interceptor

name	Interceptor
description	Real Chrome/Brave + macOS Computer Use from inside the browser — zero CDP fingerprint, real sessions, six verb trees (References/CommandReference.md; more triggers in routing table). Mandatory for visual deploy verification. Drive clickwork yourself, never narrate it. USE WHEN verify deploy, confirm UI, screenshot verification, computer use, macos automation, debug web, troubleshoot, visual check, console logs/errors, runtime/JS/react errors, mismatch warning, network traffic/log, HAR/pcapng export, hydration/blank-page debug, flash then blank/page broken, why is this not working/what's happening on the page, authenticated page, bot detection bypass, agent-browser failing, reproduce bug, drive native app, about to ask the operator to click/navigate/fill a form/log in/approve OAuth, OAuth consent flow, authorize an app, complete a web login, walk through a web UI, do this in your browser. NOT FOR batch headless automation (Browser), residential-proxy crawling (BrightData), or social actor scraping (Apify).
version	4.3.0
effort	medium

Customization

Before executing, check for user customizations at: ~/.claude/LIFEOS/USER/CUSTOMIZATIONS/SKILLS/Interceptor/

If this directory exists, load and apply any PREFERENCES.md, configurations, or resources found there. These override default behavior. If the directory does not exist, proceed with skill defaults.

MANDATORY: Voice Notification (REQUIRED BEFORE ANY ACTION)

You MUST send this notification BEFORE doing anything else when this skill is invoked.

1. Send voice notification:

   curl -s -X POST http://localhost:31337/notify \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"message": "Running the WORKFLOWNAME workflow in the Interceptor skill to ACTION"}' \
     > /dev/null 2>&1 &
   

2. Output text notification:

   Running the **WorkflowName** workflow in the **Interceptor** skill to ACTION...
   

This is not optional. Execute this curl command immediately upon skill invocation.

Interceptor — Real-Browser Automation + macOS Computer Use

First rule, above everything else: if you catch yourself about to ask the operator to do something in a browser — open a URL, click, fill a form, log in, paste a value, approve an OAuth/consent page — that urge IS the trigger to use Interceptor. Drive it yourself. The only exception is a step that needs a secret you genuinely don't hold (an unknown password, a hardware 2FA tap); even then, drive the flow up to that exact point, then surface only the one human-only action. Narrating clickwork a human has to perform is the precise failure this skill exists to prevent.

What It Does

Interceptor drives the real Chrome/Brave browser from inside it, and drives native macOS apps when the bridge is installed. Six capability classes, each its own verb tree: visual capture, DOM read, JS eval, network capture, input, and record/replay. It stays logged into your real sessions, passes every major bot-detection check, and is the mandatory tool for visual deploy verification.

The Problem

Headless browser tools speak CDP, which sites can fingerprint and block — so the automated browser sees a different page than a logged-in human does, or gets blocked outright. They also run as a separate browser instance with no auth, so they can't reach anything you're signed into. And when a page breaks — a blank screen after mount, a hydration mismatch, cards that flash and vanish — a screenshot tells you nothing about why. Interceptor solves all three: it operates through the actual browser UI (zero CDP fingerprint), uses your real signed-in sessions, and reads the live DOM, console errors, and network traffic to explain failures a screenshot can't.

How It Works

Interceptor is a Chrome extension that operates through the actual browser UI plus an optional macOS bridge that extends the same control surface to native apps, OS-level input, and on-device VMs.

Tool: interceptor CLI — Chrome/Brave extension that controls the real browser from inside, plus a macOS bridge that drives native apps, OS-level input, and full VM lifecycle. Repo: https://github.com/Hacker-Valley-Media/Interceptor Install: ~/Projects/interceptor (built from source — see Workflows/Update.md) Chrome "Load unpacked" target: ~/.claude/skills/Interceptor/Extension/ — a pinned copy (not a symlink) of upstream extension/dist, captured by Tools/Pin.sh; provenance recorded in Extension/PINNED_FROM.txt (source path, manifest version, content SHA256, timestamp). Chrome disables unpacked extensions on every manifest bump, so after any binary upgrade the copy must be re-pinned and reloaded. It does NOT auto-follow upstream. Pinned binary: 0.22.2 — interceptor --version reports 0.22.2 (580a7de, 2026-07-04). Upstream is now a three-surface control plane: Browser + macOS + iOS (drive an owned, Developer-Mode iPhone via an on-device XCUITest runner over WiFi — interceptor ios *).

Capabilities Overview — Six Verb Trees

Each row is an independent capability class. Each one uses a different WebSocket message type at the daemon→extension boundary, so a wedge on one rarely affects the others. When debugging a broken page, every row is a separate diagnostic path — never bail on Interceptor because screenshot hangs without trying eval, net log, or monitor first.

Verb tree	Top-level verbs	What you get
VISUAL	screenshot (DOM-render default — works backgrounded), screenshot --region, screenshot --pixel --full (window must be visible)	PNG/WebP at any size, selector, region, or scroll-and-stitch full page. Route through Tools/Capture.sh, never raw interceptor screenshot.
DOM READ	read [--markdown], tree, text, html <ref>, find	Accessibility tree, structured markdown, raw markup, refs
JS EVAL	eval <code>, eval --main	Run JavaScript in isolated or main world — the way you read console errors, runtime exceptions, hydration warnings, and DOM state at runtime
NETWORK	net log, net headers, net export --format har|pcapng|json, override, headers add/remove	Passive request capture with zero CDP fingerprint; HAR 1.2 + pcapng for Wireshark
INPUT	click, type, keys, act <ref> [--trusted], drag, scroll, select, focus	Browser + native macOS input; --trusted for OS-level HID source state
RECORD/REPLAY	monitor start/stop, monitor export --plan, monitor export --format har	Real user-flow capture as deterministic replay scripts; multi-session, browser + macOS AX events

Reading console errors is a recipe, not a separate verb: inject a console.error / window.error listener via eval --main, store events on window.__errs, then eval again to read them back. Useful for hydration mismatches, React error boundaries, JS exceptions on load, and any silent runtime failure. Triggering a reload between install and read loses the captured errors — capture happens after load, so reproduce-by-reload doesn't help; instead capture forward from the next user action, or poll getEventListeners(window) / DOM mutation observers for evidence of failure.

Why this matters in practice. Hydration failures on Astro pages, blank-page after React mount, "cards flash and disappear" — all of these surface through eval reading the live DOM state and console captures, not through screenshots. A screenshot wedge does not block diagnosis; the page is still inspectable through every other verb tree.

New surfaces & verbs (0.17 → 0.22.2)

The six browser verb trees above are still the core. What the jump from 0.16.9 added:

• iOS (interceptor ios *) — drive an owned, unlocked, Developer-Mode iPhone over WiFi via an on-device XCUITest runner (not WebDriverAgent). Verbs: tree, find, click, type, scroll, screenshot, app launch|activate|terminate. Setup is Xcode self-service or a no-Xcode login that re-signs the runner with your Apple ID.
• interceptor diagnose — one post-failure snapshot: daemon (with its real exec path), every connected context probed in parallel, monitor state. Catches the daemon split-brain — Chrome spawns one daemon binary while the CLI talks to another, previously a silent 15s timeout. Run it first when anything acts wedged.
• interceptor manifest — machine-readable specs for 50+ verbs (usage, flags, returns semantics). Discover the contract without scraping help text.
• Per-agent tab groups (--group <label> / INTERCEPTOR_GROUP) — pen each agent into its own colored, hard-isolated tab group so several agents share one browser with no cross-bleed. interceptor group list|close <label>. A second isolation layer alongside --context.
• interceptor save — pull raw bytes (Blob / ArrayBuffer / blob:) straight off a live page to disk without a downloads folder; returns a sha256.
• interceptor ocr / canvas ocr — offline Tesseract pixel OCR, bundled into the extension (no bridge, no macOS needed).
• interceptor macos cdp * — drive the web contents of Electron / Chromium desktop apps (Slack, VS Code, Notion, Descript) the same way as a browser tab.

CLI contract (0.22.1): arguments are now order-independent (open --text-only <url> parses correctly), and browser-only installs hide the macOS/iOS verbs (--all-surfaces / INTERCEPTOR_ALL_SURFACES overrides). Bare interceptor / --help print a concise capability card; use help <cmd> or interceptor manifest for the full contract.

Why Interceptor?

agent-browser (the Browser skill) uses CDP — sites can detect it. Interceptor is a Chrome extension that operates through the actual browser UI. No debugger, no automation flags, no separate browser instance. You stay logged in, you pass bot detection, the agent sees what you see. The optional macOS bridge extends the same control surface to native applications, OS-level input, and on-device VMs — that combination is what "Computer Use" means in this skill.

Hard Prohibitions — Operative on Every Invocation

Visual verification goes through Interceptor only. The following are FORBIDDEN with zero exceptions:

• screencapture — the raw macOS screenshot binary. Not as a primary tool, not as a fallback when Interceptor wedges, not "just for one screenshot." Forbidden.
• osascript for Chrome control — no tell application "Google Chrome" to activate, no set frontmost of process, no set bounds of window, no set active tab index, no set index of window, no other window-state mutation. Forbidden.
• osascript System Events keystrokes — no key code, no keystroke, no key down. These send input to whatever is focused, which steals from the operator. Forbidden.
• Any focus pull in service of automation — bringing Chrome (or any app) to the front so a screenshot will land is forbidden. The bridge's CGS / DOM-render paths capture without focus change.
• Any window-state mutation — moving, resizing, repositioning, or reordering Chrome windows is forbidden. The operator owns their window arrangement; the agent never touches it.
• AppleScript-driven tab switching — set active tab index of window N is doubly forbidden: it both pulls focus and changes which tab the operator is looking at.

These rules survive Interceptor failures. A wedged Interceptor is NOT a license to use raw OS tools. When Interceptor cannot deliver evidence, the recovery is to fix Interceptor (see WebSocket-wedge gotcha below) or to STOP and tell the operator the verification cannot be captured this run — never to fall back.

Bridge-routed Computer Use is separate. interceptor macos open <app>, interceptor macos act <ref>, interceptor act <ref> --trusted (formerly --os) and other bridge-routed actions go through the sanctioned bridge surface and are allowed when a workflow explicitly requires native app control. The prohibition above is on (a) raw OS-level paths that bypass Interceptor entirely AND (b) focus-pulling purely in service of a screenshot.

Preflight Isolation Gate (MANDATORY)

Every browser workflow's first step. No exceptions.

Before any interceptor open|read|act|inspect|screenshot|navigate|tab|monitor|net|cookies|scroll|click|type lands in Chrome, the workflow runs:

bash ~/.claude/skills/Interceptor/Tools/PreflightIsolation.sh

The script asserts these invariants:

1. Binary version >= 0.16.0 — older builds silently ignore --context and fall back to whichever Chrome connection the daemon can find. That fallback is how a tab lands in the operator's Default window.
2. The pinned test context is connected — matched whole-field against the UUID column (not a substring grep, so a header or partial collision can't false-pass). Without it, the operator's Default profile is the only available target.
3. Target is not Default. The context the next command will hit is resolved and checked against Default and the INTERCEPTOR_WORKING_PROFILE_IDS deny-list before any tab is touched. A Default/working-profile match is a hard stop (exit 7).
4. Extension freshness (graceful). Extension/PINNED_FROM.txt (manifest version + content SHA256) is compared against the upstream ~/Projects/interceptor/extension/dist if present. Mismatch → fail with re-pin remediation. Upstream absent (currently true) → WARN and continue. This does NOT key off status --verbose (that command exposes no extension-build field).

If any check fails, the script exits non-zero with a structured remediation message to stderr. The workflow MUST STOP on a non-zero exit. Surface the message. Do not fall back to operating against the Default profile, ever. Do not "try anyway." Do not use screencapture or osascript as a substitute.

Exit codes (for handlers that need to discriminate):

• 2 — interceptor binary not on PATH
• 3 — version string unparseable
• 4 — version below minimum (upgrade via Workflows/Update.md)
• 5 — no browser contexts connected (Chrome closed or extension dead)
• 6 — pinned test context missing (one-time profile setup needed)
• 7 — resolved target is Default or a working profile (hard stop)

The gate is doctrine. It runs unconditionally — for read-only public-page fetches, for authenticated tooling verification, for screenshot capture, for everything. There is no "safe to skip" case, because every silent fallback to Default is a violation of the operator's window.

Isolation Doctrine (CRITICAL — hard rule, enforced in code)

Every browser command runs against the pinned, isolated Interceptor test context — ALWAYS that context, NEVER the operator's Default profile, NEVER their working/monitoring profiles. This is a constitutional rule, not a preference.

• The target context is INTERCEPTOR_TEST_CONTEXT_ID from preferences.env. The pinned value on this machine is the raw UUID f439ca4c-e7f4-4940-a32b-ea54592844ab. Durable fix: replace the raw UUID with the friendly name interceptor-test set in the extension popup — friendly names survive reloads; raw UUIDs rot on every extension reload (see UUID-rot below).
• The isolation boundary is Chrome PROFILE, not user-data-dir. The test profile lives inside the same Chrome installation as the operator's Default profile but with separate cookies, tabs, and window. It IS signed into the operator's accounts (Google, GitHub, Cloudflare, blog admin, ULAdmin) — that's the whole point. A --user-data-dir sandbox would be useless because it has zero auth and can't reach any of the operator's signed-in tooling.
• The operator's Default profile is read-only by default. Never open a tab, click, type, navigate, or record in Default unless the operator explicitly says so ("verify in my Default profile", "use the main window"). When they do, route via --context <default-id> after interceptor contexts confirms the connection.
• One-time setup lives in Workflows/LaunchTestProfile.md — operator clicks Chrome's avatar menu → Add profile → signs in → loads the Interceptor extension → names the context in the popup.

RETIRED behavior — never re-derive it. The old "fall back to the first available / Default context when the pinned context isn't found" rule is DELETED. A missing or stale pinned context is a hard stop with remediation, never a fallback. There is no code path that auto-routes to Default.

Why bare commands are unsafe. With 2+ contexts connected the daemon hard-errors multiple extensions connected, use --context <id> — that fail-fast is the only thing protecting bare commands today. The moment the operator closes their other browser window (1 context left), a bare command silently auto-routes to whatever single context remains. So --context "$INTERCEPTOR_TEST_CONTEXT_ID" (or routing through Tools/Capture.sh) is mandatory on every browser verb, not optional.

UUID rot — durable fix. Context IDs are profile-stable chrome.storage.local UUIDs that change ONLY on extension reinstall/reload (not on Chrome restart). The durable fix is to set the friendly name interceptor-test in the extension popup once and pin that name. Until then, Tools/Capture.sh performs a guarded auto-rebind — only when exactly one non-Default test context is connected AND Default is provably excluded. A stale pin NEVER falls through to Default.

Why this is doctrine, not preference. The operator's Default profile holds the tabs they're actively working in and the tabs their DA has been driving. The cost of one extra flag on every command is zero. The cost of one stray test tab in their working window — a click, an unexpected redirect — is permanent and disruptive.

NEVER auto-run LaunchTestProfile.sh on preflight failure. When PreflightIsolation.sh exits non-zero with context-not-connected or context-name-mismatch, surface the error and stop. The INTERCEPTOR_TEST_CHROME_PROFILE value in preferences.env is a literal --profile-directory argument; if it is stale, auto-launching it would open the wrong Chrome profile — potentially the operator's monitoring profile with live windows. The only safe path is operator-confirmed launch. For context-name-mismatch, the fix is editing preferences.env, not launching anything new.

Install Modes (0.16.x)

Two install modes, same CLI binary. Confirm with interceptor status and read the mode: line:

Mode	What's installed	What unlocks
mode: full (default for this skill)	CLI + daemon + extension + Swift bridge .app + LaunchAgent	Browser automation plus Computer Use: AX tree, OS-level trusted input, ScreenCaptureKit, Vision OCR, Speech, NLP, Apple Events, OSLogStore, file watching, container runtime, VM lifecycle
mode: browser-only	CLI + daemon + extension	Browser automation only. interceptor macos * returns a structured setup_required error in under 1s. No TCC prompts.

Promote a browser-only install with interceptor upgrade --full. Downgrade with bash scripts/uninstall.sh --bridge-only.

Install channels (pkg installers landed v0.11+):

• Interceptor-Browser-<v>.pkg → mode: browser-only
• Interceptor-Full-<v>.pkg → mode: full
• bash scripts/install.sh --browser-only|--full → dev path
• Linux browser-only supported (Microsoft Edge + Vivaldi also recognized as of v0.13.4)

Operating rule: if the user asks for native and status reports mode: browser-only, respond "I'm on a browser-only install. Run interceptor upgrade --full to enable that." Don't run the macos command anyway to see what happens — the preflight short-circuits, but it wastes turns.

Prerequisites

• Chrome or Brave (or Edge/Vivaldi on supported platforms) running with the Interceptor extension loaded — load it once via chrome://extensions/ → Developer Mode → "Load unpacked" → ~/.claude/skills/Interceptor/Extension/
• interceptor CLI in PATH (/opt/homebrew/bin/interceptor)
• interceptor-daemon in PATH (/opt/homebrew/bin/interceptor-daemon)
• Native messaging manifest registered (bash ~/Projects/interceptor/scripts/install.sh --chrome --skip-extension)
• macOS bridge as a LaunchAgent (full mode only) — see Workflows/Update.md
• Sparkle.framework at /usr/local/Frameworks/Sparkle.framework (full mode, v0.10.0+) — bridge depends on it for auto-update

Quick health check:

interceptor --version          # → "interceptor 0.22.2 (580a7de, 2026-07-04)"
interceptor status             # → daemon: running, bridge: running, mode: full|browser-only
interceptor status --verbose   # → adds extension reachability (NO extension-build field; with 2+ contexts it nags "multiple extensions connected" even with --context)
interceptor contexts           # → list of connected browser contexts (multi-profile)
interceptor init               # → one-time write of ~/.config/interceptor/config.toml

Background-First Contract (0.16.x)

The whole product is background-first. Routine work never moves the user's focus.

Surface	Verbs that move focus	Everything else
Browser	open --activate, tab new --activate, tab switch <id>, window focus <id>	Stays on whatever the operator was looking at — click, type, read, inspect, screenshot, net, cookies, scroll, act. New tabs land in the background by default.
macOS	app activate <app>, open <app> --activate	Stays on whatever was frontmost — open (no --activate), all input verbs, AX reads, capture, menu, intent dispatch, vision, overlays.

If you call any verb not listed in the "moves focus" column and the frontmost changes, that's a bug.

Reuse path: open --reuse navigates the existing managed tab without leaving dead tabs behind. Preserves the reused tab's focus state — pair with --activate only when the user explicitly says to bring it forward.

Multi-Context Routing (0.16.x)

When multiple browser profiles are connected (e.g., personal Chrome + isolated test profile + work Brave), commands need to know which one to drive.

interceptor contexts                                          # List connected context IDs
interceptor open <url> --context "$INTERCEPTOR_TEST_CONTEXT_ID"  # Route to the isolated test profile (DEFAULT)
interceptor open <url> --context <main-id>                    # Route to the operator's personal Chrome (only when explicitly requested)

Without --context, browser commands auto-route only when exactly one context is connected — and with one context left that means a bare command silently hits whatever remains. Zero or 2+ contexts fail fast with a structured error. Always pass --context "$INTERCEPTOR_TEST_CONTEXT_ID" (or route through Tools/Capture.sh); never rely on auto-route.

Context IDs are set via the Interceptor extension popup (click the toolbar icon → Context ID field → Save). One-time setup; the daemon remembers across restarts. Set the friendly name interceptor-test here to end UUID rot.

Standing default: --context "$INTERCEPTOR_TEST_CONTEXT_ID". See Workflows/LaunchTestProfile.md for one-time setup.

Computer Use — macOS Native Helper

The bridge is a Swift LaunchAgent that runs as the user and exposes capabilities the Chrome extension cannot provide on its own:

• OS-level trusted input (interceptor act <ref> --trusted, macos type --trusted, macos keys --trusted — bypasses isTrusted checks via HID source state)
• Native macOS app control (interceptor macos open/read/act/inspect — same surface as the browser, against any running app)
• Accessibility tree of any running app for inspection without screenshots
• Screen capture beyond Chrome (full-screen, off-tab, multi-display, occluded windows)
• VM lifecycle (interceptor macos vm create/clone/start/exec/snapshot/restore/stop/delete — Linux + macOS guests, replaces Lume/Tart/UTM)
• Clipboard r/w, audio listen + speech recognition, system notifications, Vision OCR, NLP, Apple Intelligence, HealthKit, display info
• Apple Events dispatch to named bundle IDs without activation
• OSLogStore predicate queries, filesystem search/watching, URL fetch
• Monitor (cross-app workflow recording with optional clipboard/files/network/log/notifications/speech channels and --frames screenshot capture)

Status check: interceptor status reports bridge: running with PID + socket when it's up, or bridge: not running with a hint when it isn't.

Lifecycle (install / verify / troubleshoot / uninstall) lives in Workflows/Update.md. The Update workflow handles binary placement, Sparkle framework install, LaunchAgent plist, launchctl bootstrap, and TCC prompts in the right order.

Security model — read before installing:

• Transport is a UNIX domain socket at /tmp/interceptor-bridge.sock. Local-only; no network listener.
• No authentication on the socket. Any local process running as your user can connect and execute every bridge action. macOS TCC permissions (Accessibility, Screen Recording, Microphone — the trust probe keys are accessibility / screenRecording / microphone, no inputMonitoring field) are granted to the bridge once and inherited by every socket client.
• Marginal risk is supply-chain: a malicious local package gains a one-step path to OS-level input/screen/clipboard without needing its own permission grants.
• Single-user Mac threat model: acceptable, since anything running as you can already do this with effort. Multi-user Macs need socket hardening.

---

Compound Commands (Preferred)

These collapse multi-step patterns into single invocations — fewer tool calls, fewer tokens:

interceptor open <url>                              # Open + wait + return tree + text
interceptor open <url> --reuse                      # Navigate existing managed tab
interceptor open <url> --activate                   # Bring new/reused tab to front (explicit opt-in)
interceptor open <url> --tree-only|--text-only|--full|--no-wait|--include-frames
interceptor read                                    # Tree + text for active tab
interceptor read <ref>                              # Subtree
interceptor read --markdown                         # Render page as markdown (preserves headings/tables/emphasis)
interceptor read --markdown --text-only             # Markdown prose only, no tree
interceptor read --tree-only --tree-format compact  # Actionable refs only
interceptor read --include-style|--include-frames
interceptor act <ref>                               # Click + wait + return updated tree + diff
interceptor act <ref> "value"                       # Type + wait + return updated tree
interceptor act <ref> --trusted                     # OS-level HID-sourced input (was --os; --os is deprecated alias)
interceptor act <ref> --keys "Enter"                # Send keyboard shortcut
interceptor act <ref> --no-read                     # Skip post-action tree read
interceptor inspect                                 # Tree + text + network log + headers
interceptor inspect --net-only|--filter <pattern>

--trusted vs --os: v0.13.3 renamed --os to --trusted (canonical). --os is kept as a deprecated alias and emits a warning. Lead with --trusted in new code.

Command Reference (moved)

The full per-verb CLI listing — macOS Native (Computer Use), VM Lifecycle, Core Browser Commands, Network/Exports, Recording (Session Monitor), Canvas, Scene Graph, LinkedIn, ChatGPT Agentic Bridge, Batch + Meta — lives in References/CommandReference.md. Quick pointers:

Verb tree	Reference section
interceptor macos * (native apps, AX, trusted input, Vision/Speech/NLP, Apple Events, logs, fs, overlay)	macOS Native (Computer Use)
interceptor macos vm * (Linux + macOS guests, gold image, clone/snapshot)	VM Lifecycle — plus Workflows/VmLifecycle.md
state, tree, find, click, type, navigate, tabs, screenshot, eval, style, cookies	Core Browser Commands
net log/headers/export, override, network *, sse *, headers *	Network — Passive, CDP, and Exports
monitor * (record/replay)	Recording (Session Monitor)
canvas *, scene *	Canvas / Scene Graph
linkedin *, chatgpt *, batch, status, contexts, init, upgrade	LinkedIn / ChatGPT Bridge / Batch + Meta

Key Rules

• Requires Chrome/Brave running for browser commands — it's an extension, not a standalone binary.
• Requires bridge running for act --trusted, macos *, full-screen capture, VM lifecycle — interceptor status confirms.
• Refs use eN syntax — e12 not @e12. Treat refs as short-lived; re-read or find after navigation, rerenders, or DOM mutations.
• Cross-frame refs — read --include-frames returns refs like e<frameId>_<n> for non-top frames.
• Plain text by default. --json only when piping into a script. Prose-trained models comprehend tree/text output better than dense JSON.
• Daemon auto-starts — first command launches it; no manual start needed.
• Prefer compound commands (open, read, act, inspect) over manual tab new + wait + tree chains.
• Prefer structured reads over screenshots unless the task is explicitly visual or pixel-based — tree/text/network/scene/AX data is faster, smaller, and more deterministic.
• --trusted is canonical; --os is a deprecated alias. v0.13.3+. New code uses --trusted.
• --markdown is the structured-prose surface — preserves headings, tables, emphasis. Use instead of --text-only when visual hierarchy disambiguates the answer.
• Background-first by contract. Only --activate / app activate / explicit tab switch move focus.
• Verify with frontmost before/after. Native workflows that promise no focus change should prove it.
• Never screencapture. Never osascript for Chrome focus, bounds, tabs, or windows. Forbidden under Hard Prohibitions. Survives Interceptor failures.
• Screenshots go through Tools/Capture.sh, never raw interceptor screenshot. Capture.sh runs the preflight gate, enforces the not-Default target check, handles UUID-rot rebind, prefers the DOM-render path, and writes review artifacts to ~/Downloads/.

Delegating to Agents

When spawning agents for Interceptor work:

Agent(subagent_type="general-purpose", prompt="
  Use interceptor CLI for all browser and macOS automation work.
  Browser: open <url> --context "$INTERCEPTOR_TEST_CONTEXT_ID", read [--markdown], act eN, inspect. Screenshots go through Tools/Capture.sh, never raw screenshot.
  Native (macOS): macos open <app>, macos read, macos act <ref>, macos inspect, macos vm *.
  Compound commands preferred — they return tree + text in one call.
  Refs use eN syntax (no @ prefix) from tree output. Treat refs as short-lived.
  Background-first: only --activate and app activate move focus.
  PROFILE ISOLATION (MANDATORY GATE): the FIRST action of this task is
    bash ~/.claude/skills/Interceptor/Tools/PreflightIsolation.sh
  If that script exits non-zero, STOP and surface the message verbatim — do NOT
  fall back to operating against the Default profile, and do NOT use screencapture
  or osascript as substitutes. After the preflight returns OK, every browser
  command carries `--context "$INTERCEPTOR_TEST_CONTEXT_ID"`. Never operate in the
  operator's main profile unless the parent agent explicitly says so.
  `act --trusted` for OS-level HID input (was --os).
  [your specific task instructions here]
")

Workflow Routing

Workflow	Trigger	File	Notes
LaunchTestProfile	"test profile", "launch test profile", "isolated browser", "isolated browser profile", "separate Chrome window", "start interceptor-test"	Workflows/LaunchTestProfile.md	One-time setup + daily launch of the isolated Chrome profile via --profile-directory, extension load, context-ID naming
VerifyDeploy	"verify deploy", "check deploy", "confirm deploy", "deploy verification"	Workflows/VerifyDeploy.md	Open URL in real Chrome (via --context interceptor-test), structured read, check errors, evidence
ScrubFlow	"scrub flow", "record flow to video", "motion bug", "animation jank", "transition stutter", "flicker", "flow gallery", "catch motion a screenshot misses"	Workflows/ScrubFlow.md	Record a web flow to video, extract SSIM-scored frames (survey/scrub via Tools/FrameScrub.ts), catch motion/animation/flow bugs a still screenshot misses
Reproduce	"reproduce", "reproduce bug", "debug page", "check page", "blank screen"	Workflows/Reproduce.md	Open affected page BEFORE code analysis, capture console errors and network 404s
ReadAndExtract	"extract value", "read page", "pull a fact", "SPA state"	Workflows/ReadAndExtract.md	Compound read + SPA state extraction; right surface per task; mode-swap rule
DriveRichEditor	"drive Canva", "drive Docs", "drive Slides", "rich editor", "scene", "scene graph", "canvas-rendered"	Workflows/DriveRichEditor.md	Scene graph + dispatched-event recipes for canvas-rendered editors
OverrideXhr	"override request", "request override", "force 500", "rewrite response", "mutate XHR"	Workflows/OverrideXhr.md	Install passive override, trigger, verify, clear
ScreenshotForVlm	"screenshot for VLM", "VLM screenshot", "agent screenshot", "WebP 1568"	Workflows/ScreenshotForVlm.md	VLM-budgeted screenshot recipe; 1-command budget; --save --format webp --target-max-long-edge
MultiPageCompare	"compare pages", "multi-page compare", "facts across N pages", "designed by X vs Y"	Workflows/MultiPageCompare.md	Sequential open --text-only per page, no tab thrashing
CaptureBackgroundedApp	"screenshot of Brave / Signal / Mail / X", "capture backgrounded app", "capture occluded window"	Workflows/CaptureBackgroundedApp.md	CGS capture of named app's window without activating it
DriveBackgroundedApp	"scroll Mail / type into TextEdit", "drive backgrounded app", "click without focus"	Workflows/DriveBackgroundedApp.md	AX press + value-set + postToPid for non-frontmost input
DispatchAppleEvent	"open URL in Brave", "Apple Event", "apple events", "intent dispatch", "named app open"	Workflows/DispatchAppleEvent.md	intent dispatch --bundle <id> --script — no activate in scripts
ReadAxTree	"AX tree", "accessibility tree", "what's in Cursor / Slack", "find a button in app"	Workflows/ReadAxTree.md	macos tree with Electron wake-up via AXManualAccessibility
TrustedInputGate	"trusted input", "OS-level input", "isTrusted", "site rejects synthetic input", "HID-source state"	Workflows/TrustedInputGate.md	--trusted escalation; browser-side __interceptor_trust marker; when to use which
VmLifecycle	"create VM", "VM lifecycle", "linux VM", "macos VM", "gold image", "clone VM", "snapshot VM"	Workflows/VmLifecycle.md	interceptor macos vm * full lifecycle + Lume migration table
RecordFlow	"record flow", "record workflow", "capture flow", "monitor start"	Workflows/RecordFlow.md	Record browser actions via monitor system, export replayable plan script
RecordAndReplayMacFlow	"record mac flow", "record native flow", "watch me do X in Cursor/Mail/Finder"	Workflows/RecordAndReplayMacFlow.md	macos monitor AX-event recording + export + replay
ReplayFlow	"replay flow", "replay", "regression check", "run flow"	Workflows/ReplayFlow.md	Execute a recorded plan script step-by-step, verify each step, report regressions
TestForm	"test form", "fill form", "form test", "check form"	Workflows/TestForm.md	Discover form fields, fill with test data, submit, verify result
Update	"update", "check version", "rebuild", "install bridge", "enable computer use"	Workflows/Update.md	Pull, rebuild, reinstall, install bridge for Computer Use, verify end-to-end

Examples

• "Verify the blog deploy" → VerifyDeploy: preflight isolation gate, interceptor open <url> --context "$INTERCEPTOR_TEST_CONTEXT_ID", read --markdown, capture via Tools/Capture.sh, report with evidence.
• "The menu animation looks off / does the checkout flow render clean" → ScrubFlow: record the flow to video, bun Tools/FrameScrub.ts <recording> scrub --at <sec>, Read the auto-flagged frame, cite the manifest. Motion/interaction ISCs require this or a flow-gallery, not a single still (Algorithm Rule 1).
• "Why is this page blank after deploy?" → Reproduce: open the page FIRST, eval --main console-error capture, net log for failed requests, then code analysis.
• "Record me approving this flow, then replay it nightly" → RecordFlow + ReplayFlow: monitor start, operator acts, monitor export <sid> --plan, replay the plan script later.

Gotchas

• interceptor dying instantly with rc=137 and ZERO output = invalid code signature, not a wedge. The kernel SIGKILLs adhoc-signed binaries whose signature went stale (observed 2026-06-10 after a system event; both binaries affected). Diagnose: cp the binary to /tmp, codesign -s - -f the copy, run it — if the copy works, re-sign the real ones: codesign -s - -f /opt/homebrew/bin/interceptor && codesign -s - -f /opt/homebrew/bin/interceptor-daemon. BOTH must be re-signed — the CLI spawns interceptor-daemon --standalone and a still-broken daemon yields "daemon failed to start. Check /tmp/interceptor.log" with the log never created. (2026-06-10.)

• Screenshot — how it actually works (0.22.2). Route every capture through Tools/Capture.sh; the raw behavior below is what it wraps.

  • Default interceptor screenshot is the DOM-render path — a dependency-free native renderer since v0.18.3 (html-to-image was removed; injected on demand via executeScript). It renders from the live DOM tree and does NOT require a foreground/visible tab — a backgrounded tab on another macOS Space is fine, and it's fail-fast (no more full-timeout hang on a backgrounded tab).
  • --pixel is the opt-out → legacy captureVisibleTab. It captures the window's active tab, so to capture a specific background tab it briefly activates it and restores focus — the visible flash is by design. --pixel REQUIRES the window non-minimized and visible; minimized → fast honest failure. Full-page --pixel rate-limits strips at 1100ms (Chrome's 2/sec cap) and stitches in the service worker.
  • Reliability is the default path, not a flag. There is no "reliable mode" toggle. The robustness today is the in-extension minimized-window preflight (fails fast instead of hanging ~30s) plus the CLI's 45s screenshot timeout. The cli/lib/screenshot-selfheal.ts wrapper is dormant/unwired — do not cite it.
  • --save writes to the CLI's current working directory and returns filePath (omits dataUrl). It does NOT write to /tmp/pai-screenshots/ — workflows cd there precisely because --save targets CWD. There is no --output <path> flag; positional path args are silently ignored. Per OPERATIONAL_RULES, review artifacts belong in ~/Downloads/, pipeline intermediates in /tmp/; Tools/Capture.sh standardizes this.
  • Without --save, screenshot returns the full base64 dataUrl inline — 10MB+ of PNG flooding the transcript. Always --save from an agent context.
  • Flags --target-max-long-edge N (clamp long edge, dodges the 16384 Skia ceiling), --scale, --selector, --element N, --region X,Y,W,H run inside DOM-render; --clip is a deprecated alias for --region.

• DOM-render screenshot ignores scroll position by default. interceptor screenshot captures from y=0 of the document — window.scrollTo / scrollIntoView / keys End do not move the screenshot frame. For tall pages, use --region X,Y,W,H, --selector <css>, --element <ref>, or --pixel --full (scroll-and-stitch, requires window visible). (2026-04-27, still relevant 2026-06-17.)

• Multiple tabs at the same URL confuse routing without --context. When two tabs both load localhost:5180/, tab switch <id> reports ok but the visually-active Chrome tab may not change. Either close duplicates, work from a freshly-opened single tab, or pass --context <id> to scope unambiguously.

• eval is CSP-blocked on most sites. Use eval --main to run in the page's main world. Even with --main, strict CSP (script-src 'self') still blocks string-eval; pass small expressions, avoid Function-constructor patterns.

• Bridge needs Sparkle.framework. When rebuilding from source on Apple Silicon, the bridge won't load until Sparkle.framework is installed at /usr/local/Frameworks/. The running bridge is the .app-bundle binary at ~/.local/share/interceptor/interceptor-bridge.app/Contents/MacOS/interceptor-bridge (LaunchAgent com.interceptor.bridge, plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.interceptor.bridge.plist), NOT /usr/local/bin/interceptor-bridge (stale copy). The Update workflow handles this; symptom of forgetting is bridge: not running with dyld[*]: Library not loaded: @rpath/Sparkle.framework/... in /tmp/interceptor-bridge.stderr.log. (2026-05-03, bridge topology corrected 2026-06-17.)

• Manifest version bump = manual extension reload + re-pin required. Chrome does not auto-reload unpacked extensions. ~/.claude/skills/Interceptor/Extension/ is a pinned COPY, not a symlink — it does not auto-follow upstream. After a binary upgrade, re-pin via the Update workflow, then delete the existing extension card in chrome://extensions and Load Unpacked again from ~/.claude/skills/Interceptor/Extension/. The extension key is deterministic so the extension ID stays stable across reloads.

• "native port disconnected" is NOT a screenshot error. It's the daemon logging that Chrome's Native-Messaging stdio port dropped (extension SW recycled / Chrome closed); the daemon survives and falls through to its WebSocket transport. If neither WS nor relay is up, commands queue (cap 50) and time out. Fix = reconnect the extension (reload the tab / re-open the configured browser), not restarting the daemon.

• "screenshot-runner.js could not load" = per-frame injection failure. (The old "html-to-image library not loaded" error is gone — v0.18.3 replaced the library with a native renderer.) The page disallows script injection (chrome://, Web Store, PDF viewer, strict-CSP frame), the tab navigated mid-inject, OR — most common after a binary upgrade — a stale loaded extension whose bundled runner doesn't match the daemon. Fix = reload/re-pin the extension (Load Unpacked from ~/.claude/skills/Interceptor/Extension/).

• Daemon↔extension WebSocket can wedge in a half-alive state — try other verb trees BEFORE declaring Interceptor unusable. Symptom: status/contexts/tabs answer (control-plane message types) while screenshot/eval hang at timeout (data-plane types). Each verb in the Capabilities Overview uses a different WebSocket message type, so a wedge on screenshot rarely affects eval, net log, tree, read --markdown, monitor, or inspect. Recovery ladder: (1) swap the capture path (pixel↔DOM-render — a different message type often unwedges) or substitute a verb from another capability class — read --markdown / eval --main document.body.innerText instead of screenshot, net log for failed requests; (2) one pkill -f interceptor-daemon + a single retry; (3) reload the extension (surface: "Interceptor extension is wedged — please reload it from chrome://extensions/.") and STOP. Only after all three fail, tell the operator verification cannot be captured — never fall back to screencapture / osascript. The recurring mistake this catches: claiming "Interceptor is broken" after a single screenshot timeout when eval would have answered the question in one tool call. (2026-05-13, sharpened 2026-06-17.)

• Dead-bridge self-heal (macOS macos_* paths only — browser screenshot does NOT need the bridge). "Loaded" ≠ "running" — probe the process via interceptor status, not just launchctl list:

  interceptor status | grep -A2 '^bridge:'                         # running + pid/socket, or not running
  launchctl print "gui/$(id -u)/com.interceptor.bridge" 2>&1 | grep -E 'state|program|pid'
  launchctl kickstart -k "gui/$(id -u)/com.interceptor.bridge"     # restart (loaded-but-dead)
  

  The agent runs the .app-bundle binary (~/.local/share/interceptor/interceptor-bridge.app/Contents/MacOS/interceptor-bridge), NOT /usr/local/bin/interceptor-bridge (that copy is stale). A SIGKILLed bridge with a stale ad-hoc signature restart-loops every ~5s (ThrottleInterval) — re-sign the .app MacOS binary, not the /usr/local/bin copy. Tools/HealBridge.sh wraps the loaded-but-dead detect + single kickstart. (2026-06-17.)

• AXEnhancedUserInterface was removed from the bridge (it foregrounded AppKit apps as a side effect of being interpreted as "VoiceOver active"). The bridge uses AXManualAccessibility exclusively for Electron wake-up. Stale guidance from old code that sets AXEnhancedUserInterface should be ignored.

• screenshot --pixel --tab <id> can capture the WRONG page — --pixel follows the active tab. --pixel is captureVisibleTab; it shoots whatever tab is visually active, and if the preceding tab activation didn't land, that's the operator's foreground tab, not your target (observed 2026-06-11: requested a localhost site under test, captured the operator's unrelated foreground site instead). Always Read the returned image and confirm it's the page you asked for before citing it as evidence — this is why Tools/Capture.sh reads back on the --pixel fallback path. Do NOT reach for AppleScript tab activation — banned under Hard Prohibitions. Instead answer through a non-visual verb tree (read --markdown, eval --main, net log), or follow the WebSocket-wedge recovery ladder above. (2026-06-11; AppleScript workaround removed 2026-06-13.)

• Sensitive-app gate. The bridge rejects type/keys/click x,y/drag when frontmost is a denylisted bundle (Keychain, 1Password, Dashlane, LastPass, Bitwarden, System Settings, Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo). Surface the rejection — do not bypass.

• VM paused-state snapshots are gated. --paused-state requires validateSaveRestoreSupport() to return true on the VM config. macOS guests support it; some Linux configurations don't. --disk-only always works.

• TCC grants for VM hosts: the bridge needs com.apple.security.virtualization entitlement. Move the bridge out of ~/Documents or ~/Desktop if setup_required complains about the install location.

• Local extract.ts customization is obsolete. The pre-v0.13 patch that bumped slice limits to 10M is no longer needed — upstream's withTruncationMarker + --full flag + per-action maxChars does it correctly with explicit truncation markers (... (truncated: showed X of Y chars ...)).

• Stale binary silently routes to Default — the fallback incident (2026-05-23). A rebuild that lands at ~/Projects/interceptor/dist/ but never gets copied into /opt/homebrew/bin/ leaves the CLI at an old version. Old binaries do not recognize --context or the contexts subcommand — they accept the flag without error and proceed to route the command through whichever Chrome connection the daemon can find, which is normally the operator's Default profile. Symptom: agent calls interceptor open <url> --context "$INTERCEPTOR_TEST_CONTEXT_ID", expects an isolated tab, gets a tab in the operator's working window. Detection: interceptor --version reports a version older than 0.16.0, AND/OR interceptor open --help shows no --context-related flag, AND/OR interceptor contexts returns "unknown command". Mitigation: the Preflight Isolation Gate (above) hard-fails on version mismatch with exit code 4 — every workflow runs it as step zero. Recovery is Workflows/Update.md followed by pkill -f interceptor-daemon so the next call respawns the new daemon.

• Upgrading the bridge from an iCloud-synced source repo — the full signing dance (2026-07-04, 0.16.9→0.22.2). ~/Projects/interceptor symlinks into ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/, and iCloud sync strips the built .app's code-signature envelope (codesign -v → "code has no resources but signature indicates they must be present"). Copying that bundle into place propagates the break and the bridge SIGKILL-loops (launchctl print → last exit reason = OS_REASON_CODESIGNING). Fix, in order, on the LOCAL staged copy (~/.local/share/interceptor/interceptor-bridge.app): xattr -cr it → codesign --force --deep --sign - .../Contents/Frameworks/Sparkle.framework → codesign --force --sign - --entitlements ~/Projects/interceptor/scripts/entitlements-bridge.plist on the MacOS binary, then the .app (this is exactly build-bridge.sh's dev-signing fallback). Do NOT codesign --deep the whole app — it mis-signs nested Sparkle so codesign -v passes while the kernel still kills it.

• bash scripts/install.sh --chrome re-clobbers a freshly-fixed bridge. It chains into install-bridge.sh, which re-copies the broken iCloud bundle over your fixed one. Re-sign AFTER running it — or don't run it again once the bridge is signed.

• launchd job state = spawn failed after repeated kickstart -k. Rapid restart cycles throttle launchd into a failed state (runs climbs; the binary runs fine when launched directly). Recovery is launchctl bootout "gui/$(id -u)/com.interceptor.bridge" then a fresh launchctl bootstrap "gui/$(id -u)" ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.interceptor.bridge.plist — NOT another kickstart.

• Ad-hoc re-signing the bridge resets its TCC grants. A new ad-hoc signature is a new code identity, so Accessibility / Screen Recording / Microphone drop to denied and Computer Use stops until re-granted (interceptor macos trust --walkthrough, or System Settings → Privacy & Security). The browser surface is unaffected (extension-based, no TCC). The notarized Interceptor-Full-<v>.pkg keeps a stable Developer-ID identity across Sparkle updates and sidesteps all of this — prefer it for the bridge when TCC churn hurts.

• interceptor diagnose is the first move when anything's wedged (0.22.2+). It flags the daemon split-brain: the socket daemon (what the CLI talks to) vs the NMH manifest path (what Chrome spawns). Fix by pointing the manifest path at the canonical binary — jq '.path="/opt/homebrew/bin/interceptor-daemon"' over ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/NativeMessagingHosts/com.interceptor.host.json (+ the Brave one) — then pkill -f interceptor-daemon and run one active command (interceptor contexts) to respawn from the right place.

• Tools/Pin.sh on bash 5.2+ — the tilde scrub was silently a no-op (fixed 2026-07-04). ${SRC/#$HOME/~} started tilde-expanding the replacement back to /Users/<name>, so PINNED_FROM.txt shipped an absolute home path and Pin.sh's own leak guard FATAL'd. Fixed to a quoted ~${SRC#$HOME} form (rel_home()). If a re-pin FATALs on "absolute home path survived the scrub," check the bash version and that helper.

Stealth Verification

Passes all major bot detection:

Check	Result
BrowserScan	Normal
Pixelscan	Definitely Human
Sannysoft	All pass
CreepJS	0% headless
Fingerprint.com	notDetected
AreyouHeadless	Not headless

---

Execution Log

After completing any workflow, append a single JSONL entry:

echo '{"ts":"'$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)'","skill":"Interceptor","workflow":"WORKFLOW_USED","input":"8_WORD_SUMMARY","status":"ok|error","duration_s":SECONDS}' >> ~/.claude/LIFEOS/MEMORY/SKILLS/execution.jsonl