Browser Automation with browser-act CLI

INLINECODE0 is a CLI for browser automation with stealth and captcha solving capabilities. It supports two browser types (Stealth and Real Chrome) and provides commands for navigation, page interaction, data extraction, tab/session management, and more.

All commands output human-readable text by default. Use --format json for structured JSON output, ideal for AI agent integration and scripting.

Installation

Source: browser-act-cli on PyPI · Homepage

CODEBLOCK0

The CLI is an open-source package published to PyPI by BrowserAct. Run the install command at the start of every session to ensure the latest version.

Global options available on every command:

Browser Selection

browser-act supports two browser types. Choose based on the task:

Stealth Browser

Local browsers with anti-detection fingerprinting. Ideal for sites with bot detection.

CODEBLOCK1

Stealth browsers in normal mode (default) persist cookies, cache, and login sessions across launches — you can log in once and reuse the session, similar to a regular browser profile. Use --mode private when the task should not persist any state.

Data storage: Profile data is stored at platform-specific paths — macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/browseract/, Windows: %APPDATA%\browseract, Linux: ${XDG_DATA_HOME:-~/.local/share}/browseract. To clean up persistent data, delete the browser with browser-act browser delete <browser_id> or use browser-act browser clear-profile <browser_id> to reset its profile.

Real Chrome

Two modes: auto-connect to your running Chrome (default), or use a BrowserAct-managed kernel.

CODEBLOCK2

Both browser types support --headed to show the browser UI (default: headless). Use for debugging:

CODEBLOCK3

Core Workflow

Every browser automation follows this loop: Open → Inspect → Interact → Verify

1. 1. Open: browser-act browser open <browser_id> <url> (Stealth) or browser-act browser real open <url> (Real Chrome)
2. Inspect: browser-act state — returns interactive elements with index numbers
3. Interact: use indices from state (browser-act click 5, browser-act input 3 "text")
4. Verify: browser-act state or browser-act screenshot — confirm result

CODEBLOCK4

Important: After any action that changes the page (click, navigation, form submit), run wait stable then state to get fresh element indices. Old indices become invalid after page changes.

Command Chaining

Commands can be chained with && in a single shell invocation. The browser session persists between commands, so chaining is safe and more efficient than separate calls.

CODEBLOCK5

When to chain: Use && when you don't need to read intermediate output before proceeding (e.g., fill multiple fields, then click). Run commands separately when you need to parse the output first (e.g., state to discover indices, then interact using those indices).

Command Reference

Navigation

CODEBLOCK6

Page State & Interaction

CODEBLOCK7

Data Extraction

CODEBLOCK8

JavaScript Evaluation

CODEBLOCK9

Tab Management

CODEBLOCK10

Wait

CODEBLOCK11

Network Inspection

CODEBLOCK12

Use network request <request_id> to get full detail for a single request. The detail view includes: request headers, post data (for POST/PUT), response headers, and response body. Binary responses show a [base64, N chars] placeholder instead of raw content.

Dialog Management

Handle JavaScript dialogs (alert, confirm, prompt). By default, browser-act auto-accepts dialogs. Use --no-auto-dialog to disable this and handle them manually.

CODEBLOCK13

Manual dialog flow: Pass --no-auto-dialog when opening the browser, then use dialog status to detect dialogs and dialog accept / dialog dismiss to handle them.

Captcha Solving

When a page presents a captcha challenge, use solve-captcha to solve it automatically. This is a built-in capability of the browser-act service — run the command directly without hesitation.

CODEBLOCK14

Parallel Automation

Use separate sessions to run multiple browsers in parallel. Each --session <name> creates an isolated browser context — commands to different sessions can execute concurrently without conflicts.

CODEBLOCK15

Always close sessions when done to free resources.

Session Management

Sessions isolate browser state. Each session runs its own background server.

CODEBLOCK16

The server auto-shuts down after a period of inactivity.

Site Notes

Operational experience accumulated during browser automation is stored per domain in references/site-notes/.

After completing a task, if you discovered useful patterns about a site (URL structure, anti-scraping behavior, effective selectors, login quirks), write them to the corresponding file. Only write verified facts, not guesses.

File format:

CODEBLOCK17

Before operating on a target site, check if a note file exists and read it for prior knowledge. Notes are dated — treat them as hints that may have changed, not guarantees.

System Commands

CODEBLOCK18

If you encounter issues or have suggestions for improving browser-act, use feedback to let us know. This directly helps us improve the tool and this skill.

Troubleshooting

• - browser-act: command not found — Run INLINECODE54

References