Pp Browserbase

<!-- GENERATED FILE — DO NOT EDIT.
     This file is a verbatim mirror of library/cloud/browserbase/SKILL.md,
     regenerated post-merge by tools/generate-skills/. Hand-edits here are
     silently overwritten on the next regen. Edit the library/ source instead.
     See the repository agent guide, section "Generated artifacts: registry.json, cli-skills/". -->

Browserbase — Printing Press CLI

Prerequisites: Install the CLI

This skill drives the browserbase-pp-cli binary. You must verify the CLI is installed before invoking any command from this skill. If it is missing, install it first:

1. Install via the Printing Press installer. It defaults binaries to $HOME/.local/bin on macOS/Linux and %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PrintingPress\bin on Windows:

   npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install browserbase --cli-only

2. Verify: browserbase-pp-cli --version
3. Ensure the reported install directory is on $PATH for the agent/runtime that will invoke this skill.

If the npx install fails (no Node, offline, etc.), fall back to a direct Go install (requires Go 1.26.6 or newer). This installs into $GOPATH/bin (default $HOME/go/bin), so add that directory to $PATH instead:

go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/cloud/browserbase/cmd/browserbase-pp-cli@latest

If --version reports "command not found" after install, the runtime cannot see the binary directory on $PATH. Do not proceed with skill commands until verification succeeds.

Manage the full Browserbase surface — sessions, projects, downloads, contexts, agents, functions — from one agent-native CLI. Track orphaned sessions, batch-fetch with rate-limit pacing, diff agent runs, and watch usage trends from a local SQLite store that compounds across syncs.

When to Use This CLI

Use browserbase-pp-cli when you need to manage cloud headless browsers programmatically: create and clean up sessions, fetch pages or run web searches without writing browser code, track project usage, and manage agents or hosted functions. It is the right choice for automation scripts, CI pipelines, and AI agents that need structured, reproducible browser infrastructure operations.

Anti-triggers

Do not use this CLI for:

• Do not use this CLI for interactive browser automation with DOM clicks and form fills — that needs a live CDP session; use sessions run to get a connectUrl and attach Playwright/Puppeteer.
• Do not use this CLI as a general web scraper for sites with heavy anti-bot protection — use the fetch endpoint's proxy/stealth options deliberately.

Unique Capabilities

These capabilities aren't available in any other tool for this API.

Session lifecycle control

• sessions orphans — Find running sessions that were never released (keepAlive orphans) and the runtime they're burning, then optionally stop them in batch. Requires sync first — an unsynced store returns an empty scan.

  Reach for this when a crashed automation may have left billable sessions running — it turns a silent cost leak into a one-command cleanup.

  browserbase-pp-cli sessions orphans --older-than 15m --stop --json

• sessions run — Create a session, print its connect URL, and guarantee it is released on completion, timeout, or interrupt.

  Use when you need a browser session for a script or agent without leaking keepAlive sessions on failure.

  browserbase-pp-cli sessions run --project 1fbe3566-db19-4010-9410-0ba94f0497ea --timeout 15m

Agent-native fetch pipeline

• fetch batch — Fetch a list of URLs with rate-limit pacing and a resumable checkpoint, so large scrape jobs survive interruptions.

  Reach for this when scraping a list of pages: it paces requests, skips already-fetched URLs, and reports per-URL status.

  browserbase-pp-cli fetch batch --file urls.txt --format markdown --resume --json

• agents runs diff — Compare two agent runs structurally — message sequences and final structured results — to see what changed between prompt iterations.

  Reach for this when iterating on an agent's prompt or schema and you need to see exactly what changed between two runs.

  browserbase-pp-cli agents runs diff 52f6b13d-eb27-436d-86ff-356b2fd01697 2d310606-42fa-483c-9a7b-7102a85ddb09 --json

Local state that compounds

• projects digest — See everything that ran in a project this week — sessions, agent runs, and downloads grouped by day — from the local store. Requires sync first; an unsynced store returns an empty digest.

  Use when reviewing what a project actually did over a period, without clicking through the dashboard.

  browserbase-pp-cli projects digest --project 1fbe3566-db19-4010-9410-0ba94f0497ea --since 7d --json

• usage trend — Track per-project browserMinutes and proxyBytes over sync history and spot quota creep before the bill arrives. Requires sync first; an unsynced store returns an empty trend.

  Use when you own the Browserbase bill and want to see usage direction, not just a snapshot.

  browserbase-pp-cli usage trend --project 1fbe3566-db19-4010-9410-0ba94f0497ea --since 30d --json

• web history — Review past fetch and search calls with cached results, and re-emit a cached response without re-hitting the API. Requires sync first; an unsynced store returns an empty history.

  Reach for this when you need provenance for what was fetched, or want to re-run a prior result offline.

  browserbase-pp-cli web history --since 7d --type fetch --json

Command Reference

agents — Manage agents

• browserbase-pp-cli agents create — Create a reusable agent. An agent defines a systemPrompt and resultSchema that guide its behavior for every run.
• browserbase-pp-cli agents delete — Delete an agent. Runs that already referenced this agent are unaffected.
• browserbase-pp-cli agents get — Retrieve an agent by ID.
• browserbase-pp-cli agents list — List agents across your account. Supports filtering by creation time.
• browserbase-pp-cli agents runs-create — Run a browser agent to complete the task by using web search and browser tooling.
• browserbase-pp-cli agents runs-get — Retrieve the current status and details of a run, including its result and associated session information.
• browserbase-pp-cli agents runs-list — List runs across your account. Supports filtering by status, by the agent they reference, and by creation time.
• browserbase-pp-cli agents runs-messages — Returns a paginated list of messages produced by a run, in chronological order, with the oldest messages first.
• browserbase-pp-cli agents runs-stop — Request that an in-progress run stop. The run winds down and transitions to STOPPED.
• browserbase-pp-cli agents update — Update an existing agent. Only the fields provided in the body are modified; omitted fields are left unchanged.

certificates — Manage certificates

• browserbase-pp-cli certificates delete — Delete a Certificate
• browserbase-pp-cli certificates get — Get a Certificate
• browserbase-pp-cli certificates list — List Certificates
• browserbase-pp-cli certificates upload — Upload a Certificate

contexts — Manage contexts

• browserbase-pp-cli contexts create — Create a Context
• browserbase-pp-cli contexts delete — Delete a Context
• browserbase-pp-cli contexts get — Get a Context

downloads — Manage downloads

• browserbase-pp-cli downloads delete — Delete a download file from storage and mark as deleted.
• browserbase-pp-cli downloads get — Get download metadata (Accept: application/json) or file content (Accept: application/octet-stream).
• browserbase-pp-cli downloads list — List all downloads for a session with optional filtering and pagination.

extensions — Manage extensions

• browserbase-pp-cli extensions delete — Delete an Extension
• browserbase-pp-cli extensions get — Get an Extension
• browserbase-pp-cli extensions upload — Upload an Extension

fetch — Manage fetch

• browserbase-pp-cli fetch — Fetch a page and return its content, headers, and metadata.

functions — Manage functions

• browserbase-pp-cli functions builds-get — Get a Function Build
• browserbase-pp-cli functions builds-get-logs — Get Function Build Logs
• browserbase-pp-cli functions builds-list — List Function Builds
• browserbase-pp-cli functions get — Get a Function
• browserbase-pp-cli functions invocations-get — Get an Invocation
• browserbase-pp-cli functions invocations-get-logs — Get Invocation Logs
• browserbase-pp-cli functions list — List Functions
• browserbase-pp-cli functions versions-get — Get a Function Version
• browserbase-pp-cli functions versions-list-invocations — List Invocations for a Function Version

projects — Manage projects

• browserbase-pp-cli projects get — Get a Project
• browserbase-pp-cli projects list — List Projects

sessions — Manage sessions

• browserbase-pp-cli sessions create — Create a Session
• browserbase-pp-cli sessions get — Get a Session
• browserbase-pp-cli sessions list — List Sessions
• browserbase-pp-cli sessions update — Update a Session

websearch — Manage websearch

• browserbase-pp-cli websearch — Perform a web search and return structured results.

Finding the right command

When you know what you want to do but not which command does it, ask the CLI directly:

browserbase-pp-cli which "<capability in your own words>"

which resolves a natural-language capability query to the best matching command from this CLI's curated feature index. Exit code 0 means at least one match; exit code 2 means no confident match — fall back to --help or use a narrower query.

Recipes

Clean up orphaned sessions

browserbase-pp-cli sessions orphans --older-than 15m --stop --json

Find and release sessions that were never explicitly stopped, preventing wasted browser minutes.

Scrape a list of URLs safely

browserbase-pp-cli fetch batch --file urls.txt --format markdown --resume --json

Fetch many pages with rate-limit pacing and resumable progress.

Weekly project review

browserbase-pp-cli projects digest --project 1fbe3566-db19-4010-9410-0ba94f0497ea --since 7d --json

See every session, agent run, and download in the project this week.

Check usage trend

browserbase-pp-cli usage trend --project 1fbe3566-db19-4010-9410-0ba94f0497ea --since 30d --json

Spot quota creep before the bill arrives.

Narrow a fetch response for agents

browserbase-pp-cli fetch --url https://news.ycombinator.com --format markdown --agent --select statusCode,markdown

Fetch a page and select only the fields an agent needs, saving context.

Auth Setup

Set BROWSERBASE_API_KEY (your key looks like bb_live_...). Optionally set BROWSERBASE_PROJECT_ID to scope commands to a project.

Run browserbase-pp-cli doctor to verify setup.

Agent Mode

Add --agent to any command. Expands to: --json --compact --no-input --no-color --yes.

• Pipeable — JSON on stdout, errors on stderr

• Filterable — --select keeps a subset of fields. Dotted paths descend into nested structures; arrays traverse element-wise. Critical for keeping context small on verbose APIs:

  browserbase-pp-cli agents list --agent --select agentId,createdAt,name

• Previewable — --dry-run shows the request without sending

• Offline-friendly — sync/search commands can use the local SQLite store when available

• Non-interactive — never prompts, every input is a flag

• Explicit retries — use --idempotent only when an already-existing create should count as success, and use --ignore-missing only when a missing delete target should count as success

Response envelope

Commands that read from the local store or the API wrap output in a provenance envelope:

{
  "meta": {"source": "live" | "local", "synced_at": "...", "reason": "..."},
  "results": <data>
}

Parse .results for data and .meta.source to know whether it's live or local. A human-readable N results (live) summary is printed to stderr only when stdout is a terminal AND no machine-format flag (--json, --csv, --compact, --quiet, --plain, --select) is set — piped/agent consumers and explicit-format runs get pure JSON on stdout.

Paths and state

Agents should treat the CLI's path resolver as part of the runtime contract:

• Use --home <dir> for one invocation, or set BROWSERBASE_HOME=<dir> to relocate all four path kinds under one root.

• Use per-kind env vars only when a specific kind must diverge: BROWSERBASE_CONFIG_DIR, BROWSERBASE_DATA_DIR, BROWSERBASE_STATE_DIR, BROWSERBASE_CACHE_DIR.

• Resolution order is per-kind env var, --home, BROWSERBASE_HOME, XDG (XDG_CONFIG_HOME, XDG_DATA_HOME, XDG_STATE_HOME, XDG_CACHE_HOME), then platform defaults.

• config contains settings like config.toml and profiles. data contains credentials.toml, data.db, cookies, and auth sidecars. state contains persisted queries, jobs, and teach.log. cache contains regenerable HTTP/cache files.

• Stored secrets live in credentials.toml under the data dir. Existing legacy config.toml secrets are read for compatibility and leave config.toml on the first auth write.

• Run browserbase-pp-cli doctor --fail-on warn to surface path and credential-location warnings. agent-context exposes a schema v4 paths block for agents that need the resolved dirs.

• For MCP, pass relocation through the MCP host config. The MCP binary does not inherit CLI flags:

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "browserbase": {
        "command": "browserbase-pp-mcp",
        "env": {
          "BROWSERBASE_HOME": "/srv/browserbase"
        }
      }
    }
  }

Fleet precedence: an inherited per-kind env var overrides an explicit --home for that kind. Use BROWSERBASE_HOME or per-kind vars as durable fleet levers, and use --home only for a single invocation. Relocation is not reversible by unsetting env vars; move files manually before clearing BROWSERBASE_HOME, or doctor will not find credentials left under the former root.

Automatic learning

This CLI ships a self-capturing learning loop. The CLI does its own bookkeeping: every invocation is journaled locally, a failed flag followed by a corrected retry auto-derives a flag_alias candidate, and a teach on a query family without a playbook auto-synthesizes a playbook_candidate from the session's journal. Your job is judgment only: recall first, act on surfaced candidates, teach the final answer, playbook amend when you observe a correction. You never record failures by hand.

Step 1: recall before any discovery

Before list/search/drill commands on a new user question, run:

browserbase-pp-cli recall "<user's question>" --agent

The response envelope:

{
  "query": "...",
  "normalized": "<normalized form>",
  "query_entities": ["..."],
  "found": true | false,
  "match_score": 0.0,
  "results": [
    { "resource_id": "...", "resource_type": "...", "venue": "...",
      "confidence": 2, "entity_match": "exact|partial|unknown",
      "source": "taught|preseed|pattern", "warnings": ["..."] }
  ],
  "mismatches": [ /* only when --debug-mismatches */ ],
  "warnings": [ /* top-level */ ],
  "candidates": [
    { "id": 12, "class": "flag_alias | playbook_candidate",
      "summary": "...", "sightings": 3, "last_seen": "...",
      "rationale": "...",
      "next_action": ["<trial command>", "browserbase-pp-cli learnings confirm 12"] }
  ],
  "playbook": {
    "query_family": "...",
    "playbook": {
      "steps": [ { "cmd": "<command with {slot} substitution>", "purpose": "..." } ],
      "entity_slots": ["$ENTITY"],
      "expected_tool_calls": 3
    },
    "slots_resolved": { "$ENTITY": { "token": "<live token>", "canonical": "<canonical>" } },
    "notes": "<workarounds + gotchas for this query family>"
  },
  "notes": "<duplicate surface for non-playbook callers>"
}

Empty-store short-circuit: if the store has no learnings, playbooks, or candidates yet (recall finds nothing and learnings list and learnings candidates are both empty), skip recall for the rest of this session instead of taxing every query; resume recall-first once something has been taught.

Step 2: decision tree

Read candidates, playbook, notes, results[0], and warnings in that order:

if Candidates present (warnings include "candidates_present"):
    -> candidates are try-then-confirm, never facts. Follow each candidate's
       two-step next_action verbatim: run the trial command first, then run
       `learnings confirm <id>` only after the trial verified the behavior.
       Reject a wrong candidate with `learnings reject <id>`.
    -> NEVER re-teach something recall surfaced as a candidate; confirm or
       reject that candidate instead of teaching a duplicate.
    -> candidates ride alongside playbooks and resource hits, not instead of
       them; continue with the branches below after acting on them.

if Playbook present:
    -> READ Playbook.notes verbatim FIRST (workarounds + gotchas the CLI surface doesn't expose)
    -> replay Playbook.steps in order, substituting Playbook.slots_resolved entries
       for the entity slot tokens. If a step's slot is unresolved, fall back to
       discovery for that step only.
    -> the Playbook's expected_tool_calls is a budget; if you find yourself running
       materially more, record the divergence via `browserbase-pp-cli playbook amend`
       at end-of-session.

elif Notes present (no Playbook):
    -> read Notes verbatim before any discovery step; they carry known gotchas
       for this query family even when no structured choreography exists yet.

elif Found AND Results[0].EntityMatch == "exact" AND Results[0].Confidence >= 2:
    -> skip discovery; fetch live data for Results[*].ResourceID in parallel

elif Found AND Results[0].EntityMatch == "partial":
    -> candidate hint, NOT a hit; read the resource title to validate before trusting

elif (any row in Mismatches[] when --debug-mismatches was passed):
    -> treat as cold start; the stored learning is for a different entity
       (different canonical resolved from query_entities)

else:  // Found == false, no playbook, no notes
    -> cold start; run discovery normally; teach the answer afterward (Step 4).
       If the family has no playbook yet, that teach auto-synthesizes a
       playbook candidate from this session's journal - you do not need to
       record one by hand.

Playbook and Notes are orthogonal to the per-resource path. A recall response can carry both a Playbook AND a Results[] hit - use both: the Playbook tells you which choreography to run; the resource hits short-circuit specific steps. Default to skipping mismatches; pass --debug-mismatches only when investigating cold-start surprises.

Candidate judgment details: learnings confirm <id> prints the candidate's full payload before materializing it - check that the printed payload matches the behavior you verified. learnings reject <id> tombstones the derivation signature so the same candidate does not resurface. The envelope carries only the few candidates worth acting on now; browserbase-pp-cli learnings candidates lists the full open set.

Graceful degradation: if learnings confirm is an unknown command, you are driving an older binary - ignore the candidates guidance and follow the rest of the protocol.

Step 3: always read warnings

• low_confidence: row exists at confidence<2. Treat as a hint, not a skip-discovery hit.
• resource_not_in_store: the local store doesn't have the resource the learning points at. The match validator couldn't classify entities — direct-fetch and re-evaluate.
• cross_alias_match (per-result): the row was taught under a different alias and matched the live query's canonical via entity_lookups (e.g., a "USA" teach satisfying a "United States" recall). Trust the resource_id.
• similar_shape_different_entity:<canonical> (top-level): a structurally matching row exists but its canonical entity differs from the live query's. Treated as cold start; the warning carries the conflicting canonical as a hint, but the row is NOT promoted into Results.
• ambiguous_alias (top-level): a single query entity resolved to multiple canonicals (e.g., "Cards" → Arizona Cardinals + St. Louis Cardinals). Surface the ambiguity from context before committing to a resource.
• candidates_present (top-level): the envelope carries a candidates section. Handle it via the candidates branch in Step 2 before anything else.
• lookup_refresh_available (top-level): an entity in the query has no lookup row yet, but synced data could provide one. Run browserbase-pp-cli sync to refresh entity lookups.
• Top-level no_learnings_for_query_family: the table had no rows above the Jaccard floor. Pure cold start.