Browser Automation with agent-browser
Core Workflow
Every browser automation follows this pattern:
- Navigate:
agent-browser open <url>
- Snapshot:
agent-browser snapshot -i (get element refs like @e1, @e2)
- Interact: Use refs to click, fill, select
- Re-snapshot: After navigation or DOM changes, get fresh refs
agent-browser open https://example.com/form
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser fill @e1 "[email protected]"
agent-browser fill @e2 "password123"
agent-browser click @e3
agent-browser wait --load networkidle
agent-browser snapshot -i
Command Chaining
Commands can be chained with && in a single shell invocation. The browser persists between commands via a background daemon, so chaining is safe and more efficient than separate calls.
agent-browser open https://example.com && agent-browser wait --load networkidle && agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser fill @e1 "[email protected]" && agent-browser fill @e2 "password123" && agent-browser click @e3
agent-browser open https://example.com && agent-browser wait --load networkidle && agent-browser screenshot page.png
When to chain: Use && when you don't need to read the output of an intermediate command before proceeding (e.g., open + wait + screenshot). Run commands separately when you need to parse the output first (e.g., snapshot to discover refs, then interact using those refs).
Essential Commands
agent-browser open <url>
agent-browser close
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser snapshot -i -C
agent-browser snapshot -s "#selector"
agent-browser click @e1
agent-browser click @e1 --new-tab
agent-browser fill @e2 "text"
agent-browser type @e2 "text"
agent-browser select @e1 "option"
agent-browser check @e1
agent-browser press Enter
agent-browser keyboard type "text"
agent-browser keyboard inserttext "text"
agent-browser scroll down 500
agent-browser scroll down 500 --selector "div.content"
agent-browser get text @e1
agent-browser get url
agent-browser get title
agent-browser wait @e1
agent-browser wait --load networkidle
agent-browser wait --url "**/page"
agent-browser wait 2000
agent-browser download @e1 ./file.pdf
agent-browser wait --download ./output.zip
agent-browser --download-path ./downloads open <url>
agent-browser screenshot
agent-browser screenshot --full
agent-browser screenshot --annotate
agent-browser pdf output.pdf
agent-browser diff snapshot
agent-browser diff snapshot --baseline before.txt
agent-browser diff screenshot --baseline before.png
agent-browser diff url <url1> <url2>
agent-browser diff url <url1> <url2> --wait-until networkidle
agent-browser diff url <url1> <url2> --selector "#main"
Common Patterns
Form Submission
agent-browser open https://example.com/signup
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser fill @e1 "Jane Doe"
agent-browser fill @e2 "[email protected]"
agent-browser select @e3 "California"
agent-browser check @e4
agent-browser click @e5
agent-browser wait --load networkidle
Authentication with Auth Vault (Recommended)
echo "pass" | agent-browser auth save github --url https://github.com/login --username user --password-stdin
agent-browser auth login github
agent-browser auth list
agent-browser auth show github
agent-browser auth delete github
Authentication with State Persistence
agent-browser open https://app.example.com/login
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser fill @e1 "$USERNAME"
agent-browser fill @e2 "$PASSWORD"
agent-browser click @e3
agent-browser wait --url "**/dashboard"
agent-browser state save auth.json
agent-browser state load auth.json
agent-browser open https://app.example.com/dashboard
Session Persistence
agent-browser --session-name myapp open https://app.example.com/login
agent-browser close
agent-browser --session-name myapp open https://app.example.com/dashboard
export AGENT_BROWSER_ENCRYPTION_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
agent-browser --session-name secure open https://app.example.com
agent-browser state list
agent-browser state show myapp-default.json
agent-browser state clear myapp
agent-browser state clean --older-than 7
Data Extraction
agent-browser open https://example.com/products
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser get text @e5
agent-browser get text body > page.txt
agent-browser snapshot -i --json
agent-browser get text @e1 --json
Parallel Sessions
agent-browser --session site1 open https://site-a.com
agent-browser --session site2 open https://site-b.com
agent-browser --session site1 snapshot -i
agent-browser --session site2 snapshot -i
agent-browser session list
Connect to Existing Chrome
agent-browser --auto-connect open https://example.com
agent-browser --auto-connect snapshot
agent-browser --cdp 9222 snapshot
Color Scheme (Dark Mode)
agent-browser --color-scheme dark open https://example.com
AGENT_BROWSER_COLOR_SCHEME=dark agent-browser open https://example.com
agent-browser set media dark
Visual Browser (Debugging)
agent-browser --headed open https://example.com
agent-browser highlight @e1
agent-browser record start demo.webm
agent-browser profiler start
agent-browser profiler stop trace.json
Local Files (PDFs, HTML)
agent-browser --allow-file-access open file:///path/to/document.pdf
agent-browser --allow-file-access open file:///path/to/page.html
agent-browser screenshot output.png
iOS Simulator (Mobile Safari)
agent-browser device list
agent-browser -p ios --device "iPhone 16 Pro" open https://example.com
agent-browser -p ios snapshot -i
agent-browser -p ios tap @e1
agent-browser -p ios fill @e2 "text"
agent-browser -p ios swipe up
