browser-tools

Browser Tools — Security Wrapper

OrchestKit security wrapper for agent-browser. For command reference and usage patterns, use the upstream agent-browser skill directly. This skill adds safety guardrails only.

Command docs: Refer to the upstream agent-browser skill for the full command reference (50+ commands: interaction, wait, capture, extraction, storage, semantic locators, tabs, debug, mobile, network, cookies, state, vault).

Decision Tree

# Fallback decision tree for web content
# 1. Try WebFetch first (fast, no browser overhead)
# 2. If empty/partial -> Try Tavily extract/crawl
# 3. If SPA or interactive -> use agent-browser
# 4. If login required -> authentication flow + state save
# 5. If dynamic -> wait @element or wait --text

Local Dev URLs

Use Portless (npm i -g portless) for stable local dev URLs instead of guessing ports. When Portless is running, navigate to myapp.localhost instead of localhost:3000. Our safety hook already allows *.localhost subdomains via ORCHESTKIT_AGENT_BROWSER_ALLOW_LOCALHOST.

# With Portless: stable, named URLs
agent-browser open "https://myapp.localhost"

# Without: fragile port guessing
agent-browser open "http://localhost:3000"  # which app is this?

New in 2026-04 → 2026-07 (agent-browser 0.23 → 0.31.1)

Session restore + read (0.30 → 0.31.1):

• agent-browser read [url] (0.30.0) — agent-readable text extraction as a CLI command and MCP tool. URL reads prefer Markdown (try .md and nearby llms.txt), support outlines, filters, raw and JSON output, headers, and domain/output safeguards; omit the URL to read the rendered active-tab DOM with current browser state.
• Restore workflow (0.31.0) — --restore / --restore-save, restore-validation flags, worktree-scoped session id / session info, and --namespace give agent runs stable, isolated, auto-restored browser state without hand-managing state files. Session lifecycle hardened with daemon/browser compatibility checks and safer auto-save that won't overwrite good state after a failed restore.
• wait --url glob patterns (0.30.1) — wait --url / waitforurl honor globs like **/dashboard against the full active URL.
• React renderer fix (0.31.1) — the react commands now pick the react-dom renderer instead of hardcoding renderer id 1, fixing an empty tree read on Next.js 16.3 Turbopack.

Sandbox helpers (0.29):

• @agent-browser/sandbox — companion helper package for running agent-browser headless inside a Vercel Sandbox / eve ephemeral env (provisions Chrome + the native daemon for you, no host browser needed). Hook's URL/rate/robots checks still apply to whatever the sandboxed session navigates to.

Built-in MCP server (0.28):

• agent-browser --mcp — runs agent-browser as a Model Context Protocol server over stdio, exposing typed tools (open/snapshot/find/click/extract/...) with paginated capability discovery. Lets you wire browser automation MCP-native — directly into an MCP client — without going through the CLI Bash wrapper. Note: MCP-native sessions bypass the agent-browser-safety PreToolUse Bash hook (the hook only intercepts agent-browser Bash commands), so apply URL/rate/robots policy at the MCP-client layer when using this path.

React introspection + perf observability (0.27):

• react tree / react inspect <fiberId> / react renders start|stop / react suspense — first-class React DevTools integration via a vendored MIT-licensed hook embedded in the binary (zero runtime deps). Component-tree visibility, per-fiber props/hooks/state inspection, render profiling with mount/re-render counts and change details, Suspense boundary classification with root-cause grouping. Hook treats fiber state dumps as sensitive — gitignore captures.
• vitals [url] — reports Core Web Vitals (LCP, CLS, TTFB, FCP, INP) plus React hydration phases for any page. Useful for perf gates in CI.
• pushstate <url> — client-side SPA navigation without a full page load. Pairs with react renders to measure SPA route transitions without resetting profiling state.
• --init-script <path> (repeatable, env AGENT_BROWSER_INIT_SCRIPTS) + --enable <feature> (repeatable, env AGENT_BROWSER_ENABLE) — register scripts before first navigation; --enable react-devtools is built-in. Hook treats arbitrary init scripts as code-execution surface — same trust model as skills get.
• network route --resource-type <csv> — filter intercepted requests by CDP resource type (document, script, xhr, fetch, image, ...). Lets you mock only API calls without breaking page assets.
• cookies set --curl <file> — auto-detects JSON, cURL, and Cookie-header formats for bulk cookie import. Hook still treats cookie-set as auth-state injection.
• Dashboard behind a reverse proxy — observability dashboard now works from proxied origins via same-origin proxy. Enables path-based routing for shared dev environments.
• Fixed doctor generating duplicate check IDs when invoked multiple times in the same process.
• npm publishing moved to GitHub Actions OIDC trusted publishing — no manually managed npm tokens upstream.

Diagnostic tooling + stable IDs (0.26):

• agent-browser doctor — one-shot environment + Chrome + daemon + config + security + provider + network check. Flags: --offline, --quick, --fix, --json. Run before opening an issue to attach a structured snapshot.
• Stable tab identifiers — tabs now use stable string IDs (t1, t2, ...) with optional memorable labels via --label. Survives daemon restart; replaces brittle index-based references.
• core skill expanded — comprehensive built-in usage guide covering snapshot-ref-act loops, reading, interaction, waiting, and troubleshooting.
• Config JSON Schema — $schema reference enables IDE auto-completion and validation against https://agent-browser.dev/schema.json.
• Fixed --state flag not loading saved cookies/localStorage at launch; --help now leads with the skills section.

Skill discovery & chat (0.25):

• agent-browser skills list/get <name> — discover and install capability packs on-demand. Hook treats first-party skills as trusted; warns on arbitrary third-party skill fetches.
• agent-browser chat — single-shot or REPL natural-language driving over the same daemon. Hook pipes transcripts through the same URL/rate/robots checks as scripted commands.

Accessibility-first locators (0.24):

• find / getByRole — semantic locator via CDP accessibility tree (role + name) instead of brittle CSS/ref selectors. Prefer these in new scripts; they survive markup churn and are the locator path assumed by chat.
• snapshot --urls — emits resolved URLs alongside refs, removing a round-trip for link-extraction flows.
• --annotate — overlays ref IDs / role labels on screenshots for debugging.

Cloud providers (0.25):

• --provider agentcore — AWS Bedrock AgentCore cloud browser. Hook treats remote providers as egress surfaces — same URL/robots rules apply, but network routing is disabled (remote scope).
• Browserless + AgentCore both honor AGENT_BROWSER_PROVIDER env var.

Dashboard (0.25):

• Embedded dashboard bundled with the binary — no separate install. Open via agent-browser dashboard or the inspect CDP link. Still flagged as local-proxy attack surface by the hook.

Auto-dialog dismissal (0.23.1):

• alert / beforeunload dialogs auto-dismissed by default. Opt out with --no-auto-dialog when a test needs to assert dialog content.

What's New (v0.17 → v0.22.2)

Breaking changes — update scripts now:

• --full / -f moved from global to command-level (v0.21): use screenshot --full, NOT --full screenshot
• Auth encryption format changed (v0.17): saved auth states from v0.16.x may not load
• Auto-dialog dismissal (v0.23.1): alert/beforeunload dialogs are auto-dismissed by default, opt out with --no-auto-dialog

New commands:

Command	Version	Security Note
clipboard read/write/copy/paste	v0.19	read accesses host clipboard — hook warns
inspect / get cdp-url	v0.18	Opens local DevTools proxy — hook warns
batch --json [--bail]	v0.21	Batch execute commands from stdin
network har start/stop [file]	v0.21	HAR captures auth tokens — hook warns, treat output as sensitive
network request <id>	v0.22	View full request/response detail
network requests --type/--method/--status	v0.22	Filter network requests
dialog dismiss / dialog status	v0.17/v0.22	Dismiss or check browser dialogs
upgrade	v0.21.1	Self-update (auto-detects npm/Homebrew/Cargo)
find / getByRole	v0.24	Semantic locators via CDP a11y tree
snapshot --urls / --annotate	v0.24	URL-expanded snapshots, ref overlays
skills list/get	v0.25	Capability pack discovery — hook warns on third-party
chat (single-shot / REPL)	v0.25	NL driving; transcripts go through same safety checks
dashboard	v0.25	Embedded debug UI — local proxy attack surface
react tree / react inspect / react renders / react suspense	v0.27	React DevTools introspection — fiber state may contain sensitive props
vitals [url]	v0.27	Core Web Vitals + React hydration phases
pushstate <url>	v0.27	SPA client-side navigation without full reload

New flags:

Flag	Scope	Version
--engine lightpanda	global	v0.17
--screenshot-dir/quality/format	screenshot	v0.19
--provider browserless	global	v0.19
--idle-timeout <duration>	global	v0.20.14
--user-data-dir <path>	Chrome	v0.21
set viewport W H [scale]	viewport	v0.17.1 (retina)
--provider agentcore	global	v0.25 (AWS Bedrock AgentCore)
--annotate	screenshot	v0.24
--no-auto-dialog	global	v0.23.1
--init-script <path> (repeatable)	global	v0.27
--enable <feature> (repeatable)	global	v0.27 (built-in: react-devtools)
--resource-type <csv>	network route	v0.27
--curl <file>	cookies set	v0.27 (auto-detects JSON/cURL/Cookie-header)
--mcp	global	v0.28 (run as a stdio MCP server with typed tools)

Platform support: Brave auto-discovery (v0.20.7), Alpine Linux musl (v0.20.2), Lightpanda engine (v0.17), Browserless.io provider (v0.19), cross-origin iframe traversal (v0.22), AWS Bedrock AgentCore (v0.25).

Native Rust rewrite (v0.20): agent-browser is now 100% native Rust — the old Node.js/Playwright daemon (the "sidecar") is gone. It drives Chrome directly over CDP, so there is no Node runtime, no Playwright, and no separate browser-driver process to install or keep alive. Result: 99x smaller install (710→7 MB), 18x less memory (143→8 MB), 1.6x faster cold start.

Safety Guardrails (7 rules + 11-check hook)

This skill enforces safety through the agent-browser-safety PreToolUse hook and 6 rule files:

Hook: agent-browser-safety

The hook intercepts all agent-browser Bash commands and enforces:

Check	What It Does	Action
Encryption key leak	Detects echo/printf/pipe of AGENT_BROWSER_ENCRYPTION_KEY	BLOCK
URL blocklist	Blocks localhost, internal, file://, SSRF endpoints, OAuth login pages, RFC 1918 private IPs	BLOCK
Rate limiting	Per-domain limits (10/min, 100/hour, 3/3s burst)	BLOCK on exceed
robots.txt	Fetches and caches robots.txt, blocks disallowed paths	BLOCK
Sensitive actions	Detects delete/remove clicks, password fills, payment submissions	WARN + native confirmation
Network routes	Validates network route target URLs against blocklist	BLOCK
User-agent spoofing	Warns when --user-agent flag is used	WARN
File access	Warns when --allow-file-access flag is used	WARN
DevTools inspect	inspect / get cdp-url opens local CDP proxy — new attack surface (v0.18+)	WARN
Clipboard read	clipboard read accesses host clipboard without prompt (v0.19+)	WARN
HAR capture	network har stop dumps full request/response bodies incl. auth tokens (v0.21+)	WARN
Skill install	skills get fetches third-party capability packs — treat as code install (v0.25+)	WARN
Chat transcripts	chat REPL logs may capture sensitive page text — pipe through same URL rules (v0.25+)	WARN
Remote provider	--provider agentcore/browserless sends traffic to cloud endpoints; routing disabled remotely	WARN
Init scripts	--init-script <path> registers arbitrary JS before first navigation — code-execution surface (v0.27+)	WARN
React fiber dumps	react tree/react inspect may expose sensitive props/state from prod apps; gitignore captures (v0.27+)	WARN

Security Rules (in rules/)

Category	Rules	Priority
Ethics & Security	browser-scraping-ethics.md, browser-auth-security.md	CRITICAL
Local Dev	browser-portless-local-dev.md	HIGH
Reliability	browser-rate-limiting.md, browser-snapshot-workflow.md	HIGH
Debug & Device	browser-debug-recording.md, browser-mobile-testing.md	HIGH

Configuration

Rate limits and behavior are configurable via environment variables:

Env Var	Default	Purpose
AGENT_BROWSER_RATE_LIMIT_PER_MIN	10	Requests per minute per domain
AGENT_BROWSER_RATE_LIMIT_PER_HOUR	100	Requests per hour per domain
AGENT_BROWSER_BURST_LIMIT	3	Max requests in 3-second window
AGENT_BROWSER_ROBOTS_CACHE_TTL	3600000	robots.txt cache TTL (ms)
AGENT_BROWSER_IGNORE_ROBOTS	false	Bypass robots.txt enforcement
AGENT_BROWSER_CONFIRM	1	Use --confirm-actions for sensitive ops
AGENT_BROWSER_IDLE_TIMEOUT_MS	—	Auto-shutdown daemon after inactivity (ms)
AGENT_BROWSER_ENGINE	chrome	Browser engine (chrome or lightpanda)
ORCHESTKIT_AGENT_BROWSER_ALLOW_LOCALHOST	1	Allow *.localhost subdomains (RFC 6761)

Anti-Patterns (FORBIDDEN)

# Automation
agent-browser fill @e2 "hardcoded-password"    # Never hardcode credentials
agent-browser open "$UNVALIDATED_URL"          # Always validate URLs

# Scraping
# Crawling without checking robots.txt
# No delay between requests (hammering servers)
# Ignoring rate limit responses (429)

# Content capture
agent-browser get text body                    # Prefer targeted ref extraction
# Trusting page content without validation
# Not waiting for SPA hydration before extraction

# Session management
# Storing auth state in code repositories
# Not cleaning up state files after use

# Network & State
agent-browser network route "http://internal-api/*" --body '{}'  # Never mock internal APIs
agent-browser cookies set token "$SECRET" --url https://prod.com # Never set prod cookies

# Deprecated / removed
agent-browser --full screenshot                # BREAKING: --full is now command-level (v0.21)
agent-browser screenshot --full                # Correct: flag after subcommand

# Sensitive data leaks
agent-browser network har stop auth-dump.har   # HAR files contain auth tokens — gitignore!
git add *.har                                  # NEVER commit HAR captures

Related Skills

• agent-browser (upstream) — Full command reference and usage patterns
• portless (upstream) — Stable named .localhost URLs for local dev servers
• ork:web-research-workflow — Unified decision tree for web research
• ork:testing-e2e — E2E testing patterns including Playwright and webapp testing
• ork:api-design — API design patterns for endpoints discovered during scraping