silicon-browser 1.0.8

Terminal-native cloud browser CLI for AI agents.

Silicon Browser

A terminal-native browser CLI for AI agents — same command surface as the original silicon-browser, but every browser runs through Browserbase. No local Chromium, no stealth-patch maintenance: Silicon Browser gives you a fast, scriptable CLI with a stable @ref element model and shareable remote-access links.

How it works

• Each named session is a cloud browser, driven over CDP via Playwright.
• On Glass-managed Silicons, Glass automatically adopts the assigned persisted context and owns its single canonical provider session. Multiple Silicons can work concurrently through isolated, heartbeated tab leases without starting competing sessions against the same context.
• The browser lives remotely 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/teamofsilicons/silicon-browser.git
# or:  pipx install git+https://github.com/teamofsilicons/silicon-browser.git

Or from a local clone:

git clone https://github.com/teamofsilicons/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, 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 <browserbase-api-key>

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

export SILICON_BROWSER_API_KEY=<browserbase-api-key>   # or put it in a project-local .env file
# or:
export BROWSERBASE_API_KEY=<browserbase-api-key>
silicon-browser install        # verifies your key + connectivity

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

Glass-managed Silicons with an assigned context do not need a local Browserbase key. They acquire the canonical connect URL from Glass using .glass.json. Provider credentials remain in Glass.

Browserbase caps session/link lifetimes at 6 hours; Silicon Browser clamps higher requested values automatically and tells you when it does.

Usage

silicon-browser open example.com         # start a 180-minute session and navigate
silicon-browser open example.com --timeout 60
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 /tmp/.uploads/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> [--timeout min]	Navigate (starts a session if none active; default 180 min)
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	Not supported on Browserbase
file input @ref /tmp/.uploads/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
proxy current|status	Inspect provider-neutral network egress
close	Release the cloud browser
login [--key ...]	Enter & save your provider API key (prompts if no --key)
install	Verify credentials

Files

Uploaded session files live inside the remote Browserbase VM under /tmp/.uploads. 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 /tmp/.uploads/invoice.pdf

Browserbase downloads can be listed, downloaded by filename/id, or bundled into a local archive:

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

Provider-global file storage is not available on Browserbase.

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                      # current session link, expires in 120 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 blank session dedicated to the link

The link's lifetime is the remote session timeout, so the expiry is enforced server-side: when it elapses, Browserbase tears the browser down and the link stops working. The default is 120 minutes (clamped to Browserbase's maximum if higher).

• Interactive (default): recipients can click and type in the live browser.
• View-only (--view-only): the Silicon Browser interface renders the Browserbase live view without pointer events.

Because the provider 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.

If there is no active local session, share fails instead of silently creating an about:blank link. Open a page first, or pass --new when you explicitly want a fresh blank shared browser.

Glass session archives

On a Glass-managed Silicon, Glass registers the canonical Browserbase session when it creates it. Closing the final tab lease, timing out, or rolling over the session queues an asynchronous archive: Glass copies every recorded tab and HLS segment, provider metadata, browser logs, and downloaded files into private S3 storage. Team operators can watch live sessions and replay completed sessions from the team's Browser page in Glass. Standalone installations continue to use Browserbase directly.

Profiles

A profile maps a local name to a Browserbase Context, so cookies, storage, and login state persist 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

On Glass-managed silicons, the assigned Browserbase profile is used automatically, including when --profile is omitted. A CLI profile name is only needed for standalone installs or to select a locally named profile.

Glass is authoritative for managed contexts. If Glass or Browserbase cannot verify the canonical session, Silicon Browser fails closed instead of creating a second context writer. Tabs belonging to other Silicons are excluded from listing, selection, snapshots, refs, and close operations.

Silicon Browser also detects common login walls (login URLs and password forms), records the authentication state in Glass, and surfaces the live-view URL for human reauthentication. No browser provider can guarantee that a site will never revoke a session or apply bot/risk controls; this design keeps identity stable and makes recovery explicit instead of attempting to bypass those controls.

Network egress

Glass supports three provider-neutral modes for newly created canonical sessions: direct provider networking, Browserbase-managed egress, or one standard external proxy URL stored in Glass's encrypted provider-key store. The mode is fixed for the provider session and never silently changes during a tunnel failure.

silicon-browser proxy status   # Glass mode, region, context, and session usage
silicon-browser proxy current  # current session's egress source

Standalone sessions may still use an explicit --proxy <url>. Managed contexts ignore per-command proxy overrides because Glass must keep one stable network identity for every participant sharing the canonical session.

Configuration

Variable	Purpose
SILICON_BROWSER_API_KEY / BROWSERBASE_API_KEY	Browserbase API key (standalone sessions only)
SILICON_BROWSER_PROJECT_ID / BROWSERBASE_PROJECT_ID	Optional Browserbase project id
SILICON_BROWSER_BASE_URL / BROWSERBASE_BASE_URL	Override the Browserbase API base URL
SILICON_BROWSER_INTERFACE_URL	Override the branded share-link host (default https://browser.teamofsilicons.com)
SILICON_BROWSER_HOME	State directory (default ~/.silicon-browser)

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

License

Apache-2.0