Browserbase CLI

# 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:

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

For authenticated commands, set the API key:

```bash
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

```bash
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

```bash
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

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

### Search API

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

### Templates

```bash
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](REFERENCE.md).