wb Browser Automation

Principles

• Use the installed wb command directly.
• Browser IDs are persistent. Reuse the returned ID until the task is done, then remove it when appropriate.
• When the URL is known, start with wb <url>; it creates the browser and returns its ID. Use wb create only for an empty browser before a URL is known.
• Prefer fast commands. URL opens return after page HTML readiness while resources may keep loading.
• Do not add --resource-timeout to initial navigation as a precaution.
• Use --resource-mode lean for headless research when page images, media, and fonts are not needed.
• Use wb wait-resources <id> when loaded resources matter after navigation.
• Use wb page <id> --resource-timeout <seconds> when page JSON should wait.
• After navigation, interaction, scroll, or rerender, refresh with wb page <id> before reusing actions.
• Run wb --help or wb <command> --help for exact syntax and advanced flags.

Core Workflow

Start from a known URL in one command:

id=$(wb https://example.com | jq -r '.browser')
wb page "$id" --fields title,url,actions
wb click "$id" 1
wb page "$id" --fields title,url,text,actions
wb remove "$id"

If a browser already exists, find or reuse it:

wb list
wb "$id" https://example.com

Command Map

• Start/load: wb <url> (new browser), wb <id> <url> (existing browser), wb create (empty browser only)
• Resource mode: add --resource-mode lean for faster headless loads, --resource-mode full for normal loads.
• Wait: wb wait-resources <id> [--resource-timeout <seconds>]
• Inspect: wb list [--quiet|-q], wb page <id> [--fields ...] [--selectors|--action-details] [--resource-timeout ...]
• Interact: wb click, wb type, wb fill, wb submit
• Coordinates: wb click <id> <x> <y>, wb press, wb drag, wb release, wb scroll
• View/capture: wb show, wb hide, wb resize, wb screenshot
• Script: wb eval
• Admin: wb env, wb install-skill, wb update, wb version, wb daemon ..., wb remove

Typing

• Always try wb type first for inputs, textareas, and contenteditable fields.
• Defaults are native backend plus natural rhythm. Do not add flags unless you need a fallback or comparison.
• Native/natural sends AppKit key events through the persistent browser with short word and punctuation pauses.
• Default typing speed is --speed 4.0; use --speed 1.0 for the base delay speed.
• Use --backend js only when native typing is unavailable.
• Use --rhythm flat only when deterministic timing matters.
• Use fill for deliberate direct assignment, simple controls such as selects, or fallback.

Page JSON

• Use --fields to keep output small.
• Common fields: title,url,actions,text,resources,resourceCount,htmlBytes,jsonBytes.
• Loading fields: progress,loading,resourcesLoading.
• Actions use 1-based indexes. Request details only when IDs, tags, types, or selectors are needed.
• Omitted values mean defaults.

wb page "$id" --fields title,url,actions
wb wait-resources "$id" --resource-timeout 3
wb page "$id" --fields title,url,resources

Extraction

• Prefer wb page --fields ... before reaching for JavaScript.
• Use wb eval <id> --body for small, targeted JSON extraction from DOM structure.
• Return bounded arrays and strings from eval; avoid full outerHTML or full body text unless explicitly needed.

wb eval "$id" --body '
  const rows = [...document.querySelectorAll("table tr")]
    .slice(0, 50)
    .map(tr => [...tr.cells].map(td => td.innerText.trim()))
    .filter(row => row.length);
  return JSON.stringify(rows);
' | jq -c '.[]'

Screenshots And Coordinates

• Screenshots, coordinate clicks, gestures, and scroll use the same viewport with top-left origin coordinates.
• Use screenshots for canvas/custom controls, visual state, or when actions are missing.
• Default screenshots wait briefly for resources and visual settling. Increase resource timeout only when needed.

wb screenshot "$id" /tmp/page.png
wb click "$id" 640 420
wb scroll "$id" 640 780 0 700

Live Preview

• Use wb show <id> for user handoff, credentials, MFA, CAPTCHA, passkeys, SSO, or visual debugging.
• Showing a lean browser promotes it to full resource mode before display.
• Continue with the same browser ID after handoff, then run wb page <id> before acting again.
• Use wb hide <id> when the visible window is no longer useful; it keeps session state.

Error Handling

• If JSON returns ok:false, inspect error, browser, and any included page summary before retrying.
• If action indexes changed or appear stale, run wb page <id> again.
• If wb is unavailable, run the bundled install.sh next to this skill.