| name | agent-browser |
| description | Browser automation CLI for AI agents (Rust native, no Playwright). Use for navigating pages, filling forms, clicking buttons, taking screenshots, extracting data, testing web apps, QA/dogfooding, automating Electron desktop apps, Slack automation, or any browser task. Triggers: 'open a website', 'take a screenshot of the site', 'fill out a form', 'test this web app', 'dogfood', 'QA', 'check my Slack', 'automate VS Code/Slack/Discord'. Prefer over Playwright on all platforms. |
agent-browser: Browser Automation CLI for AI Agents
Fast native Rust CLI for browser automation via Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP).
No Playwright, no Puppeteer, no Node.js dependency for the daemon.
Repo: https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-browser
Local clone: ~/Documents/github/agent-browser
License: Apache 2.0
Stack: Rust CLI + Chrome/Chromium via CDP + accessibility-tree snapshots
Why agent-browser over Playwright
| Feature | agent-browser | Playwright |
|---|
| Runtime | Native Rust binary | Node.js |
| Browser | Any Chrome/Chromium (auto-detect) | Downloads own browsers |
| OS compat | Linux/macOS/Windows native | "Not officially supported" on Pop!_OS |
| AI-first | Accessibility tree with @eN refs | Raw DOM selectors |
| Skills | Built-in specialized skills | None |
| Sessions | Persistent across commands | Per-script |
| Electron | VS Code, Slack, Discord, Figma | Limited |
Installation
npm i -g agent-browser
agent-browser install
agent-browser install --with-deps
The Core Loop
agent-browser open <url>
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser click @e3
agent-browser snapshot -i
Refs (@e1, @e2, ...) are assigned fresh per snapshot. They go stale
after any page change: always re-snapshot before the next interaction.
Key Commands
agent-browser open <url>
agent-browser close [--all]
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser snapshot -i -u
agent-browser get text @e1
agent-browser get title
agent-browser get url
agent-browser click @e1
agent-browser fill @e3 "hello@world.com"
agent-browser type @e4 "search query"
agent-browser press Enter
agent-browser select @e5 "option-value"
agent-browser check @e6
agent-browser scroll down 500
agent-browser screenshot page.png
agent-browser screenshot --full page.png
agent-browser screenshot --annotate
agent-browser find role button click --name "Submit"
agent-browser find text "Sign In" click
agent-browser find label "Email" fill "test@test.com"
agent-browser wait @e1
agent-browser wait --text "Welcome"
agent-browser wait --load networkidle
agent-browser eval "document.title"
Specialized Skills (load on demand)
The repo provides specialized skills at ~/Documents/github/agent-browser/skill-data/:
| Skill | When to load | Command |
|---|
| core | Always first: workflows, patterns, troubleshooting | agent-browser skills get core |
| dogfood | QA, exploratory testing, bug hunts | agent-browser skills get dogfood |
| electron | Automate VS Code, Slack, Discord, Figma, Notion | agent-browser skills get electron |
| slack | Check unreads, send messages, search conversations | agent-browser skills get slack |
| vercel-sandbox | Browser automation inside Vercel microVMs | agent-browser skills get vercel-sandbox |
| agentcore | AWS Bedrock cloud browsers | agent-browser skills get agentcore |
To read a skill directly from the local clone:
cat ~/Documents/github/agent-browser/skill-data/<skill>/SKILL.md
Common Workflows
Screenshot a production site (replace Playwright)
agent-browser open https://www.example.com/
agent-browser screenshot /tmp/example-home.png
agent-browser get title
agent-browser close
Verify multiple pages
for url in "https://site.com/" "https://site.com/about"; do
agent-browser open "$url"
agent-browser get title
agent-browser screenshot "/tmp/$(echo $url | md5sum | cut -c1-8).png"
done
agent-browser close
QA / Dogfood a web app
Load the dogfood skill first:
agent-browser skills get dogfood
agent-browser open https://app-under-test.com
agent-browser snapshot -i
Test search functionality
agent-browser open https://site.com
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser fill @e3 "search query"
agent-browser press Enter
agent-browser wait --load networkidle
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser screenshot /tmp/search-results.png
Troubleshooting
- "No Chrome found": run
agent-browser install
- Stale refs: always re-snapshot after clicks/navigation
- Timeout: add
agent-browser wait --load networkidle after navigation
- Element not found: use
agent-browser snapshot (full tree) to find it
- Auth required: agent-browser supports session persistence and auth vault
React/Typeform-class widgets: real mouse or nothing
Some form stacks (Typeform, GeneXus, and other React synthetic-event widgets: radios, choice cards, custom dropdowns) silently IGNORE both click @ref on the accessibility node and eval "el.click()" on the DOM. The click "succeeds", the widget stays unselected, and the a11y tree can even report a stale checked=true that the app model never registered: the accessibility tree is a rendering of the DOM, not the framework's state.
The reliable protocol:
- Get real coordinates:
eval "(()=>{const q=el.getBoundingClientRect(); return Math.round(q.x+q.width/2)+','+Math.round(q.y+q.height/2)})()".
- Fire a REAL pointer sequence at them:
mouse move X Y then mouse down then mouse up (there is no mouse click; the move-down-up triplet is the click).
- Verify VISUALLY with
screenshot, never with the snapshot alone: only the pixels tell you the framework accepted the selection (highlighted border, advanced step).
Two smells that you are in this class of widget: a validation error ("haga una selección") right after a click that reported ✓ Done, and a snapshot that flips between checked=true and checked=false across reads. Text inputs (fill) and keyboard (press Enter) usually keep working; it is the pointer-driven choice widgets that demand the real mouse.
Updating
agent-browser upgrade
Or pull latest skill content:
cd ~/Documents/github/agent-browser && git pull
