squiz

🔍 squiz

squiz (skwɪz) — Australian slang: a quick look. "Have a squiz at that."

A Claude Code plugin that gives your agent eyes. Token-efficient browser automation using agent-browser with context isolation, so verbose browser output never pollutes your main session.

Works on Windows, WSL, Linux VMs, and macOS — no Chrome extension required.

Why Squiz Exists

Claude Code's built-in /chrome integration doesn't work in WSL or on remote VMs, and the Claude in Chrome extension has reliability issues on Windows (service worker drops, tab group clutter, named pipe conflicts). Playwright scripts work but are token-expensive — Claude writes, saves, executes, reads output, and debugs a JS file for every interaction.

agent-browser uses snapshot-based refs (@e1, @e2) via CLI commands, cutting context usage by ~93% compared to Playwright MCP. Squiz wraps it in a skill that forks into isolated context, runs the browser commands, and returns only a concise summary.

What's Included

Skill	Invocation	Purpose
squiz	Auto-triggers on browser tasks	Forked browser agent. Runs commands, returns summary only.
setup	/squiz:setup	Interactive wizard. Detects environment, configures everything.

Reference Files (loaded on demand)

• commands.md — Full CLI reference (50+ commands)
• patterns.md — 8 common automation recipes + anti-patterns
• troubleshooting.md — Windows Defender, WSL bridge, remote VM, permission setup

Install

From mad-skills Marketplace

/plugin marketplace add slamb2k/mad-skills
/plugin install squiz@mad-skills

Local Development

claude --plugin-dir /path/to/squiz

Then Run Setup

/squiz:setup

The wizard detects your OS, asks about your browser strategy, configures env vars and Claude Code permissions. Or do it manually:

npm install -g agent-browser
agent-browser install              # Downloads Chrome for Testing
# Linux: agent-browser install --with-deps

// .claude/settings.local.json
{ "permissions": { "allow": ["Bash(agent-browser *)"] } }

Usage

Just talk naturally:

Have a squiz at localhost:3000
Check the staging deployment for console errors
Take a screenshot of the dashboard
Fill in the contact form and submit it
Scrape the pricing table from that page

Squiz triggers automatically, forks into isolated context, runs agent-browser commands, and returns a concise summary. Your main session never sees raw snapshots, DOM trees, or console dumps.

Architecture

User prompt
  → Claude detects browser task
  → squiz skill triggers (context: fork, effort: medium)
    → Forked agent runs agent-browser CLI via Bash
    → Collects findings (errors, text, screenshots)
    → Returns summary only to parent session
  → Parent session acts on findings

Key design choices:

• context: fork — every invocation runs in an isolated context window
• effort: medium — mechanical CLI work doesn't need deep reasoning
• tools: Bash — locked to bash only; no file editing from the browser agent
• Progressive disclosure — SKILL.md is the core, references load on demand

Platform Support

Environment	Browser Mode	Auth Reuse
Linux VM (headless)	agent-browser's own Chrome	--session-name or --profile
Windows 11 native	Headless or auto-connect to Edge	--auto-connect (Edge + --remote-debugging-port=9222)
WSL 2	Headless, or bridge to Windows Edge	--port 9222 across WSL boundary
macOS	Headless or auto-connect to Chrome	--auto-connect

When NOT to Use Squiz

Need	Use Instead
Persistent E2E test suites	Playwright
Network interception / request mocking	Playwright
Multi-browser matrix testing	Playwright
CI/CD pipeline steps	Playwright
Native Windows + live Edge with extension	Claude in Chrome (/chrome)

Prerequisites

• npm (for installing agent-browser globally)
• No Node.js runtime needed at execution time — native Rust binary
• No Playwright, no Puppeteer, no MCP server config — zero-config CLI

Naming

squiz (skwɪz) — Australian/NZ English. Informal. "A quick or furtive look."

"Have a squiz at the deployment and tell me if the form's broken."

That's literally what the skill does.

License

MIT