browser-automation
Browser automation powers web testing, scraping, and AI agent interactions. The difference between a flaky script and a reliable system comes down to understanding selectors, waiting strategies, and anti-detection patterns.
Profile →npx skills add sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill browser-automation --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
What it does
The skill guides an agent to automate browser tasks for testing, scraping, and agent-like control, emphasizing Playwright as the default framework and Puppeteer as an alternative when stealth or Chrome-only needs arise. it describes a set of patterns and capabilities, including test isolation, auto-waiting, user-facing locators, stealth techniques, error recovery, parallel execution, and network interception.
How it works
- Frameworks: Playwright is the default choice; Puppeteer is an alternative for Chrome-only or stealth requirements; Selenium is listed for legacy scenarios.
- Patterns: enforces test isolation by running each test in a fresh browser context with a fresh page; uses auto-waiting rather than manual waits; captures debugging aids (screenshots, traces).
- Locators: prioritizes user-facing locators (getByRole, getByText, getByLabel, getByTestId) over CSS/XPath with CSS/XPath as a last resort.
- Waiting: relies on Playwright auto-wait; discourages manual waits except in explicit wait scenarios (e.g., specific network requests, URL changes).
- Anti-detection: includes a Stealth pattern with Puppeteer and Playwright variants, plus human-like behaviors and realistic configurations to avoid bot detection.
- Recovery and parallelism: defines error-recovery patterns with automatic screenshots, retries, and backoff; includes parallel execution patterns (Playwright test parallelization, multiple browser contexts) and rate-limited parallel options.
- Network: provides patterns for network interception to block resources, mock API responses, and capture API responses for testing and debugging.
- Examples: includes code snippets demonstrating test isolation, authentication reuse, and user-facing locator usage.
When to use it
- When you need reliable browser automation for testing, scraping, or agent-driven web interactions where sites may have anti-bot protections or dynamic content.
- When cross-browser support and auto-waiting are desirable, and you want to minimize manual waits.
- When you require robust debugging traces and structured test isolation for reproducibility.
What it can touch
- Frameworks and tools: Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium, Stealth plugins, Browserbase, BrowserStack.
- Code patterns and configurations: test isolation, authentication reuse, auto-wait, stealth behavior, error recovery, parallel execution, network interception, and mock responses.
Caveats
- Declared risk: critical.
- License: MIT.
- The guidance emphasizes Playwright as the default; Puppeteer has specific stealth and Chrome-only use cases.
- Anti-detection and stealth configurations are described as cat-and-mouse and may require staying current to avoid blocks.
# Browser Automation Browser automation powers web testing, scraping, and AI agent interactions. The difference between a flaky script and a reliable system comes down to understanding selectors, waiting strategies, and anti-detection patterns. This skill covers Playwright (recommended) and Puppeteer, with patterns for testing, scraping, and agentic browser control. Key insight: Playwright won the framework war. Unless you need Puppeteer's stealth ecosystem or are Chrome-only, Playwright is the better choice in 2025. Critical distinction: Testing automation (predictable apps you control) vs scraping/agent automation (unpredictable sites that fight back). Different problems, different solutions. ## Principles - Use user-facing locators (getByRole, getByText) over CSS/XPath - Never add manual waits - Playwright's auto-wait handles it - Each test/task should be fully isolated with fresh context - Screenshots and traces are your debugging lifeline - Headless for CI, headed for debugging - Anti-detection is cat-and-mouse - stay current or get blocked ## Capabilities - browser-automation - playwright - puppeteer - headless-browsers - web-scraping - browser-testing - e2e-testing - ui-auto
- Principles
- Capabilities
- Scope
- Tooling
- Frameworks
- Stealthtools
- Cloudbrowsers
- Patterns
- Test Isolation Pattern
- Playwright Test Example
- Shared Authentication Pattern
- User-Facing Locator Pattern
- Good Examples (User-Facing)
- Bad Examples (Fragile)
What does the browser-automation skill do?
Browser automation powers web testing, scraping, and AI agent interactions. The difference between a flaky script and a reliable system comes down to understanding selectors, waiting strategies, and anti-detection patterns.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills --skill browser-automation --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills, a repository with 44,414 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.