Browser Content Capture

Browser Content Capture

Capture web content that traditional scrapers cannot access using agent-browser CLI.

Overview

This skill enables content extraction from sources that require browser-level access:

• JavaScript-rendered SPAs (React, Vue, Angular apps)
• Login-protected documentation (private wikis, gated content)
• Dynamic content (infinite scroll, lazy loading, client-side routing)
• Multi-page site crawls (documentation trees, tutorial series)

Overview

Use when:

• WebFetch returns empty or partial content
• Page requires JavaScript execution to render
• Content is behind authentication
• Need to navigate multi-page structures
• Extracting from client-side routed apps

Do NOT use when:

• Static HTML pages (use WebFetch - faster)
• Public API endpoints (use direct HTTP calls)
• Simple RSS/Atom feeds

Quick Start

Basic Capture Pattern

# 1. Navigate to URL
agent-browser open https://docs.example.com

# 2. Wait for content to render
agent-browser wait --load networkidle

# 3. Get interactive snapshot
agent-browser snapshot -i

# 4. Extract text content
agent-browser get text body

# 5. Take screenshot
agent-browser screenshot /tmp/capture.png

# 6. Close when done
agent-browser close

agent-browser Commands Reference

Full reference: See references/agent-browser-commands.md

Capture Patterns

Pattern 1: SPA Content Extraction

For React/Vue/Angular apps where content renders client-side:

# Navigate and wait for hydration
agent-browser open https://react-docs.example.com
agent-browser wait --load networkidle

# Get snapshot to identify content element
agent-browser snapshot -i

# Extract after framework mounts (use ref from snapshot)
agent-browser get text @e5  # Main content area

# Or use eval for custom extraction
agent-browser eval "document.querySelector('article').innerText"

Details: See references/spa-extraction.md

Pattern 2: Authentication Flow

For login-protected content:

# Navigate to login
agent-browser open https://docs.example.com/login
agent-browser snapshot -i

# Fill credentials (refs from snapshot)
agent-browser fill @e1 "user@example.com"  # Email field
agent-browser fill @e2 "password123"        # Password field

# Click submit and wait for redirect
agent-browser click @e3
agent-browser wait --url "**/dashboard"

# Save authenticated state for reuse
agent-browser state save /tmp/auth-state.json

# Now navigate to protected content
agent-browser open https://docs.example.com/private-docs

Details: See references/auth-handling.md

Pattern 3: Multi-Page Crawl

For documentation with navigation trees:

# Get all page links from sidebar
agent-browser open https://docs.example.com
agent-browser snapshot -i

# Extract links via eval
LINKS=$(agent-browser eval "JSON.stringify(Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('nav a')).map(a => a.href))")

# Iterate and capture each page
for link in $(echo "$LINKS" | jq -r '.[]'); do
    agent-browser open "$link"
    agent-browser wait --load networkidle
    agent-browser get text body > "/tmp/content-$(basename $link).txt"
done

Details: See references/multi-page-crawl.md

Session Management

Save and Reuse Authentication

# Login once and save state
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 /tmp/app-auth.json

# Later: restore state
agent-browser state load /tmp/app-auth.json
agent-browser open https://app.example.com/protected-content

Parallel Sessions

# Run isolated sessions for different tasks
agent-browser --session scrape1 open https://site1.com
agent-browser --session scrape2 open https://site2.com

# Extract from each
agent-browser --session scrape1 get text body > site1.txt
agent-browser --session scrape2 get text body > site2.txt

Fallback Strategy

Use this decision tree for content capture:

User requests content from URL
         │
         ▼
    ┌─────────────┐
    │ Try WebFetch│ ← Fast, no browser needed
    └─────────────┘
         │
    Content OK? ──Yes──► Done
         │
         No (empty/partial)
         │
         ▼
    ┌──────────────────┐
    │ Use agent-browser│
    └──────────────────┘
         │
    ├─ Known SPA (react, vue, angular) ──► wait --load networkidle
    ├─ Requires login ──► Authentication flow with state save
    └─ Dynamic content ──► wait @element or wait --text

Best Practices

1. Minimize Browser Usage

• Always try WebFetch first (10x faster, no browser overhead)
• Cache extracted content to avoid re-scraping
• Use get text @e# to extract only needed content

2. Handle Dynamic Content

• Always use wait after navigation
• Use wait --load networkidle for heavy SPAs
• Use wait --text "Expected" for specific content

3. Respect Rate Limits

• Add delays between page navigations
• Don't crawl faster than a human would browse
• Honor robots.txt and terms of service

4. Clean Extracted Content

• Use targeted refs from snapshot to extract main content
• Use eval to remove noise elements before extraction
• Convert to clean markdown for downstream processing

Troubleshooting

Related Skills

• agent-browser - Full agent-browser command reference
• webapp-testing - Playwright test automation patterns
• streaming-api-patterns - Handle SSE progress updates

Version: 2.0.0 (January 2026) Browser Tool: agent-browser CLI (replaces Playwright MCP)

Capability Details

spa-extraction

Keywords: react, vue, angular, spa, javascript, client-side, hydration, ssr Solves:

• WebFetch returns empty content
• Page requires JavaScript to render
• React/Vue app content extraction

auth-handling

Keywords: login, authentication, session, cookie, protected, private, gated Solves:

• Content behind login wall
• Need to authenticate first
• Private documentation access

multi-page-crawl

Keywords: crawl, sitemap, navigation, multiple pages, documentation, tutorial series Solves:

• Capture entire documentation site
• Extract multiple pages
• Follow navigation links

agent-browser-commands

Keywords: agent-browser, open, snapshot, click, fill, eval, get text Solves:

• Which command to use
• Browser automation reference
• agent-browser CLI guide