Browse

browse

Control a persistent browser session via agent-browser. Navigate pages, read the accessibility tree, and interact with elements by ref.

Core Workflow

1. Open a URL
2. Snapshot to get the accessibility tree with element refs (@e1, @e2, ...)
3. Read the snapshot Note to find target elements
4. Interact using refs: click, type, fill, press
5. Snapshot again to see the result

Actions

open — Navigate to URL

{"type":"browse","action":"open","url":"https://example.com","out":"$status"}

snapshot — Get accessibility tree as Note

{"type":"browse","action":"snapshot","out":"$page"}

Returns interactive elements only (buttons, links, inputs) with element refs (@e1, @e2, ...). Use for finding clickable elements. Supports optional selector to scope.

text — Get visible page text as Note

{"type":"browse","action":"text","out":"$page_text"}

Returns the readable text content of the page (not HTML, not accessibility tree). Use this for content extraction — then apply extract to pull out specific information. Supports optional selector to scope (e.g., "selector": "#mw-content-text" for Wikipedia article body). Prefer text over eval for extracting page content.

click — Click an element

{"type":"browse","action":"click","selector":"@e3","out":"$r"}

type / fill — Enter text into a field

{"type":"browse","action":"fill","selector":"@e5","text":"search query","out":"$r"}

fill clears the field first; type appends.

press — Press a key

{"type":"browse","action":"press","key":"Enter","out":"$r"}

scroll — Scroll the page

{"type":"browse","action":"scroll","text":"down","out":"$r"}

Directions: up, down, left, right. Optional selector to scroll within an element.

get — Extract specific content

{"type":"browse","action":"get","subcommand":"text","selector":"@e2","out":"$content"}
{"type":"browse","action":"get","subcommand":"title","out":"$title"}
{"type":"browse","action":"get","subcommand":"url","out":"$url"}

Subcommands: text, html, value (require selector), title, url (no selector needed).

eval — Run JavaScript

{"type":"browse","action":"eval","expression":"document.title","out":"$result"}

close — End browser session

{"type":"browse","action":"close","out":"$r"}

batch — Run multiple commands in one step

{"type":"browse","action":"batch","actions":[["open","https://news.ycombinator.com"],["wait","2000"],["snapshot","-i","-c"]],"out":"$page"}

Each inner array is [command, arg1, arg2, ...]. Commands run sequentially; stops on first error. The last command's output is returned. Use batch for deterministic sequences (open+wait+snapshot, or multiple fills) to conserve planner steps. Do NOT batch when you need to read a snapshot before deciding what to do next.

Output

Success: resource_id for snapshot (Note with accessibility tree), value for everything else. Failure: reason with error details.

Complete Example: Extract content from a web page

Step 1 — Open and get page text (one code block):

r1 = tool("browse", action="open", url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_architecture", out="$status")
r2 = tool("browse", action="text", out="$page_text")

Step 2 — Extract specific content using the extract tool (separate code block):

r = tool("extract", target="$page_text", instruction="Extract the first paragraph of the article", out="$para")
r2 = tool("create-note", value=get_text("$para"), name="my_result", out="$note")

Example: Interactive workflow (click, fill, navigate)

Step 1 — Open and snapshot to find interactive elements:

r1 = tool("browse", action="open", url="https://example.com/search", out="$status")
r2 = tool("browse", action="snapshot", out="$page")

Step 2 — Read snapshot, interact by ref (separate code block):

page = get_text("$page")  # Read accessibility tree to find element refs
r1 = tool("browse", action="fill", selector="@e5", text="search query", out="$r")
r2 = tool("browse", action="click", selector="@e7", out="$r")
r3 = tool("browse", action="text", out="$results")

Planning Notes

• For content extraction, use text + extract, NOT eval with JavaScript. The text action gets readable page text; the extract tool pulls out what you need. No JS required.
• Use snapshot only when you need to interact (click, fill, press). It shows interactive elements with refs.
• Element refs (@e1, @e2) are only valid until the next snapshot — page changes invalidate them.
• Always snapshot after navigation or clicks that change page state.
• Batch deterministic sequences (open+wait+snapshot) to save steps. Keep interactive decisions as separate steps.
• For eval, the tool auto-wraps in an IIFE if you use const/let, so variable redeclaration across steps is safe.
• The browser session persists across steps within a goal. Call close when done if the page won't be needed again.
• Requires agent-browser CLI installed and on PATH.