How do I install the Podman Browser skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add ricardodantas/podman-browser in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Podman Browser safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Capability flags: executes scripts, makes network calls. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Podman Browser?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Podman Browser free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Podman Browser?

ricardodantas (@ricardodantas) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Podman Browser by ricardodantas — Agent Skill

Name: Podman Browser
Rating: 4.666666666666667 (3 reviews)
Author: ricardodantas

Podman Browser

Headless browser automation using Podman and Playwright (Chromium) to fetch and scrape JavaScript-rendered web pages as text or HTML. Use when a plain HTTP fetch returns empty or pre-render markup, when scraping single-page apps or dynamic/JS-rendered content, when you need to wait for a CSS selector or extra render time before capturing, or when asked to render a page headlessly and extract its content or raw HTML.

ricardodantas Updated Sep 22, 2026

File contents

Podman Browser Skill

Headless browser automation using Podman + Playwright for scraping JavaScript-rendered pages.

Requirements

Podman 5.x+ installed and running
Node.js 18+ (for running the CLI)
Internet connection (first run pulls ~1.5GB container image)

Installation

Create a symlink for easy access:

chmod +x browse.js
ln -sf "$(pwd)/browse.js" ~/.local/bin/podman-browse

First run will pull the Playwright container image (~1.5GB).

Commands

`podman-browse` (or `./browse.js`)

Fetch a JavaScript-rendered page and return its text content.

podman-browse "https://example.com"

Options:

--html - Return raw HTML instead of text
--wait <ms> - Wait for additional time after load (default: 2000ms)
--selector <css> - Wait for specific element before capturing
-h, --help - Show help

Examples:

# Get rendered text content from Hacker News
podman-browse "https://news.ycombinator.com"

# Get raw HTML
podman-browse --html "https://news.ycombinator.com"

# Wait for specific element
podman-browse --selector ".itemlist" "https://news.ycombinator.com"

# Extra wait time for slow pages
podman-browse --wait 5000 "https://news.ycombinator.com/newest"

How It Works

Runs Microsoft's official Playwright container via Podman
Uses Chromium in headless mode
Waits for JavaScript to render (networkidle + custom wait)
Returns text or HTML content

Container Image

Uses mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.61.0-noble with playwright@1.61.0 npm package (versions must match).

To upgrade, bump both to any matching Playwright release: the image tag vX.Y.Z-noble and playwright@X.Y.Z must be the same version (set IMAGE and PLAYWRIGHT_VERSION in browse.js).

Files

browse.js - Self-contained Node.js CLI (handles args + spawns podman)
SKILL.md - This documentation

Notes

First run will pull the container image (~1.5GB)
Uses --ipc=host for Chromium stability
Uses --init to handle zombie processes
Sandbox disabled when running as root (fine for trusted sites)
Each run starts a fresh container (clean but takes ~10-15s)

---name: podman-browserdescription: Headless browser automation using Podman and Playwright (Chromium) to fetch and scrape JavaScript-rendered web pages as text or HTML. Use when a plain HTTP fetch returns empty or pre-render markup, when scraping single-page apps or dynamic/JS-rendered content, when you need to wait for a CSS selector or extra render time before capturing, or when asked to render a page headlessly and extract its content or raw HTML.---# Podman Browser SkillHeadless browser automation using Podman + Playwright for scraping JavaScript-rendered pages.## Requirements- Podman 5.x+ installed and running- Node.js 18+ (for running the CLI)- Internet connection (first run pulls ~1.5GB container image)## InstallationCreate a symlink for easy access:```bashchmod +x browse.jsln -sf "$(pwd)/browse.js" ~/.local/bin/podman-browse```First run will pull the Playwright container image (~1.5GB).## Commands### `podman-browse` (or `./browse.js`)Fetch a JavaScript-rendered page and return its text content.```bashpodman-browse "https://example.com"```**Options:**- `--html` - Return raw HTML instead of text- `--wait <ms>` - Wait for additional time after load (default: 2000ms)- `--selector <css>` - Wait for specific element before capturing- `-h, --help` - Show help**Examples:**```bash# Get rendered text content from Hacker Newspodman-browse "https://news.ycombinator.com"# Get raw HTMLpodman-browse --html "https://news.ycombinator.com"# Wait for specific elementpodman-browse --selector ".itemlist" "https://news.ycombinator.com"# Extra wait time for slow pagespodman-browse --wait 5000 "https://news.ycombinator.com/newest"```## How It Works1. Runs Microsoft's official Playwright container via Podman2. Uses Chromium in headless mode3. Waits for JavaScript to render (networkidle + custom wait)4. Returns text or HTML content## Container ImageUses `mcr.microsoft.com/playwright:v1.61.0-noble` with `playwright@1.61.0` npm package (versions must match).To upgrade, bump both to any matching Playwright release: the image tag `vX.Y.Z-noble` and `playwright@X.Y.Z` must be the same version (set `IMAGE` and `PLAYWRIGHT_VERSION` in `browse.js`).## Files- `browse.js` - Self-contained Node.js CLI (handles args + spawns podman)- `SKILL.md` - This documentation## Notes- First run will pull the container image (~1.5GB)- Uses `--ipc=host` for Chromium stability- Uses `--init` to handle zombie processes- Sandbox disabled when running as root (fine for trusted sites)- Each run starts a fresh container (clean but takes ~10-15s)

Frequently asked questions