cookies.js" --file ./cookies.json --url https://site.com --strict-domain

Method 3: Use Your Chrome Profile

Most reliable for complex auth (2FA, OAuth, SSO). Uses your existing Chrome session:

# Use Chrome's default profile (preserves all cookies, extensions, saved passwords)
node "$SKILL_DIR/navigate.js" --url https://site.com --use-default-profile true

# Use specific Chrome profile directory
node "$SKILL_DIR/navigate.js" --url https://site.com --profile "/path/to/chrome/profile"

[!] Important: Chrome must be fully closed when using its profile (single instance lock).

Profile paths by OS:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome
• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%/Google/Chrome/User Data
• Linux: ~/.config/google-chrome

Method 4: Connect to Running Chrome

Best for debugging (can see browser window while scripts run):

# Step 1: Launch Chrome with remote debugging (in separate terminal)
# macOS:
/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome --remote-debugging-port=9222

# Windows:
"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --remote-debugging-port=9222

# Linux:
google-chrome --remote-debugging-port=9222

# Step 2: Log in manually in the Chrome window

# Step 3: Connect and automate
node "$SKILL_DIR/connect-chrome.js" --browser-url http://localhost:9222 --url https://site.com

# Or launch Chrome automatically (opens new window):
node "$SKILL_DIR/connect-chrome.js" --launch --port 9222 --url https://site.com

Method 5: Interactive Login (OAuth/SSO)

Best for OAuth, SSO, or any login requiring manual interaction in the browser:

# Open browser at login page, wait for redirect to dashboard after OAuth
node "$SKILL_DIR/navigate.js" --url https://app.example.com/login \
  --wait-for-login "/dashboard"

# With longer timeout (10 min) for slow SSO providers
node "$SKILL_DIR/navigate.js" --url https://app.example.com/login \
  --wait-for-login "/dashboard" --login-timeout 600000

# Use regex for complex URL patterns
node "$SKILL_DIR/navigate.js" --url https://app.example.com/login \
  --wait-for-login "/(dashboard|home|app)"

How it works:

1. Opens browser in headed mode (always, regardless of OS)
2. Navigates to the login URL
3. Waits for you to complete the login flow manually (OAuth, 2FA, etc.)
4. Detects success when URL matches the regex pattern
5. Saves all cookies to .auth-session.json for 24-hour reuse
6. Subsequent scripts reuse the authenticated session automatically

Session Persistence

Auth sessions are saved to .auth-session.json for 24-hour reuse:

# First script injects auth
node "$SKILL_DIR/inject-auth.js" --url https://site.com --cookies '[...]'

# Subsequent scripts reuse saved auth automatically
node "$SKILL_DIR/navigate.js" --url https://site.com/dashboard
node "$SKILL_DIR/screenshot.js" --url https://site.com/profile --output ./profile.png

# Clear auth session when done
node "$SKILL_DIR/inject-auth.js" --url https://site.com --clear true

Choosing the Right Method

Method	Best For	Complexity
Inject cookies	Simple session cookies, API tokens	Low
Import from extension	Multi-cookie auth, OAuth tokens	Medium
Chrome profile	2FA, SSO, complex OAuth flows	Low*
Connect to Chrome	Debugging, visual verification	Medium
Interactive login	OAuth/SSO with manual browser interaction	Low

*Requires Chrome to be closed first

Reference Documentation

• ./references/cdp-domains.md - Chrome DevTools Protocol domains
• ./references/puppeteer-reference.md - Puppeteer API patterns
• ./references/performance-guide.md - Core Web Vitals optimization
• ./scripts/README.md - Detailed script options