browse-now 2.0.75

Browser automation CLI for AI agents - reliable element targeting through accessibility tree refs

browse-now

Browser automation CLI for AI agents. Control your browser from the command line with reliable element targeting through accessibility tree refs.

Part of Nowledge Mem - Personal memory for AI agents.

Why browse-now?

• Low overhead: No tool definitions loaded into LLM context (unlike MCP)
• Reliable targeting: Uses accessibility tree refs (@e1, @e2) for 95%+ click reliability
• AI-agent optimized: Designed for the snapshot → click → repeat workflow
• Multi-browser support: Works with Chrome, Arc, Edge, and other Chromium browsers

Installation

pip install browse-now

Prerequisites

1. Nowledge Memory Exchange Chrome extension (verson v2.0.71 or later) installed
2. Nowledge Mem app running (provides the bridge server)

Quick Start

# Navigate to a page
browse-now open https://example.com

# Get interactive elements with refs
browse-now snapshot -i
# Output:
#   textbox "Search" [e1]
#   button "Submit" [e2]
#   link "About" [e3]

# Click by ref
browse-now click @e2

# Fill input
browse-now fill @e1 "AI agents" --submit

Core Workflow

The browse-now workflow matches the Claude Chrome Extension pattern:

1. browse-now open <url>           # Open page (isolated agent tab)
2. browse-now snapshot -i          # Get refs [e1], [e2]...
3. browse-now click @e5            # Click by ref
4. browse-now fill @e3 "text"      # Fill by ref
5. (If page changed) → snapshot -i again

Command Reference

Navigation

browse-now open <url>              # Navigate (isolated tab by default)
browse-now open <url> --no-isolated  # Use current active tab
browse-now back                    # Go back
browse-now forward                 # Go forward
browse-now reload                  # Reload page

Snapshot (Page Analysis)

browse-now snapshot                # Full accessibility tree
browse-now snapshot -i             # Interactive elements only (recommended)
browse-now snapshot -i -w 1000     # Wait 1s for late-loading content
browse-now snapshot -s "main"      # Scope to CSS selector

Interactions

# Click by ref (95%+ reliable - primary method)
browse-now click @e1

# Click by text (85% reliable - fallback for dialogs)
browse-now click -T "Submit"
browse-now click -T "确认"         # Works with Chinese

# Fill and type
browse-now fill @e2 "text"         # Clear and type
browse-now fill @e2 "text" --submit  # Fill and submit
browse-now type @e2 "more"         # Append without clearing

# Other interactions
browse-now press Enter             # Press keyboard key
browse-now hover @e1               # Hover (reveal hidden UI)
browse-now scroll down 500         # Scroll page

Get Information

browse-now get text @e1            # Get element text
browse-now get title               # Get page title
browse-now get url                 # Get current URL
browse-now get page-text           # Extract full page text

Screenshots

browse-now screenshot page.png     # Save to file
browse-now screenshot --full       # Full page screenshot
browse-now screenshot -e @e1       # Element screenshot

Wait

browse-now wait @e1                # Wait for element
browse-now wait 2                  # Wait 2 seconds
browse-now wait 500ms              # Wait 500 milliseconds

Tabs

browse-now tabs                    # List open tabs
browse-now switch <tab_id>         # Switch to tab by ID
browse-now agent-tab status        # Check agent tab status

Multi-Browser

browse-now browsers                # List connected browsers
browse-now -b arc_123 open <url>   # Target specific browser

JSON Output

For programmatic use, add -j or --json:

browse-now -j snapshot -i
browse-now -j click @e1
browse-now -j get title

Python API

from browse_now import BrowserClient

async def main():
    async with BrowserClient() as browser:
        await browser.navigate("https://example.com")
        await browser.click("#login-btn")
        await browser.fill("#email", "[e-mail]")
        await browser.fill("#password", "secret", submit=True)

import asyncio
asyncio.run(main())

Sync API

from browse_now import BrowserClientSync

browser = BrowserClientSync()
browser.navigate("https://example.com")
browser.click("#btn")

Reliability Guide

Method	Reliability	Use Case
click @eN	95%+	Primary method
click -T "text"	85%	Fallback for dialogs/menus

Decision tree:

1. snapshot -i → Found ref? → click @eN
2. Sparse results? → Use screenshot + click -T "visible text"
3. Re-snapshot with -w 1000 if content loads late

Example: Weibo Delete Flow

browse-now snapshot -i             # Find "更多" [e45]
browse-now click @e45              # Open menu
browse-now snapshot -i             # Find "删除" [e67]
browse-now click @e67              # Delete
browse-now snapshot -i             # Find "确定" [e89]
browse-now click @e89              # Confirm

Troubleshooting

1. No browser connected: Make sure the Nowledge Memory Exchange extension is installed and active
2. Connection refused: Ensure Nowledge Mem is running
3. Element not found: Run snapshot -i again after page changes
4. Sparse results: Site may have poor accessibility. Use screenshot + click -T "visible text"
5. Multiple browsers: Use -b <browser_id> to target specific browser

Documentation

• Full Documentation
• Nowledge Mem - Personal memory for AI agents
• Chrome Extension

Acknowledgments

Inspired by Claude Chrome Extension and vercel-labs/agent-browser for the browser automation approach.

License

Proprietary - see Nowledge Terms of Service