Steel Browser

Use Steel CLI browser tools to complete live web work now.

Setup

If Steel is missing or unauthenticated:

steel --version
steel login
steel doctor --preflight

If the CLI or installed skills look broken, run:

steel skills doctor

Done when this smoke test succeeds:

steel scrape https://example.com

Choose The Right Path

• Static page content: steel scrape <url>
• Screenshot: steel screenshot <url>
• PDF: steel pdf <url>
• Multi-step interaction, login, forms, or JS-heavy pages: steel browser ...
• Bot detection, CAPTCHA, proxy, or login reliability failure: collect evidence with steel-session-debugging, then use steel-reliability
• Reusable application code: use steel-developer

Start with the smallest tool that can finish the task. Escalate from scrape/screenshot/PDF to an interactive browser session only when interaction or state is required.

Interactive Session Workflow

steel browser start --session my-task --session-timeout 3600000
steel browser navigate https://example.com --session my-task
steel browser snapshot -i --session my-task
steel browser click @e1 --session my-task
steel browser wait --load networkidle --session my-task
steel browser snapshot -i --session my-task
steel browser stop --session my-task

Rules:

• Always use the same --session <name> on every command.
• Take a fresh snapshot -i after navigation or DOM changes because element refs expire.
• Prefer @eN refs from snapshots over brittle CSS selectors.
• Use steel browser batch when a sequence needs an action and immediate re-snapshot.
• Release/stop sessions unless the user explicitly asks to keep them open.

Troubleshooting

1. Run steel skills doctor for install or CLI-skill mismatch issues.
2. Run steel doctor --preflight for auth/API issues.
3. Use steel browser sessions and steel browser live --session <name> for active sessions.
4. For failed completed sessions, load steel-session-debugging.
5. For bot/proxy/CAPTCHA/identity fixes, load steel-reliability.

References

• references/steel-browser-commands.md: command reference.
• references/steel-browser-lifecycle.md: session lifecycle discipline.
• references/troubleshooting.md: recovery playbooks.
• references/migration-agent-browser.md: migration from upstream agent-browser.