| name | firefox |
| description | Control Firefox browser on macOS: open URLs, close/switch tabs, get active tab info, focus Firefox, send keystrokes. Use when asked to open a link in Firefox, close a tab, switch to a tab, find what's open in Firefox, or automate any browser action. |
| user_invocable | true |
Firefox Control
Automate Firefox via AppleScript + System Events UI scripting.
All osascript calls require dangerouslyDisableSandbox: true.
What works / doesn't
Works natively:
- Open a URL (new tab)
- Get active tab title per window
- Close a window
- Window properties (bounds, visibility, minimize)
- Activate/focus Firefox
Works via UI scripting (System Events):
- Close current tab (
Cmd+W)
- Switch to a tab by name (
%<query> in address bar)
- Get current tab URL (Cmd+L → select all → copy)
- Any keyboard shortcut / menu item
Does NOT work:
- Enumerate all tabs in a window (Firefox doesn't expose
tabs as AppleScript objects)
- Get URLs without focusing the tab first
Snippets
Open a URL
tell application "Firefox"
activate
open location "https://example.com"
end tell
Get active tab titles (one per window)
tell application "Firefox"
set names to {}
repeat with i from 1 to (count windows)
try
set end of names to (i as string) & ": " & name of window i
end try
end repeat
return names
end tell
Close a window by index
tell application "Firefox"
close window 2
end tell
Get current tab URL
tell application "Firefox"
activate
end tell
delay 0.3
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Firefox"
keystroke "l" using command down
delay 0.3
keystroke "a" using command down
delay 0.1
keystroke "c" using command down
delay 0.2
end tell
end tell
do shell script "pbpaste"
Switch to a tab by name / URL fragment
-- Uses Firefox's built-in tab search: type "% <query>" in address bar
-- Must open a new tab first so the address bar is focused and ready
tell application "Firefox"
activate
end tell
delay 0.5
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Firefox"
keystroke "t" using command down -- open new tab (address bar auto-focused)
delay 1
keystroke "% YOUR_QUERY_HERE"
delay 1.5
key code 125 -- arrow down to first result
delay 0.5
key code 36 -- Enter to switch
end tell
end tell
Close a tab by URL fragment
-- Open a new tab, search for the tab, switch to it, then close it
tell application "Firefox"
activate
end tell
delay 0.5
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Firefox"
keystroke "t" using command down
delay 1
keystroke "% YOUR_QUERY_HERE"
delay 1.5
key code 125 -- arrow down to first result
delay 0.5
key code 36 -- Enter to switch to the found tab
delay 0.8
keystroke "w" using command down -- close it
end tell
end tell
Close the current tab
tell application "Firefox"
activate
end tell
delay 0.2
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Firefox"
keystroke "w" using command down
end tell
end tell
Send any keyboard shortcut
tell application "Firefox"
activate
end tell
delay 0.2
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Firefox"
keystroke "r" using command down -- e.g. Cmd+R to reload
end tell
end tell
Important: always confirm before closing
Before closing any tab or window, confirm with the user which one to close. Prefer identifying by title. Never assume which window index is which without first listing window names.
To identify windows before acting:
tell application "Firefox"
set names to {}
repeat with i from 1 to (count windows)
try
set end of names to (i as string) & ": " & name of window i
end try
end repeat
return names
end tell