Browse

Browse CLI

Use browse as the primary Browserbase command-line interface.

It can:

• drive a local or Browserbase-hosted browser session
• inspect pages through accessibility snapshots, screenshots, DOM/text reads, and network capture
• interact with pages by refs, selectors, XPath, keyboard, mouse, files, and viewport controls
• manage Browserbase projects, sessions, contexts, extensions, fetch, and search APIs
• develop, publish, and invoke Browserbase Functions
• browse and scaffold Browserbase templates
• diagnose local or remote browser setup issues
• discover and install Browse.sh catalog skills
• install or refresh this Browse CLI skill

Setup Check

Verify the CLI exists before relying on it:

which browse || npm install -g browse
browse --help

Install or refresh this skill with:

browse skills install

Use browse <topic> --help for exact flags before running unfamiliar commands.

Browser Target Selection

Browser driver commands auto-start the browse daemon when needed. Choose the browser target per command with flags:

browse open https://example.com --local
browse open https://example.com --local --headed
browse open https://example.com --remote
browse open https://example.com --auto-connect
browse open https://example.com   # (no :9222 clone exists — prefer ~/tools/fcdp/fcdp)
# --cdp requires a debug-port Chrome; none runs here. Use ~/tools/fcdp/fcdp instead.

Use local mode for development, localhost, trusted sites, and fast iteration. Use --auto-connect only when the user explicitly wants to attach to an already-running debuggable Chrome session with existing cookies or login state; use --local when no debuggable Chrome is available. Use remote mode when Browserbase credentials are available and the site needs hosted browser infrastructure, Verified browser mode, CAPTCHA solving, proxies, or session persistence.

Remote browser and cloud API commands require:

export BROWSERBASE_API_KEY=...

Browser Automation Workflow

Start by opening the page, then inspect state, act, and verify.

browse open https://example.com --local
browse snapshot
browse click @0-5
browse type "hello"
browse snapshot
browse stop

Prefer browse snapshot over screenshots for most browser work. It is structured, fast, and returns refs like @0-5 for reliable element interaction. Use screenshots when visual layout, images, or pixel-level state matter.

Core Browser Commands

Navigation:

browse open <url>
browse reload
browse back
browse forward
browse wait load
browse wait selector "#result"

Page state:

browse snapshot
browse snapshot --compact
browse refs
browse get url
browse get title
browse get text body
browse get html "#main"
browse get value "#email"
browse screenshot                         # print base64 JSON
browse screenshot --path page.png

Interaction:

browse click @0-5
browse fill @0-8 "search query"
browse type "text for the focused element"
browse press Enter
browse select "select[name=country]" "United States"
browse upload @0-12 ./file.pdf
browse highlight @0-5
browse is visible "#modal"

Mouse and viewport:

browse mouse click 240 320
browse mouse hover 240 320
browse mouse drag 80 80 310 100
browse mouse scroll 500 300 0 600
browse viewport 1280 720

Tabs, network, and CDP:

browse tab list
browse tab new https://example.com
browse tab switch <target-id>
browse tab close <target-id>              # refuses to close the last tab
browse network on
browse network path
browse network clear
~/tools/fcdp/fcdp tabs

Session management:

browse doctor
browse doctor --json
browse status
browse stop
browse stop --force

Use browse doctor before debugging a broken browser session. Use browse doctor --json when another agent or CI needs structured diagnostics.

Cloud APIs

Use browse cloud for Browserbase platform APIs:

browse cloud projects list
browse cloud projects get <project-id>
browse cloud projects usage <project-id>
browse cloud sessions create
browse cloud sessions create --proxies --verified
browse cloud sessions list
browse cloud sessions get <session-id>
browse cloud sessions update <session-id>
browse cloud sessions debug <session-id>
browse cloud sessions logs <session-id>
browse cloud sessions downloads get <session-id>
browse cloud sessions uploads create <session-id> ./file.pdf
browse cloud contexts create
browse cloud contexts get <context-id>
browse cloud contexts update <context-id>
browse cloud contexts delete <context-id>
browse cloud extensions upload ./extension.zip
browse cloud extensions get <extension-id>
browse cloud extensions delete <extension-id>
browse cloud fetch https://example.com
browse cloud search "browser automation"

For remote sessions with context persistence:

browse cloud sessions create --context-id <context-id> --persist

Use --verified when the task needs Browserbase Verified browser mode.

Use browse cloud fetch when the user needs a simple HTTP fetch without browser interaction. Use browse cloud search when the user asks for web search results.

Browserbase Functions

Use browse functions to create, develop, publish, and invoke Browserbase Functions:

browse functions init my-function
browse functions dev index.ts
browse functions publish index.ts
browse functions publish index.ts --dry-run
browse functions invoke <function-id> --params '{"url":"https://example.com"}'
browse functions invoke --check-status <invocation-id>

Functions commands use BROWSERBASE_API_KEY. Generated projects import defineFn from @browserbasehq/sdk-functions.

Templates

Use browse templates to discover and scaffold Browserbase starter templates:

browse templates list
browse templates list --tag Python --source Browserbase
browse templates find google-trends-keywords
browse templates find amazon --json
browse templates clone google-trends-keywords
browse templates clone amazon-product-scraping --language python ./my-scraper
browse templates clone dynamic-form-filling ./form-bot --language typescript

Use browse templates find before cloning when the exact slug is uncertain. Use --language typescript or --language python to choose the generated project runtime when a template supports both.

Skills

Install or refresh this bundled CLI skill:

browse skills install

Discover and install site-specific Browse.sh skills:

browse skills list
browse skills list --json
browse skills find reviews
browse skills find yelp.com/extract-reviews
browse skills find "restaurant reviews" --json
browse skills add yelp.com/extract-reviews

Use browse skills find when the exact skill slug is uncertain. Use browse skills add <domain>/<task> only after choosing an exact slug from list or find.

Best Practices

1. Run the real command and inspect its output instead of guessing.
2. Use browse snapshot before interacting so you have current refs.
3. Re-run browse snapshot after navigation or DOM-changing actions because refs can change.
4. Prefer refs from snapshots for clicks and uploads; use selectors or XPath when refs are unavailable.
5. Use --local for localhost and repeatable development; use --remote for protected sites or Browserbase-specific behavior.
6. Use --auto-connect only when attaching to an existing debuggable local Chrome session is intended.
7. Use browse doctor when session startup, browser discovery, CDP attach, or Browserbase auth looks wrong.
8. Use browse stop when finished to clean up daemon state.
9. For unfamiliar command details, run browse <topic> --help and follow the exact dash-case flags.

Troubleshooting

• "No active page": run browse status, then browse open <url> or browse stop --force if the daemon is stale.
• Chrome not found: use --remote with Browserbase credentials, install Chrome, or attach with --cdp.
• Action fails: run browse snapshot and use a visible ref from the current page state.
• Remote command fails: verify BROWSERBASE_API_KEY and inspect browse cloud projects list.
• Session setup is unclear: run browse doctor or browse doctor --json.
• Protected site blocks local mode: retry with --remote.