Browser-CLI: Let Your AI Agent Control the Browser from the Command Line

Ever wanted your AI coding assistant to actually use a browser? Not just read web pages, but click buttons, fill forms, take screenshots, and extract data — all from the terminal? That's exactly why I built Browser-CLI. Browser-CLI is a Go-based command-line tool that wraps Playwright to give AI agents full browser control through simple shell commands. No API keys, no browser extensions, no complex setup — just run a command and you're off. # Install git clone https://github.com/zmysysz/browser-cli cd browser-cli && make build && make install make setup-browsers # first time only # Use browser-cli navigate https://example.com browser-cli fill "#search" "hello world" browser-cli click "button[type=submit]" browser-cli text Playwright is great, but it's a library — you need to write code to use it. Browser-CLI turns it into a universal CLI interface that any AI agent can call without writing a single line of automation code. This means: Claude Code can browse the web OpenAI Codex can fill forms and extract data Cursor can take screenshots and interact with pages Any AI agent can automate browser tasks through shell commands 🤖 AI-First Design — Structured JSON output, auto-managed server, clear command semantics 🔒 Session Isolation — Each agent gets its own browser instance via --session 🍪 Cookie Persistence — Auto save/load, login states preserved across sessions 🌐 Proxy Support — --proxy http://host:port for restricted networks 🎯 Web Components — smart-click and pick for custom elements and Shadow DOM ⌨️ Full Keyboard — Shortcuts, combos, Tab/Enter/Escape, Ctrl+A/C/V 📄 PDF & Screenshot — Export pages as PDF or PNG 📁 File Upload — Upload files to any <input type="file"> 30 Commands at a Glance Category Commands Navigate navigate, back, forward, reload Click click, click-js, smart-click, right-click, dblclick Input fill, type, select, keyboard, upload Extract text, screenshot, elements, eval, pdf Utility wait, scroll, pick Tabs tab-new, tab-list, tab-switch, tab-close Dialogs dialog-status, dialog-accept, dialog-dismiss Session status, stop, session-list, cookie Browser-CLI ships with ready-to-use integration files: File Tool How to Use integrations/claude/browser.md Claude Code Copy to .claude/commands/ integrations/codex/browser-cli.md OpenAI Codex Copy to ~/.codex/skills/ AGENTS.md Cursor, Windsurf Already in project root skills/browser-cli/SKILL.md GAL Copy to ~/.gal/skills/ Here's how an AI agent can search GitHub and extract results: # Navigate to GitHub browser-cli navigate https://github.com/search?q=browser+automation # Extract search results browser-cli eval "JSON.stringify( Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('.repo-list-item a.v-align-middle')) .map(a => ({name: a.textContent.trim(), url: a.href})) )" # Take a screenshot browser-cli screenshot github-results.png Browser-CLI uses a client-server architecture over Unix sockets: AI Agent → shell command → browser-cli (client) → Unix socket → server → Playwright → Browser The server auto-starts on first command and stays running. Multiple agents can connect simultaneously with isolated sessions. Pure Go binary, compiles with CGO_ENABLED=0: # Static Linux build make build-static # Cross-compile for Windows CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=windows GOARCH=amd64 go build -o browser-cli.exe . # Cross-compile for macOS CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=darwin GOARCH=arm64 go build -o browser-cli-mac . git clone https://github.com/zmysysz/browser-cli cd browser-cli && make build && make install make setup-browsers browser-cli navigate https://example.com Star ⭐ the repo if you find it useful! Feedback and contributions welcome. This article was drafted with the help of an AI agent — but the tool itself was built by hand. 😉