| name | browser-use-setup |
| description | Use when setting up, repairing, or running Browser Use for local browser automation experiments, especially safe scout runs, visual page inspection, login/auth recovery, field-label discovery, or hybrid Browser Use plus deterministic Playwright workflows. |
Browser Use Setup
Purpose
Use Browser Use as an inspection, scouting, and recovery layer for browser automation. Prefer deterministic Playwright or framework-specific scripts for stable form filling and file uploads. Browser Use is best when the page is unfamiliar, visually dynamic, blocked, or hard to inspect with selectors alone.
Safety
- Never click final
Submit, Submit Application, Apply, Send, purchase, delete, or equivalent destructive/committing actions unless the user explicitly approves that exact action.
- Do not fill demographic, EEO, veteran, disability, race, ethnicity, protected-status, legal certification, relocation, salary, sensitive identity, payment, or acknowledgement fields unless the user gives exact answers.
- Do not store API keys in skills, source files, screenshots, logs, reports, or tracker notes.
- Do not commit browser profiles, cookies, session storage, screenshots with private data, or run artifacts.
- Treat Browser Use scout reports as evidence for next steps, not as final application or submission status.
Setup
Use a project-local experiment directory such as:
cd <repo>/experiments/browser-use-job-application
Install with uv:
uv venv --python 3.12
uv pip install -e .
uvx browser-use install
For a minimal project, read references/project-template.md.
Setup Check
Run:
uv run python -c "import browser_use; print('browser-use ok')"
.venv/bin/browser-use --help
If either command fails, read references/troubleshooting.md.
Environment
Use exported environment variables or a local .env that is ignored by git.
Common keys:
export OPENAI_API_KEY="..."
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="..."
export GOOGLE_API_KEY="..."
Do not paste real key values into notes or shared files.
When To Use Browser Use
Prefer Browser Use for:
- visual inspection of unfamiliar pages,
- login/auth recovery,
- explaining why a page is blocked,
- finding field labels and page state,
- recovering from selector failures,
- producing a scouting report before writing deterministic automation.
Prefer Playwright for:
- known field filling,
- resume or file upload via file input,
- screenshots and HTML evidence,
- deterministic submit guards,
- database or tracker updates.
Safe Scout Pattern
Use a scout script or Browser Use task that inspects and reports without committing actions:
uv run python scout_application.py --url "https://example.com/application" --provider openai --model gpt-5 --headless
Useful variants:
uv run python scout_application.py --url "https://example.com/application" --provider openai --model gpt-5 --vision
uv run python scout_application.py --url "https://example.com/application" --provider anthropic --model claude-sonnet-4-5
Read the JSON or Markdown report before deciding whether to continue with Playwright, Browser Use, or a hybrid flow. For a generic scaffold, read references/scout-pattern.md.
Hybrid Pattern
Use Browser Use for visual discovery or auth recovery, then hand stable work to Playwright:
- Browser Use opens or inspects the page.
- The report records URL, visible state, field labels, blockers, and warnings.
- Playwright performs deterministic interactions for known safe fields.
- The workflow stops before final submit unless the user explicitly approves.
Read references/hybrid-playwright.md for the handoff checklist.
Completion Checklist
- Correct experiment directory used.
- Required model/API key exists in environment and is not committed.
- Browser Use import and CLI help verified when setup changed.
- Scout report or screenshots saved only to ignored run output.
- Browser Use used for inspection/recovery unless the user explicitly asks otherwise.
- Playwright used for stable filling where available.
- Sensitive fields and final submit were not handled without exact approval.
- No credentials, browser profiles, screenshots, or generated run artifacts were added to the public bundle.
