Web UI Testing with agent-browser

Use agent-browser as the default CLI for deterministic UI checks.

Install agent-browser

# macOS/Linux (recommended)
npm install -g agent-browser
agent-browser install

# Linux containers/VMs that need extra browser libs
agent-browser install --with-deps

Alternative install on macOS:

brew install agent-browser
agent-browser install

Configure for Reliable Runs

Use isolated state for each test target:

# one session per test flow
agent-browser --session login-flow open https://example.com

# persistent auth/session state per app
agent-browser --profile ~/.agent-browser/myapp open https://example.com

Set environment variables for CI:

export AGENT_BROWSER_SESSION=ci
export AGENT_BROWSER_PROFILE="$PWD/.tmp/agent-browser-profile"
export AGENT_BROWSER_PROVIDER=local

Optional cloud providers:

• Browserbase: set AGENT_BROWSER_PROVIDER=browserbase, BROWSERBASE_API_KEY, BROWSERBASE_PROJECT_ID
• Browser Use: set AGENT_BROWSER_PROVIDER=browseruse, BROWSER_USE_API_KEY
• Kernel: set AGENT_BROWSER_PROVIDER=kernel, KERNEL_API_KEY

For proxy testing:

export AGENT_BROWSER_PROXY="http://user:pass@proxy-host:port"

Install the Upstream Skill (Optional)

If your runtime supports skill installation, add the upstream skill:

eve skill install https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-browser

Core Workflow

Run every flow in this sequence:

1. Navigate: agent-browser open <url>
2. Snapshot interactive refs: agent-browser snapshot -i
3. Interact with refs: agent-browser click @e1, agent-browser fill @e2 "value"
4. Re-snapshot after page changes: agent-browser snapshot -i
5. Assert output: agent-browser get text <selector-or-ref>
6. Capture artifacts: agent-browser screenshot <path>

Minimal Test Template

agent-browser --session smoke open https://example.com/login
agent-browser --session smoke snapshot -i
agent-browser --session smoke fill @e1 "[email protected]"
agent-browser --session smoke fill @e2 "password"
agent-browser --session smoke click @e3
agent-browser --session smoke wait --url "**/dashboard"
agent-browser --session smoke screenshot ./artifacts/login-dashboard.png
agent-browser --session smoke close

Guardrails

• Re-snapshot after every navigation or dynamic UI update; refs become stale.
• Prefer snapshot -i refs over brittle CSS selectors.
• Use --json for machine-readable assertions in scripts.
• Keep one session/profile per environment to avoid cross-test leakage.
• Save screenshots and logs as artifacts for failed runs.

References and Templates

• Full commands: references/commands.md
• Ref lifecycle: references/snapshot-refs.md
• Session strategy: references/session-management.md
• Authentication flows: references/authentication.md
• Proxy setup: references/proxy-support.md
• Video capture: references/video-recording.md
• Reusable scripts: templates/*.sh