web-ctl

web-ctl

Browser automation for AI agents - navigate, authenticate, and interact with web pages.

Overview

web-ctl gives agents persistent, session-based browser control through a single CLI. Agents navigate pages, fill forms, click buttons, and read content - all headlessly. When login or CAPTCHAs are needed, the browser opens for the human, then goes back to headless.

Architecture

/web-ctl
    │
    ├─→ /web-ctl:web-browse  → Headless actions (goto, click, type, read, snapshot)
    └─→ /web-ctl:web-auth    → Human-in-the-loop auth (headed browser, polls for success)

Agent
 └─ Skill("web-ctl", "run github click 'role=button[name=Post]'")
      └─ SKILL.md executes: node scripts/web-ctl.js run github click "..."
           └─ web-ctl.js:
                1. Loads session from state dir
                2. Opens Playwright launchPersistentContext(userDataDir)
                3. Executes action
                4. Closes context (cookies flush to disk)
                5. Returns JSON result to agent

Each invocation is a single Node.js process. No daemon, no MCP server, no IPC. Session state persists via Chrome's userDataDir with AES-256-GCM encrypted storage.

Installation

# Claude Code
agentsys install web-ctl

# Dependencies auto-install on first use
# To disable auto-install (CI/sandboxed environments):
# export WEB_CTL_SKIP_AUTO_INSTALL=1

Commands

/web-ctl

Describe what you want to do; the web-session agent orchestrates multi-step browsing.

/web-ctl                    # Agent-driven browsing session
/web-ctl goto <url>         # Navigate directly
/web-ctl auth <name>        # Authenticate to a site

/web-ctl:web-auth

Human-in-the-loop authentication. Opens a headed browser for the user to complete login (including 2FA), then captures and encrypts the session.

/web-ctl:web-auth github --url "https://github.com/login"
/web-ctl:web-auth twitter --url "https://x.com/i/flow/login" --success-url "https://x.com/home"

/web-ctl:web-browse

Headless browser actions for navigation and interaction.

/web-ctl:web-browse github goto "https://github.com"
/web-ctl:web-browse github click "role=link[name='Settings']"
/web-ctl:web-browse github click-wait "role=button[name='Save']"
/web-ctl:web-browse github snapshot

Session Lifecycle

# 1. Create session
web-ctl session start github

# 2. Authenticate (opens headed browser, user logs in)
web-ctl session auth github --url "https://github.com/login" --success-url "https://github.com"

# 3. Browse headlessly (session cookies persist across invocations)
web-ctl run github goto "https://github.com/settings"
web-ctl run github snapshot
web-ctl run github click "role=link[name='Profile']"

# 4. End session
web-ctl session end github

Action Reference

Action	Usage	Returns
goto	run <s> goto <url> [--no-auth-wall-detect] [--no-content-block-detect] [--no-auto-recover] [--ensure-auth] [--wait-loaded]	{ url, status, authWallDetected, checkpointCompleted, ensureAuthCompleted, waitLoaded, contentBlocked, headedFallback, warning, snapshot }
snapshot	run <s> snapshot	{ url, snapshot }
click	run <s> click <sel> [--wait-stable]	{ url, clicked, snapshot }
click-wait	run <s> click-wait <sel> [--timeout]	{ url, clicked, settled, snapshot }
type	run <s> type <sel> <text>	{ url, typed, selector, snapshot }
read	run <s> read <sel>	{ url, selector, content }
fill	run <s> fill <sel> <value>	{ url, filled, snapshot }
wait	run <s> wait <sel> [--timeout]	{ url, found, snapshot }
evaluate	run <s> evaluate <js>	{ url, result }
screenshot	run <s> screenshot [--path]	{ url, path }
network	run <s> network [--filter]	{ url, requests }
checkpoint	run <s> checkpoint [--timeout]	{ url, message }

Macros