Ha Browser

Hope Agent Browser — operating loop

The browser tool exposes 8 high-level actions. Default backend is Hope Agent's Chrome Extension + Native Messaging Host, which can control the user's real Chrome tabs after they install the extension and native host. If the extension is unavailable, generic browsing can fall back to the managed/user_attach CDP backend, but real Chrome tab/session tasks must fail closed and ask the user to install or enable the extension.

The standard loop

Run these in order; never skip a step. Browsers are stateful — assumptions get punished.

1. browser(action="status")            # never operate blindly
2. browser(action="tabs",  op="list")  # know what's open before opening more
3. browser(action="tabs",  op="new", url=...)  # only if you actually need a fresh tab
4. browser(action="snapshot", format="role")    # get fresh refs
5. browser(action="act", kind=..., ref=..., ...)
6. when in doubt → re-snapshot

When the user explicitly asks for their current Chrome, an already-open tab, their logged-in session, or browser extensions/cookies from their daily Chrome, use tabs.open_user_tabs and tabs.claim first. Do not launch a managed CDP profile and pretend it is the user's Chrome.

Real Chrome access uses the normal Hope Agent tool approval flow. tabs.open_user_tabs, tabs.claim, extension numeric-id tabs.select, observe.kind=downloads, control.download_cancel, and control.raw_cdp may ask unless the session policy, AllowAlways, Smart mode, or YOLO allows them.

A typical "fill the login form" flow is:

status → tabs.list → (already on the right tab? if not, tabs.select / tabs.new)
       → navigate.go url="https://app.example.com/login"
       → snapshot format=role           # capture refs
       → act kind=fill   ref=<email>   text="me@..."
       → act kind=fill   ref=<password> text="..."
       → act kind=click  ref=<submit>
       → snapshot format=role           # re-snapshot after navigation
       → verify expected element exists

Refs are tied to the snapshot

ref is only valid against the most recent snapshot.role for the active tab. The moment the page navigates, the DOM mutates (SPA route change, modal opens/closes), or you switch tab — refs are stale.

Re-snapshot when:

• you just called navigate.go / .back / .forward / .reload
• you switched tab (tabs.select)
• an act returned an error that looks like "ref not found" / "no such element" / "detached"
• the URL bar in the snapshot output differs from what you expect
• a previous act triggered an obvious UI change (modal, page transition, form expansion)

Stale-ref auto-recovery — what to expect

The tool tries one automatic recovery before bubbling up a stale-ref error: it re-snapshots, looks for an element with the same role and text (or a substring match) as the original ref, and retries with the new ref. On success the result string ends with (ref auto-recovered) so you know it kicked in. On failure you get the original error.

Practical rules:

• If a recovery happened, verify the next action's prerequisites freshly — a recovered ref means the DOM rearranged.
• If recovery fails, resnapshot manually and re-plan — don't keep hammering the same act call.
• Recovery only kicks in for act.kind. navigate, tabs.*, and control.* do not retry.

When to stop and ask the user

These five situations are blocking — do not guess your way through them. Call ask_user_question and wait.

When you have to stop, the right call is roughly:

ask_user_question({
  reason: "Browser flow requires you",
  questions: [{ q: "I see a CAPTCHA on https://...; please solve it, then say 'continue'.", ... }]
})

Tab discipline

Multi-tab work loses refs more than anything else. Two rules keep you sane:

1. Name your tabs as soon as you open them. Right after tabs.new, jot the target_id and the URL/role in your reasoning ("tab A11C = github, tab B22D = jira"). Always pass target_id explicitly to tabs.select instead of relying on "active".
2. One snapshot per action burst per tab. Don't snapshot tab A, switch to tab B for two ops, switch back to A, and reuse the old A refs. Re-snapshot when you come back.

Real Chrome tabs

Use the extension-backed tab lease protocol whenever the task depends on the user's real Chrome state:

status
tabs.open_user_tabs
tabs.claim target_id="<chrome-tab-id>"
snapshot / act / observe
tabs.finalize

Rules:

• tabs.claim takes temporary control of a real user tab. Release it with tabs.release or tabs.finalize when the task ends.
• tabs.select with a numeric extension tab id also activates and controls that real Chrome tab. Prefer tabs.claim when your intent is explicit takeover; use tabs.select for tab switching after you know the target id.
• tabs.finalize for a claimed user tab must not close the tab by default; it releases Hope Agent control.
• tabs.new creates a Hope-controlled automation tab. tabs.finalize closes agent-created tabs unless their target id is listed in keep.
• If a tab is already claimed by another Hope session, do not steal it unless the user explicitly asked to take over; then pass steal:true.
• If the extension is missing or disabled, real Chrome tasks are blocked. Tell the user to open Settings -> Browser and install/enable the Chrome Extension + Native Host. Generic browsing may continue with CDP fallback, but that is an isolated Hope Agent browser, not the user's current Chrome.

When NOT to use browser

Browser automation is the most expensive tool you have — every step is round-trips, every snapshot is a 30KB blob, every screenshot is a hundred KBs. Don't reach for it when something cheaper works:

• Public web content → web_fetch (HTML/Markdown) or web_search first. Open a browser only if the page is JS-rendered, gated by cookies, or you genuinely need to interact (click, fill).
• One-shot file download → web_fetch saves bytes; browser.snapshot pdf is only for the rendered DOM-as-PDF case.
• API call → if the site has an API and you can hit it with exec curl or web_fetch, do that — no browser needed.

Common pitfalls

• Two snapshots in a row without anything in between: you wasted a turn. Snapshot once, then act a few times, then re-snapshot.
• act.kind=fill with a ref that points to a <div> instead of <input>: the snapshot output annotates role; check it before filling. Use evaluate to inspect the DOM if unsure.
• Trusting the URL on a redirect-heavy site: after navigate.go, the page may bounce through several URLs. Re-snapshot after navigation, do not assume the URL in your navigate.go argument matches the current page.
• Forgetting observe: when something silently fails, observe.kind=console and observe.kind=page_errors often surface the cause for free. In the extension backend those streams are filtered to the active controlled tab. observe.kind=downloads reads Chrome download activity and follows normal approval policy.

Common CDP error strings

• "Cannot find context with specified id" / "detached" / "no such element" — stale ref or page replaced. Recovery: re-snapshot.
• "selected page closed" — active tab was closed externally. Recovery: tabs.list → tabs.select on a live tab.

Choosing profile.op=launch profile=

profile=managed       → automation, scrapers, anything that should NOT inherit
                        the user's login state. Ephemeral runner under
                        ~/.hope-agent/browser/managed-runner/, OS-picked
                        debug port. This is the default — omit `profile=`
                        to get it.

profile=user_attach   → routine work where you DO want a persistent Hope Agent
                        CDP profile (sign in once, keep the cookies, reuse
                        extensions inside that Hope Agent browser).
                        Lives at ~/.hope-agent/browser/user-attach/, pinned
                        to port 9222. This is the recommended way to maintain
                        "the user's hope-agent browser" — populate the logins
                        once and reuse them. No extra approval — same risk
                        profile as managed.

profile=<other>       → user-defined profiles in AppConfig.browser.profiles
                        (per-profile user-data-dir / port / executable /
                        headless / extra args). Treat them like user_attach
                        in terms of persistence assumption.

The legacy target=managed|user_attach parameter is gone — only profile=<name> is accepted now for CDP lifecycle operations. A previous target=system option was removed; do not try to attach CDP to the user's default Chrome profile. When the user wants their real daily Chrome with current logins, use the extension path (tabs.open_user_tabs → tabs.claim) or ask them to install/enable the extension if it is missing.

When Chrome / Chromium is missing entirely

If profile.op=launch fails with "No Chrome / Chromium found...", suggest ONE of:

1. Install Google Chrome system-wide (best user experience).
2. Run browser(action="profile", op="install_runtime") — downloads a pinned Chromium snapshot (150 MB) into `/.hope-agent/browser/runtime/. This is an async job; poll job_status` for progress, or check the settings → Browser doctor banner.
3. Pass executable_path explicitly if the user has a custom Chrome build.

Quick reference — full action surface

browser(action="status")
browser(action="profile", op="list")
browser(action="profile", op="launch", profile="managed", headless=false)
browser(action="profile", op="launch", profile="user_attach")
browser(action="profile", op="install_runtime")             # ← async, downloads Chromium
browser(action="profile", op="connect", url="http://127.0.0.1:9222")
browser(action="profile", op="disconnect")
browser(action="tabs", op="list")
browser(action="tabs", op="new", url="https://...")
browser(action="tabs", op="select", target_id="<id>")
browser(action="tabs", op="close", target_id="<id>")
browser(action="tabs", op="open_user_tabs")      # extension-only, real Chrome
browser(action="tabs", op="claim", target_id="<id>", steal=false)
browser(action="tabs", op="release", target_id="<id>")
browser(action="tabs", op="finalize")
browser(action="tabs", op="finalize", keep=["<agent-tab-id>"]) # keep Hope-created tabs open
browser(action="navigate", op="go", url="https://...")
browser(action="navigate", op="back" | "forward" | "reload")
browser(action="snapshot", format="role")
browser(action="snapshot", format="screenshot", image_format="jpeg", full_page=false)
browser(action="snapshot", format="screenshot", annotate=true)
browser(action="snapshot", format="pdf", paper_format="a4")
browser(action="act", kind="click", ref=N)
browser(action="act", kind="dblclick", ref=N)
browser(action="act", kind="fill", ref=N, text="...")    # clears the field then sets value
browser(action="act", kind="hover", ref=N)
browser(action="act", kind="drag", ref=N, target_ref=M)
browser(action="act", kind="select", ref=N, values=["..."])
browser(action="act", kind="press", key="Enter")          # one keypress on the focused element
browser(action="act", kind="upload", ref=N, file_path="/path/to/file")
browser(action="observe", kind="console" | "network" | "page_errors" | "downloads", since=<unix-millis>)
browser(action="control", op="resize", width=1280, height=720)
browser(action="control", op="scroll", direction="down", amount=500)
browser(action="control", op="wait_for", text="...", timeout=30000)
browser(action="control", op="handle_dialog", accept=true, dialog_text="...")
browser(action="control", op="evaluate", expression="document.title")
browser(action="control", op="download_cancel", download_id=7) # normal tool approval
browser(action="control", op="raw_cdp", method="Accessibility.getFullAXTree", params={}) # normal tool approval; advanced path, params are not payload-scanned