browser-automation-skill

What This Skill Does

The browser-automation-skill is a robust, headless browser automation toolkit integrated directly into the OpenClaw agent ecosystem. It allows agents to interact with web interfaces just like a human user would, but with the precision of programmatic control. The skill provides a comprehensive suite of commands for navigation, form manipulation, complex data extraction, and UI testing. By using a semantic element targeting system (@refs), agents can reliably identify interactive components on a webpage regardless of dynamic class names or complex nested structures. This skill acts as the bridge between the OpenClaw AI's decision-making capabilities and the real-world web, enabling tasks ranging from simple automated logins and form submissions to sophisticated multi-step data scraping and site monitoring.

Installation

To get started, ensure you have the OpenClaw CLI installed, then run the following commands in your terminal to integrate the skill into your local environment:

clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/stveenli/browserautomation-skill

For the browser engine dependencies, follow the quick install process to ensure headless compatibility:

npm install -g agent-browser agent-browser install --with-deps

Verify the installation by running agent-browser --version to confirm your setup is ready for execution.

Use Cases

This skill is highly versatile and fits various automated workflows:

1. Web Scraping & Data Mining: Collecting information from modern, JavaScript-heavy sites that are difficult to scrape with static tools.
2. Automated Testing: Performing end-to-end UI regression tests by scripting interaction paths and verifying state changes.
3. Form Filling & Submission: Automating repetitive tasks like application filings, data migration, or inventory updates.
4. Session Management: Maintaining authenticated states across multiple tasks to perform complex research or administrative duties.

Example Prompts

1. "Open the documentation site at https://docs.example.com, search for 'authentication', and extract the URL from the first search result."
2. "Go to the contact form at https://example.com/form, fill in the fields with my provided details, check the newsletter box, and submit the form."
3. "Navigate to the dashboard, snapshot the page to find the logout button, click it, and confirm the page title changes to 'Logged Out'."

Tips & Limitations

Always follow the core workflow pattern: Open, Snapshot, Interact, Verify, Repeat, Close. The most critical step is the snapshot; without a fresh snapshot, your agent may attempt to interact with stale element references. When working with dynamic content, always include a wait step or verify the element's visibility via the snapshot. Be aware that headless browsers might be detected by certain advanced security services; use the tool responsibly and respect site robots.txt policies. Always check for existing session files to avoid unnecessary authentication loops.