Create Automation Skill

Guide Claude through creating new browser automation scripts using the browse CLI.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• User wants to automate a website task
• User needs to scrape data from a site
• User wants to create a Browserbase Function
• Starting from scratch on a new automation

Prerequisites

Requires the browse CLI and Chrome/Chromium:

browse --version  # Check if installed
bash scripts/setup-browse.sh  # Install if needed

Install manually: pnpm add -g @browserbasehq/browse-cli

Workflow

1. Understand the Goal

Ask clarifying questions:

• What website/URL are you automating?
• What's the end goal (extract data, submit forms, monitor changes)?
• Does it require authentication?
• Should this run on a schedule or on-demand?

2. Explore the Site Interactively

The browse CLI auto-starts a Chrome daemon on first command. State persists between commands.

browse goto https://example.com
browse snapshot

Take screenshots to see the visual layout:

browse screenshot -o exploration.png

3. Identify Key Elements

For each step of the automation, identify:

• Selectors for interactive elements
• Wait conditions needed
• Data to extract

Use the accessibility tree refs to understand element relationships:

[@0-5] button: "Submit"
[@0-6] textbox: "Email"
[@0-7] textbox: "Password"

4. Test Interactions Manually

Before writing code, verify each step works:

browse fill @0-6 "[email protected]"
browse fill @0-7 "password123"
browse click @0-5
browse wait networkidle
browse snapshot

5. Enable Network Capture (if needed)

For API-based automations or debugging:

browse network on
# perform actions
browse network list
browse network show 0

6. Create the Function

Once you understand the flow, create a full function project.

For serverless deployment, see the /functions skill which covers the bb CLI.

For a quick script, write the automation logic:

import { chromium } from "playwright-core";

async function automate() {
  const browser = await chromium.launch({ headless: true });
  const page = await browser.newPage();

  // Your automation steps here
  await page.goto("https://example.com");
  await page.fill('input[name="email"]', "[email protected]");
  await page.click('button[type="submit"]');
  
  // Extract and return data
  const result = await page.textContent('.result');
  console.log(result);

  await browser.close();
}

automate();

7. End the Session

When done exploring:

browse stop

Best Practices

Selectors

• Prefer data attributes (data-testid) over CSS classes
• Use text content as fallback (text=Submit)
• Avoid fragile selectors like nth-child

Waiting

• Always wait for navigation/network after clicks
• Use waitForSelector for dynamic content
• Set reasonable timeouts

Error Handling

• Wrap risky operations in try/catch
• Return structured error information
• Log intermediate steps for debugging

Data Extraction

• Use page.evaluate() for complex extraction
• Validate extracted data before returning
• Handle missing elements gracefully

Example: E-commerce Price Monitor

import { chromium } from "playwright-core";

async function monitorPrice(productUrl: string) {
  const browser = await chromium.launch({ headless: true });
  const page = await browser.newPage();

  await page.goto(productUrl);
  await page.waitForSelector('.price');

  const price = await page.evaluate(() => {
    const el = document.querySelector('.price');
    return el?.textContent?.replace(/[^0-9.]/g, '');
  });

  await browser.close();

  return {
    url: productUrl,
    price: parseFloat(price || '0'),
    timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
  };
}

Next Steps

Once you've tested your automation interactively:

• For one-time scripts: Run locally with Node.js
• For scheduled/webhook automation: Use /functions skill to deploy to Browserbase
• For authenticated workflows: See /auth skill for handling logins