firefox

Firefox Control

Automate Firefox via AppleScript + System Events UI scripting.

All osascript calls require dangerouslyDisableSandbox: true.

What works / doesn't

Works natively:

• Open a URL (new tab)
• Get active tab title per window
• Close a window
• Window properties (bounds, visibility, minimize)
• Activate/focus Firefox

Works via UI scripting (System Events):

• Close current tab (Cmd+W)
• Switch to a tab by name (%<query> in address bar)
• Get current tab URL (Cmd+L → select all → copy)
• Any keyboard shortcut / menu item

Does NOT work:

• Enumerate all tabs in a window (Firefox doesn't expose tabs as AppleScript objects)
• Get URLs without focusing the tab first

---

Snippets

Open a URL

tell application "Firefox"
  activate
  open location "https://example.com"
end tell

Get active tab titles (one per window)

tell application "Firefox"
  set names to {}
  repeat with i from 1 to (count windows)
    try
      set end of names to (i as string) & ": " & name of window i
    end try
  end repeat
  return names
end tell

Close a window by index

tell application "Firefox"
  close window 2
end tell

Get current tab URL

tell application "Firefox"
  activate
end tell
delay 0.3
tell application "System Events"
  tell process "Firefox"
    keystroke "l" using command down
    delay 0.3
    keystroke "a" using command down
    delay 0.1
    keystroke "c" using command down
    delay 0.2
  end tell
end tell
do shell script "pbpaste"

Switch to a tab by name / URL fragment

-- Uses Firefox's built-in tab search: type "% <query>" in address bar
-- Must open a new tab first so the address bar is focused and ready
tell application "Firefox"
  activate
end tell
delay 0.5
tell application "System Events"
  tell process "Firefox"
    keystroke "t" using command down  -- open new tab (address bar auto-focused)
    delay 1
    keystroke "% YOUR_QUERY_HERE"
    delay 1.5
    key code 125  -- arrow down to first result
    delay 0.5
    key code 36   -- Enter to switch
  end tell
end tell

Close a tab by URL fragment

-- Open a new tab, search for the tab, switch to it, then close it
tell application "Firefox"
  activate
end tell
delay 0.5
tell application "System Events"
  tell process "Firefox"
    keystroke "t" using command down
    delay 1
    keystroke "% YOUR_QUERY_HERE"
    delay 1.5
    key code 125  -- arrow down to first result
    delay 0.5
    key code 36   -- Enter to switch to the found tab
    delay 0.8
    keystroke "w" using command down  -- close it
  end tell
end tell

Close the current tab

tell application "Firefox"
  activate
end tell
delay 0.2
tell application "System Events"
  tell process "Firefox"
    keystroke "w" using command down
  end tell
end tell

Send any keyboard shortcut

tell application "Firefox"
  activate
end tell
delay 0.2
tell application "System Events"
  tell process "Firefox"
    keystroke "r" using command down  -- e.g. Cmd+R to reload
  end tell
end tell

---

Important: always confirm before closing

Before closing any tab or window, confirm with the user which one to close. Prefer identifying by title. Never assume which window index is which without first listing window names.

To identify windows before acting:

tell application "Firefox"
  set names to {}
  repeat with i from 1 to (count windows)
    try
      set end of names to (i as string) & ": " & name of window i
    end try
  end repeat
  return names
end tell