browser-fetch

name	browser-fetch
description	Fetch authenticated web content (SSO, internal pages) via browser session

Browser Fetch Skill

Fetch web content from authenticated sites using a real browser with persistent session cookies.

Repository: https://github.com/benthomasson/browser-fetch

Quick Start

# Start server (recommended for Claude)
uvx --from "git+https://github.com/benthomasson/browser-fetch" browser-fetch --serve https://internal.example.com

# Server prints a security token. Use it to fetch:
curl 'http://localhost:8080/fetch?token=TOKEN&url=https://internal.example.com/page&text=true'

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• User needs to access content behind SSO authentication
• User wants to fetch internal company pages
• User provides a URL that requires login (returns login page with WebFetch)
• User mentions needing authenticated browser access

Server Mode (Recommended)

The server keeps a browser open and exposes an HTTP API.

Workflow

1. Check if server is running:

   curl -s localhost:8080/health
   

2. If not running, ask user to start it:

   uvx --from "git+https://github.com/benthomasson/browser-fetch" browser-fetch --serve https://internal.example.com
   

3. Ask user for the security token (printed on startup)

4. Fetch pages:

   curl -s 'http://localhost:8080/fetch?token=TOKEN&url=URL&text=true'
   

5. For large pages, save to file:

   curl -s 'http://localhost:8080/fetch?token=TOKEN&url=URL&text=true' > /tmp/page.txt
   

Query Parameters

Parameter	Description
token	Security token (required)
url	URL to fetch (required)
text=true	Extract text only (recommended)
selector=CSS	Extract specific element
wait=N	Wait N seconds for slow pages

Server Endpoints

# Health check (no token needed)
curl 'http://localhost:8080/health'

# Fetch page
curl 'http://localhost:8080/fetch?token=TOKEN&url=URL&text=true'

# Shutdown server
curl 'http://localhost:8080/shutdown?token=TOKEN'

Single-Fetch Mode

For one-off fetches without keeping browser open:

# First: login to save session
uvx --from "git+https://github.com/benthomasson/browser-fetch" browser-fetch --login https://internal.example.com

# Then: fetch headlessly
uvx --from "git+https://github.com/benthomasson/browser-fetch" browser-fetch --headless --text https://internal.example.com/page

# Extract specific element
uvx --from "git+https://github.com/benthomasson/browser-fetch" browser-fetch --headless --selector "main" --text URL

# Save to file
uvx --from "git+https://github.com/benthomasson/browser-fetch" browser-fetch --headless -o /tmp/page.html URL

Options

Option	Description
--serve	Run as HTTP server (browser stays open)
--login	Open browser for manual login
--headless	Run without visible browser
--text	Extract text only (no HTML)
--selector CSS	Extract specific element
-o FILE	Save output to file
--wait N	Wait N seconds after load (default: 5)
--timeout N	Page load timeout (default: 30)
--port N	Server port (default: 8080)

Troubleshooting

401 Unauthorized: Token missing or wrong. Ask user for token from server output.

Connection refused: Server not running. Ask user to start with --serve.

Login page returned: User needs to log in via the browser window that opened.

Session expired: Re-run with --login to refresh session.

How It Works

1. Uses Playwright with Chromium for real browser rendering
2. Stores cookies/session in ~/.config/browser-fetch/profile
3. Server mode generates random security token on startup
4. Binds to localhost only (not network accessible)

Links

• Repository: https://github.com/benthomasson/browser-fetch

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Last updated: 2026-02-12