Vision Click

Vision Click (Codex Only)

Click non-DOM elements by screenshot analysis. Uses codex exec -i for vision-based coordinate extraction.

Vision click is an explicit fallback, not the default browser automation path. Always try cli-jaw browser snapshot --interactive and ref-based actions first.

Quick Start (One Command — Phase 2)

cli-jaw browser vision-click "Submit button"
# → screenshot → codex vision → DPR correction → click → verify
# 🖱️ vision-clicked "Submit button" at (400, 276) via codex

With options:

cli-jaw browser vision-click "Login" --double
cli-jaw browser vision-click "Menu" --provider codex
cli-jaw browser vision-click "Map pin" --clip 300 120 640 480 --verify-before-click
cli-jaw browser vision-click "Toolbar item" --region top-bar --prepare-stable

Prerequisites

• Codex CLI installed + authenticated, cli-jaw server running (cli-jaw serve), browser started

When to Use

Fallback only when all are true:

• cli-jaw browser snapshot --interactive returns no usable ref for the target
• the target is visible in a screenshot
• the user task explicitly requires a non-DOM click

Good fits: canvas, iframes, Shadow DOM, WebGL, SVG, maps, overlays.

Do not use as the normal ChatGPT/web-ai query-send-poll path.

Manual Workflow (Phase 1)

1. cli-jaw browser snapshot        → Check if target has a ref ID
2. If ref exists → cli-jaw browser click <ref>  (normal path)
3. If NO ref → vision-click fallback:
   a. cli-jaw browser screenshot   → Save screenshot (check output for path)
   b. codex exec -i <screenshot_path> --json \
        --dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox \
        --skip-git-repo-check \
        'Screenshot is WxHpx. Find "<TARGET>" center pixel coordinate. \
         Return ONLY JSON: {"found":true,"x":int,"y":int,"description":"..."}'
   c. Parse JSON response for x, y coordinates
   d. cli-jaw browser mouse-click <x> <y>
   e. cli-jaw browser snapshot     → Verify click worked

Commands

Screenshot + Vision

# 1. Take screenshot
cli-jaw browser screenshot
# Output: /Users/you/.cli-jaw/screenshots/screenshot-20260224-1200.png

# 2. Extract coordinates with Codex vision
codex exec -i /path/to/screenshot.png --json \
  --dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox \
  --skip-git-repo-check \
  'Screenshot is 1280x720px. Find "Submit" button center pixel coordinate.
   Return ONLY JSON: {"found":true,"x":640,"y":400,"description":"blue submit button"}'

# 3. Click at coordinates
cli-jaw browser mouse-click 640 400

# 4. Verify
cli-jaw browser snapshot

Mouse Click (pixel coordinates)

cli-jaw browser mouse-click <x> <y>          # Single click
# Double-click via API:
curl -X POST http://localhost:3457/api/browser/act \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"kind":"mouse-click","x":640,"y":400,"doubleClick":true}'

Guardrail Options

--prepare-stable        wait briefly for layout/network calm before screenshot
--clip x y w h          analyze a CSS-pixel screenshot sub-region
--region top-bar        named clip preset: left-panel | center-map | top-bar
--verify-before-click   refuse click when the target is not plausible anymore

--provider codex is the only supported provider in this slice. Codex CLI live smoke tests are manual only; CI uses fixtures for parsing, DPR, clip offset, and verify-before-click behavior.

Parsing Codex Response

Codex --json outputs NDJSON. Look for item.type === "agent_message":

// Parse NDJSON stream
const lines = stdout.split('\n').filter(l => l.trim());
for (const line of lines) {
    const event = JSON.parse(line);
    if (event.item?.type === 'agent_message') {
        const coords = JSON.parse(event.item.text);
        // coords = { found: true, x: 640, y: 400, description: "..." }
    }
}

Limitations

• Codex CLI only — Gemini/Claude REST planned for Phase 3
• Latency: 2-5 seconds per vision call
• Cost: $0.005-0.01 per call (18K input tokens)
• Complex UIs may need confidence check + retry
• DPR auto-correction included (Phase 2)
• Never depend on live Codex vision in CI
• Never use for CAPTCHA or anti-bot bypass