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-browserskill 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:1355 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 "http://myapp.localhost:1355"
# Without: fragile port guessing
agent-browser open "http://localhost:3000" # which app is this?
New in 2026-04 → 2026-05 (agent-browser 0.23 → 0.27.0)
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 withreact rendersto measure SPA route transitions without resetting profiling state.--init-script <path>(repeatable, envAGENT_BROWSER_INIT_SCRIPTS) +--enable <feature>(repeatable, envAGENT_BROWSER_ENABLE) — register scripts before first navigation;--enable react-devtoolsis built-in. Hook treats arbitrary init scripts as code-execution surface — same trust model asskills 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
doctorgenerating 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. coreskill expanded — comprehensive built-in usage guide covering snapshot-ref-act loops, reading, interaction, waiting, and troubleshooting.- Config JSON Schema —
$schemareference enables IDE auto-completion and validation againsthttps://agent-browser.dev/schema.json. - Fixed
--stateflag not loading saved cookies/localStorage at launch;--helpnow 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 bychat.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_PROVIDERenv var.
Dashboard (0.25):
- Embedded dashboard bundled with the binary — no separate install. Open via
agent-browser dashboardor theinspectCDP 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-dialogwhen a test needs to assert dialog content.
What's New (v0.17 → v0.22.2)
Breaking changes — update scripts now:
--full/-fmoved from global to command-level (v0.21): usescreenshot --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) |
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).
Performance (v0.20): 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 patternsportless(upstream) — Stable named.localhostURLs for local dev serversork:web-research-workflow— Unified decision tree for web researchork:testing-e2e— E2E testing patterns including Playwright and webapp testingork:api-design— API design patterns for endpoints discovered during scraping