silicon-browser 0.1.3

Terminal-native browser CLI for AI agents, powered by Steel Browser.

Silicon Browser

A terminal-native browser CLI for AI agents — same command surface as the original silicon-browser, but every browser runs in the cloud on Steel. No local Chromium, no stealth-patch maintenance: Steel provides the browser, fingerprinting, proxies, and CAPTCHA solving; Silicon Browser gives you a fast, scriptable CLI on top with a stable @ref element model and shareable remote-access links.

How it works

• Each named session is a Steel cloud browser, driven over CDP via Playwright.
• The browser lives in Steel's cloud and persists between commands; Silicon Browser keeps a small local state file per session (~/.silicon-browser/sessions/<name>.json) recording the session id, active tab, and the last snapshot's @ref → element map.
• Every command opens a short-lived CDP connection, does its work, and disconnects. Disconnecting does not end the cloud browser — only close (or the session timeout) does.

Install

Install directly from GitHub (no clone needed):

uv tool install git+https://github.com/saket1225/silicon-browser.git
# or:  pipx install git+https://github.com/saket1225/silicon-browser.git

Or from a local clone:

git clone https://github.com/saket1225/silicon-browser.git
cd silicon-browser
uv tool install .          # or: pipx install .

Then save your key — the easiest way is the login command, which prompts for the key (hidden input), verifies it against Steel, and stores it persistently in ~/.silicon-browser/config.env (owner-only 0600):

silicon-browser login          # prompts for your key, verifies & saves it
# or non-interactively:
silicon-browser login --key ste-...

Once saved, every command picks it up automatically — no need to re-export it. Prefer environment variables? Those still work and take precedence:

export STEEL_API_KEY=ste-...   # or put it in a project-local .env file
silicon-browser install        # verifies your key + connectivity

Resolution order (first wins): STEEL_API_KEY env var → project-local ./.env → saved ~/.silicon-browser/config.env.

Get a key at app.steel.dev. Note that session/link lifetimes are capped by your Steel plan (e.g. 15 min on the hobby plan); Silicon Browser clamps to your plan's maximum automatically and tells you when it does.

Usage

silicon-browser open example.com         # start a session and navigate
silicon-browser snapshot -i              # list interactive elements with @refs
silicon-browser click @e1                # click by ref
silicon-browser fill @e2 "hello"         # fill an input
silicon-browser type "search query"      # keystroke-level typing
silicon-browser get text @e3             # extract text / html / value
silicon-browser screenshot               # saved under ~/.silicon-browser/screenshots
silicon-browser evaluate "document.title"
silicon-browser file session upload ./data.csv
silicon-browser file input @e4 /files/data.csv
silicon-browser file session archive
silicon-browser tabs                     # list tabs
silicon-browser tab new example.org      # open / switch tabs
silicon-browser tab select 0
silicon-browser close                    # release the cloud browser

Commands

Command	Description
open <url>	Navigate (starts a session if none active)
snapshot [-i] [--json]	Accessibility tree with @refs; -i = interactive only
click @ref	Click an element
fill @ref "text"	Fill an input
type "text" [--delay ms]	Type at the keyboard level
select @ref "value"	Select a dropdown option
hover @ref	Hover an element
scroll [down|up|top|bottom] [--amount px]	Scroll the page
get text|html|value @ref	Extract from an element
screenshot [path] [--full-page]	Capture a screenshot
evaluate "js"	Run JavaScript, print the result
file session list|upload|download|archive|delete|clear	Manage files in the active browser session
file global list|upload|download|delete	Manage global Steel file storage
file input @ref /files/name	Set a file input to one or more session files
tabs / tab new [url] / tab select <n>	Manage tabs
share [--expiry min] [--view-only] [--new]	Remote access link (see below)
status / sessions	Inspect sessions
profile list|save <name>|delete <name>	Persistent identities
close	Release the cloud browser
login [--key ...]	Enter & save your Steel API key (prompts if no --key)
install	Verify Steel credentials

Files

Steel session files live inside the remote browser VM under /files. Upload a local file into the current session, then bind it to a web page file input:

silicon-browser snapshot -i
silicon-browser file session upload ./invoice.pdf
silicon-browser file input @e7 /files/invoice.pdf

Downloads created by the browser also appear in the session file list:

silicon-browser file session list
silicon-browser file session download /files/report.csv ./report.csv
silicon-browser file session archive ./session-files.zip

Global files persist across sessions and can be copied into a session by path:

silicon-browser file global upload ./dataset.csv --path datasets/latest.csv
silicon-browser file session upload /files/datasets/latest.csv

Global options

--session/-s <name> (parallel sessions) · --profile <name> · --incognito · --proxy <url> · --user-agent <ua> · --solve-captcha

Remote access links

Generate a shareable link to watch — or take control of — the live cloud browser:

silicon-browser share                      # interactive link, expires in 60 min
silicon-browser share --expiry 30          # custom expiry (minutes)
silicon-browser share --view-only          # watch only, no control
silicon-browser share --new --expiry 120   # fresh session dedicated to the link

The link's lifetime is the Steel session timeout, so the expiry is enforced server-side: when it elapses, Steel tears the browser down and the link stops working. The default is 60 minutes (clamped to your plan's maximum if lower).

• Interactive (default): recipients can click and type in the live browser.
• View-only (--view-only): recipients can watch but not control.

Because Steel fixes a session's timeout at creation, share on an existing session reports that session's real expiry; use --new to mint a fresh session with exactly the expiry you ask for.

Profiles

A profile saves a session's cookies + local/session storage + IndexedDB so identity persists across sessions:

silicon-browser --profile work open github.com   # reuse saved context
silicon-browser --profile work close             # context is saved on close
silicon-browser profile list

Configuration

Variable	Purpose
STEEL_API_KEY	Your Steel API key (required)
STEEL_BASE_URL	Override the Steel API base URL (self-hosted Steel)
STEEL_CONNECT_URL	Override the CDP connect host (self-hosted Steel)
SILICON_BROWSER_HOME	State directory (default ~/.silicon-browser)

silicon-browser login writes STEEL_API_KEY to $SILICON_BROWSER_HOME/config.env (default ~/.silicon-browser/config.env, 0600). Delete that file to "log out".

License

Apache-2.0