browserbase-cli

name: browserbase-cli description: Use the Browserbase CLI (browse) for Browserbase Functions and platform API workflows. Use when the user asks to run browse, deploy or invoke functions, manage sessions, projects, contexts, or extensions, fetch a page through the Browserbase Fetch API, search the web through the Browserbase Search API, or scaffold starter templates. Prefer the Browser skill for interactive browsing; use the top-level browse driver commands (browse open, browse get, etc.) only when the user explicitly wants the CLI path. compatibility: "Requires the Browserbase CLI (npm install -g browse). API commands require BROWSERBASE_API_KEY." license: MIT allowed-tools: Bash

Browserbase CLI

Use the official browse CLI for Browserbase platform operations, Functions workflows, and Fetch API calls.

Setup check

Before using the CLI, verify it is installed:

which browse || npm install -g browse
browse --help

For authenticated commands, set the API key:

export BROWSERBASE_API_KEY="your_api_key"

When to use this skill

Use this skill when the user wants to:

• run Browserbase commands through browse
• scaffold, develop, publish, or invoke Browserbase Functions
• inspect or manage Browserbase sessions, projects, contexts, or extensions
• fetch a page through Browserbase without opening a browser session
• search the web through Browserbase without opening a browser session
• browse or scaffold starter templates with browse templates

When not to use this skill

• For interactive browsing, page inspection, screenshots, clicking, typing, or login flows, prefer the browser skill.
• For simple HTTP content retrieval where the user does not care about using the CLI specifically, the dedicated fetch skill is often a better fit.
• Use the top-level driver commands (browse open, browse get, browse click, …) only when the user explicitly wants the CLI path or is already working in a browse-centric workflow.

Command selection

• browse functions for local dev, packaging, publishing, and invocation
• browse cloud sessions, browse cloud projects, browse cloud contexts, browse cloud extensions for Browserbase platform resources
• browse cloud fetch <url> for Fetch API requests
• browse cloud search "<query>" for Search API requests
• browse templates to browse and scaffold starter templates
• browse open, browse get, browse click, etc. for direct local/remote browser driving
• browse skills install to install Browserbase agent skills for Claude Code

For local browser work, browse open <url> --local starts a clean isolated browser. Use browse open <url> --auto-connect only when you need to attach to an existing debuggable Chrome session.

Common workflows

Functions

browse functions init my-function
cd my-function
browse functions dev index.ts
browse functions publish index.ts
browse functions invoke <function_id> --params '{"url":"https://example.com"}'

Use browse functions invoke --check-status <invocation_id> to poll an existing invocation instead of creating a new one.

Platform APIs

browse cloud projects list
browse cloud sessions create --proxies --verified --region us-east-1
browse cloud sessions create --solve-captchas --context-id ctx_abc --persist
browse cloud sessions get <session_id>
browse cloud sessions downloads get <session_id> --output session-artifacts.zip
browse cloud contexts create --body '{"region":"us-west-2"}'
browse cloud extensions upload ./my-extension.zip

Fetch API

browse cloud fetch https://example.com
browse cloud fetch https://example.com --allow-redirects --output page.html

Search API

browse cloud search "browser automation"
browse cloud search "web scraping" --num-results 5
browse cloud search "AI agents" --output results.json

Templates

browse templates list
browse templates list --tag Python --source Browserbase
browse templates clone form-filling --language typescript
browse templates clone amazon-product-scraping --language python ./my-scraper

Best practices

1. Prefer browse --help and subgroup --help before guessing flags.
2. Use dash-case flags exactly as shown in CLI help.
3. Use --output <file> on browse cloud fetch and browse cloud search to save results to a file.
4. Use environment variables for auth unless the user explicitly wants one-off overrides.
5. Pass structured request bodies with JSON strings in --body or --params.
6. Remember that both browse functions ... and browse cloud ... use --base-url for API base URL overrides.

Troubleshooting

• Missing API key: set BROWSERBASE_API_KEY or pass --api-key
• Unknown flag: rerun the relevant command with --help and use the exact dash-case form
• Command not found: re-run npm install -g browse and verify with which browse

For command-by-command reference and more examples, see REFERENCE.md.