| name | explorbot-fundamentals |
| description | Use whenever the user runs, configures, or debugs Explorbot from the command line — choosing freesail/explore/test/plan/research, asking what a flag does, asking where an artifact lives, or troubleshooting a failed run. Guide-only — you present the commands/paths and the user runs them. |
| license | MIT |
| metadata | {"author":"Testomat.io","version":"0.1.0"} |
Explorbot Fundamentals
Explorbot is an autonomous AI web-testing CLI. It drives its own browser (CodeceptJS → Playwright) and works in cycles of research → plan → test.
The installed CLI and the installed package's docs/ tree are the source of truth — do not paraphrase them from memory. Discover commands and read docs at the moment of use.
Where the docs actually live
Docs ship inside the npm package. After npm i explorbot, they're at:
<project root>/node_modules/explorbot/docs/
That's the only place to read them from in a typical user project. Do not look in the skill's own folder, do not look in a project-level docs/ (that belongs to the user's app), do not fetch from the web. If node_modules/explorbot/docs/ doesn't exist, Explorbot isn't installed → route the user to explorbot-setup.
(For an Explorbot contributor working in the explorbot repo itself, docs are at <repo root>/docs/. Detect this by checking for package.json with "name": "explorbot" at the project root. Everyone else: node_modules/explorbot/docs/.)
Rule 1 — Discover commands via the CLI
Always run the CLI's own help before answering a "how do I…" or "what flag…" question:
npx explorbot --help
npx explorbot <command> --help
These outputs match the installed version. Any hardcoded list (in skills, blog posts, or your own memory) can be stale.
Rule 2 — Read docs on demand, do not summarize ahead
Pick the file that matches the topic when the question comes up — do not pre-load summaries. All paths below are relative to node_modules/explorbot/docs/ (or the repo's docs/ for contributors).
| Topic the user is asking about | Open |
|---|
| Is this app even suitable for explorbot? | prerequisites.md |
| Full list of CLI + TUI commands and flags | commands.md |
Config file shape, dirs:, rules wiring | configuration.md |
| AI providers (OpenRouter / OpenAI / Anthropic / Groq / Cerebras / Azure) | providers.md |
| Knowledge files (URL patterns, frontmatter, interpolation) | knowledge.md |
| Planner, planning styles, plan markdown format | planner.md, test-plans.md |
| Researcher (page analysis) | researcher.md |
| Page interaction model (locators, ARIA, iframes) | page-interaction.md |
| Re-running generated tests with healing | rerun.md |
| Generated test code (Playwright / CodeceptJS) | automated-tests.md |
| Hooks | hooks.md |
| Reporting (HTML/MD/Testomat.io) | reporting.md |
| Tracing / Langfuse / observability | observability.md |
| Library / programmatic use | scripting.md, npm-package.md |
| API testing | api-testing.md |
| Doc collector | doc-collector.md |
If the topic isn't in this table, ls node_modules/explorbot/docs/ and pick the matching file by name.
Rule 3 — CLI only; never drive the TUI
An agent can run only the non-interactive CLI (explorbot explore, explorbot test, explorbot plan, explorbot research, explorbot navigate, etc.). These run headless and exit.
explorbot start launches an interactive terminal UI (TUI). An agent cannot operate a TUI — never try to launch or drive it. If the user wants interactive mode, tell them to run explorbot start [path] themselves.
Order of operations for every question
- Verify
node_modules/explorbot/ exists. If not → route to explorbot-setup.
- Identify whether the user is asking about a command/flag (→ run
npx explorbot … --help) or a concept/config/feature (→ open the matching file in node_modules/explorbot/docs/).
- Read the relevant source.
- Answer using what you just read, and cite it (
node_modules/explorbot/docs/knowledge.md, npx explorbot explore --help).
Related skills
- [[explorbot-setup]] — install + config + verify reachability of one page (curl → navigate → credentials). Use this when
node_modules/explorbot/ is missing.
- [[explorbot-plan]] — write a test plan markdown by hand without exploring a live page.
- [[explorbot-debug]] — diagnose a failed session from
output/explorbot.log + Langfuse traces.
- [[explorbot-fix-session]] — once a session is diagnosed, propose a single minimal fix.
Anti-patterns
- ❌ Pasting big config snippets without opening
node_modules/explorbot/docs/configuration.md first.
- ❌ Inventing a command that "should exist" — if
--help doesn't show it, it doesn't exist.
- ❌ Telling the user to use explorbot for a landing page / blog / CMS —
node_modules/explorbot/docs/prerequisites.md says it's for CRUD-heavy apps.
