browser-automation

Browser Automation

CRITICAL RULES — VIOLATIONS WILL BREAK THE WORKFLOW:

1. Never run midscene commands in the background. Each command must run synchronously so you can read its output (especially screenshots) before deciding the next action. Background execution breaks the screenshot-analyze-act loop.
2. Run only one midscene command at a time. Wait for the previous command to finish, read the screenshot, then decide the next action. Never chain multiple commands together.
3. Allow enough time for each command to complete. Midscene commands involve AI inference and screen interaction, which can take longer than typical shell commands. A typical command needs about 1 minute; complex act commands may need even longer.
4. Always report task results before finishing. After completing the automation task, you MUST proactively summarize the results to the user — including key data found, actions completed, screenshots taken, and any relevant findings. Never silently end after the last automation step; the user expects a complete response in a single interaction.

Automate web browsing using npx -y @midscene/web@1. By default, launches a headless Chrome via Puppeteer that persists across CLI calls — no session loss between commands. Also supports CDP mode and Bridge mode to connect to an existing Chrome browser. Each CLI command maps directly to an MCP tool — you (the AI agent) act as the brain, deciding which actions to take based on screenshots.

What act Can Do

Inside a single act call in the browser, Midscene can click, right-click, double-click, hover, type or clear text, press keys, scroll, drag, long-press, and continue through multi-step page flows based on what is currently visible. When touch input is enabled, it can also handle swipe- or pinch-style interactions on touch-oriented pages.

When to Use

This skill has three modes. Choose based on the user's intent:

Mode Selection Guide

Mode	When to use	How it works
Puppeteer (default)	User wants to browse a URL, scrape data, test UI — no need for their own browser	Launches a new headless Chrome, isolated from user's browser
CDP mode	User says "connect to my Chrome", "control my browser", "CDP", "remote debugging", or wants to operate their existing browser. Also use when the task implicitly requires login state (e.g., "check my orders", "open my dashboard", "look at my account")	Connects to user's Chrome via DevTools Protocol. Requires remote debugging enabled (chrome://inspect > "Allow remote debugging"). No extension needed
Bridge mode	User explicitly mentions "bridge", "extension", or has Midscene Chrome Extension installed and prefers to use it	Connects to user's Chrome via the Midscene Chrome Extension

CDP vs Bridge: Both control the user's real Chrome with login sessions preserved. CDP only needs a Chrome setting toggle; Bridge needs a Chrome Extension installed. If the user doesn't specify, prefer CDP mode as it has fewer prerequisites.

Precheck: detect available connection modes

Before using CDP or Bridge mode, run a quick precheck to verify the target is reachable. This avoids long timeouts when the user hasn't enabled remote debugging or installed the extension.

# CDP precheck (port 9222, 2s timeout) — returns "101" if available
curl -s --max-time 2 -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" -H "Upgrade: websocket" -H "Connection: Upgrade" -H "Sec-WebSocket-Version: 13" -H "Sec-WebSocket-Key: dGhlIHNhbXBsZSBub25jZQ==" http://127.0.0.1:9222/devtools/browser

# Bridge precheck (port 3766, 2s timeout) — returns "200" or "400" if extension is listening
curl -s --max-time 2 -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" http://127.0.0.1:3766/socket.io/?EIO=4&transport=polling

How to use precheck results:

• CDP returns 101 → CDP mode is available, use --cdp
• Bridge returns 200 or 400 → Bridge extension is listening, use --bridge
• Both fail → Chrome may not be running. Try opening Chrome using a shell command appropriate for the current platform, wait 2-3 seconds, then re-run the precheck. If it still fails, fall back to Puppeteer mode or ask the user to check their Chrome settings.
• Both available and user didn't specify → prefer CDP

Prerequisites

Midscene requires models with strong visual grounding capabilities. The following environment variables must be configured — either as system environment variables or in a .env file in the current working directory (Midscene loads .env automatically):

MIDSCENE_MODEL_API_KEY="your-api-key"
MIDSCENE_MODEL_NAME="model-name"
MIDSCENE_MODEL_BASE_URL="https://..."
MIDSCENE_MODEL_FAMILY="family-identifier"

Example: Gemini (Gemini-3-Flash)

MIDSCENE_MODEL_API_KEY="your-google-api-key"
MIDSCENE_MODEL_NAME="gemini-3-flash"
MIDSCENE_MODEL_BASE_URL="https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/openai/"
MIDSCENE_MODEL_FAMILY="gemini"

Example: Qwen 3.5

MIDSCENE_MODEL_API_KEY="your-aliyun-api-key"
MIDSCENE_MODEL_NAME="qwen3.5-plus"
MIDSCENE_MODEL_BASE_URL="https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1"
MIDSCENE_MODEL_FAMILY="qwen3.5"
MIDSCENE_MODEL_REASONING_ENABLED="false"
# If using OpenRouter, set:
# MIDSCENE_MODEL_API_KEY="your-openrouter-api-key"
# MIDSCENE_MODEL_NAME="qwen/qwen3.5-plus"
# MIDSCENE_MODEL_BASE_URL="https://openrouter.ai/api/v1"

Example: Doubao Seed 2.0 Lite

MIDSCENE_MODEL_API_KEY="your-doubao-api-key"
MIDSCENE_MODEL_NAME="doubao-seed-2-0-lite"
MIDSCENE_MODEL_BASE_URL="https://ark.cn-beijing.volces.com/api/v3"
MIDSCENE_MODEL_FAMILY="doubao-seed"

Commonly used models: Doubao Seed 2.0 Lite, Qwen 3.5, Zhipu GLM-4.6V, Gemini-3-Pro, Gemini-3-Flash.

If the model is not configured, ask the user to set it up. See Model Configuration for supported providers.

CDP Mode (Connect to Existing Browser)

Use CDP mode to control the user's existing Chrome browser. The default CDP endpoint is ws://127.0.0.1:9222/devtools/browser (port 9222 is Chrome's standard remote debugging port). If the user specifies a different port, replace 9222 accordingly.

Add --cdp <ws-endpoint> to every command:

npx -y @midscene/web@1 connect --cdp ws://127.0.0.1:9222/devtools/browser --url https://example.com
npx -y @midscene/web@1 act --cdp ws://127.0.0.1:9222/devtools/browser --prompt "click the button"
npx -y @midscene/web@1 take_screenshot --cdp ws://127.0.0.1:9222/devtools/browser
npx -y @midscene/web@1 disconnect --cdp ws://127.0.0.1:9222/devtools/browser

Important notes for CDP mode

• The browser is managed externally — disconnect releases the connection but does NOT close the browser. There is no close command in CDP mode.
• In CDP mode, connect --url navigates the existing active tab instead of opening a new tab.
• connect without --url attaches to the current active tab without navigating.
• If connection fails, ask the user to enable remote debugging: open chrome://inspect in Chrome and turn on "Allow remote debugging".

Bridge Mode (Connect via Chrome Extension)

Use Bridge mode when the user explicitly mentions "bridge", "extension", or has the Midscene Chrome Extension installed. Add --bridge to every command:

npx -y @midscene/web@1 --bridge connect --url https://example.com
npx -y @midscene/web@1 --bridge act --prompt "click the button"
npx -y @midscene/web@1 --bridge take_screenshot
npx -y @midscene/web@1 --bridge disconnect

Important notes for Bridge mode

• The user must have Chrome open with the Midscene Extension installed and enabled.
• Install the extension from Chrome Web Store: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/midscenejs/gbldofcpkknbggpkmbdaefngejllnief
• Check that the "bridge mode" indicator in the extension shows "Listening" status.
• disconnect only closes the CLI-side bridge connection, not the browser or tabs.
• If the extension is not installed, guide the user to install it or suggest switching to CDP mode instead.
• See the Bridge Mode documentation.

Commands

Connect to a Web Page

npx -y @midscene/web@1 connect --url https://example.com

Take Screenshot

npx -y @midscene/web@1 take_screenshot

After taking a screenshot, read the saved image file to understand the current page state before deciding the next action.

Perform Action

Use act to interact with the page and get the result. It autonomously handles all UI interactions internally — clicking, typing, scrolling, hovering, waiting, and navigating — so you should give it complex, high-level tasks as a whole rather than breaking them into small steps. Describe what you want to do and the desired effect in natural language:

# specific instructions
npx -y @midscene/web@1 act --prompt "click the Login button and fill in the email field with 'user@example.com'"
npx -y @midscene/web@1 act --prompt "scroll down and click the Submit button"

# or target-driven instructions
npx -y @midscene/web@1 act --prompt "click the country dropdown and select Japan"

Use a Reference Image for Precise Targeting

When the user provides a screenshot, icon, logo, or reference image and wants an exact visual match, prefer tap --locate instead of a generic act --prompt. Pass --locate as JSON. The prompt describes the target, images supplies named reference images, and convertHttpImage2Base64: true is useful when the image URL may not be directly accessible to the model.

npx -y @midscene/web@1 tap --locate '{
  "prompt": "tap the area contains the image",
  "images": [
    {
      "name": "target image",
      "url": "https://github.githubassets.com/assets/GitHub-Mark-ea2971cee799.png"
    }
  ],
  "convertHttpImage2Base64": true
}'

The same locate JSON shape also works for other commands that accept a locate parameter.

Disconnect

Disconnect from the page but keep the browser running:

npx -y @midscene/web@1 disconnect

Close Browser

Close the browser completely when finished (Puppeteer mode only):

npx -y @midscene/web@1 close

Consume Report Files

The generated HTML report is recommended for human reading first. It includes step-by-step execution details and replay videos for each operation, which makes it much easier to understand what happened and troubleshoot problems.

If another skill or tool needs to consume the report, first convert it with report-tool from the same platform CLI package. Prefer Markdown for LLM-based workflows. Use JSON when the report needs to be processed programmatically.

npx -y @midscene/web@1 report-tool --action to-markdown --htmlPath ./midscene_run/report/.../index.html --outputDir ./output-markdown
npx -y @midscene/web@1 report-tool --action split --htmlPath ./midscene_run/report/.../index.html --outputDir ./output-data

Workflow Pattern

The browser persists across CLI calls via a background Chrome process. Follow this pattern:

1. Connect to a URL to open a new tab
2. Take screenshot to see the current state, make sure the page is loaded.
3. Execute action using act to perform the desired action or target-driven instructions.
4. Close the browser when done (or disconnect to keep it for later)
5. Report results — summarize what was accomplished, present key findings and data extracted during the task, and list any generated files (screenshots, logs, etc.) with their paths

Best Practices

1. Always connect first: Navigate to the target URL with connect --url before any interaction.
2. Be specific about UI elements: Instead of "the button", say "the blue Submit button in the contact form".
3. Use natural language: Describe what you see on the page, not CSS selectors. Say "the red Buy Now button" instead of "#buy-btn".
4. Handle loading states: After navigation or actions that trigger page loads, take a screenshot to verify the page has loaded.
5. Close when done: Use close to shut down the browser and free resources.
6. Never run in background: Every midscene command must run synchronously — background execution breaks the screenshot-analyze-act loop.
7. Batch related operations into a single act command: When performing consecutive operations within the same page, combine them into one act prompt instead of splitting them into separate commands. For example, "fill in the email and password fields, then click the Login button" should be a single act call, not three. This reduces round-trips, avoids unnecessary screenshot-analyze cycles, and is significantly faster.
8. Always report results after completion: After finishing the automation task, you MUST proactively present the results to the user without waiting for them to ask. This includes: (1) the answer to the user's original question or the outcome of the requested task, (2) key data extracted or observed during execution, (3) screenshots and other generated files with their paths, (4) a brief summary of steps taken. Do NOT silently finish after the last automation command — the user expects complete results in a single interaction.
9. Prefer tap --locate when a reference image is provided: If the user shares a screenshot, icon, or logo and wants that exact visual target, use tap --locate with a multimodal locate JSON object such as { "prompt": "...", "images": [...] } instead of relying only on act --prompt.

Example — Dropdown selection:

npx -y @midscene/web@1 act --prompt "click the country dropdown and select Japan"
npx -y @midscene/web@1 take_screenshot

Example — Form interaction:

npx -y @midscene/web@1 act --prompt "fill in the email field with 'user@example.com' and the password field with 'pass123', then click the Log In button"
npx -y @midscene/web@1 take_screenshot

Troubleshooting

Connection Failures

• Ensure Chrome/Chromium is installed on the system (Puppeteer downloads its own by default).
• Check that no firewall blocks local Chrome debugging ports.

API Key Errors

• Check .env file contains MIDSCENE_MODEL_API_KEY=<your-key>.
• Verify the key is valid for the configured model provider.

Timeouts

• Web pages may take time to load. After connecting, take a screenshot to verify readiness before interacting.
• For slow pages, wait briefly between steps.

@midscene/* Dependency Version Outdated

• Check local versions: npm ls @midscene/web @midscene/core @midscene/shared (or pnpm why @midscene/web).
• Check latest versions: npm view @midscene/web version, npm view @midscene/core version, npm view @midscene/shared version.
• Upgrade dependencies: npm i @midscene/web@latest @midscene/core@latest @midscene/shared@latest.

Screenshots Not Displaying

• The screenshot path is an absolute path to a local file. Use the Read tool to view it.