Chrome Extension Relay Helper - Mac

Attach the OpenClaw Browser Relay Chrome extension to a live tab so the browser tool (profile="chrome") works. Use this skill before any browser automation that requires Chrome extension relay access on macOS. Handles kill/launch/maximize/attach and verifies state via Peekaboo accessibility — no hardcoded coordinates, works at any screen size.

OpenClaw Chrome Relay Helper - Mac

Automates attaching the OpenClaw Browser Relay Chrome extension to a live tab on macOS. Once attached, the browser(profile="chrome") tool works — you can navigate, snapshot, click, and scrape using your real Chrome session.

macOS only. Requires Peekaboo (macOS UI automation CLI).

Quickstart

bash

bash <skill-dir>/scripts/attach.sh

Outputs one of:

• ALREADY_ATTACHED — already connected, nothing to do
• ATTACHED — freshly connected, ready to use
• FAILED: <reason> — check ~/.openclaw/media/relay-attach-fail.png for a debug screenshot

Then navigate and automate:

python

browser(action="navigate", profile="chrome", targetUrl="https://example.com")
browser(action="snapshot", profile="chrome", compact=True)  # read page content

Typical wall time: ~29s on a clean launch.

Prerequisites

1. Peekaboo (macOS UI automation CLI)

bash

brew install steipete/tap/peekaboo

Peekaboo reads Chrome's accessibility tree to find the extension icon by description — no pixel coordinates needed.

2. Accessibility permission for node

Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility and add your node binary. Without this, Peekaboo cannot send click events.

Find your node path with: which node

3. openclaw.json browser profile

Add this to your ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

json

"browser": {
  "profiles": {
    "chrome": {
      "cdpUrl": "http://127.0.0.1:18792",
      "driver": "extension",
      "color": "#FF5A36"
    }
  }
}

Restart the gateway after editing: openclaw gateway restart

4. Extension loaded and pinned in Chrome

The OpenClaw Browser Relay extension must be loaded as an unpacked extension in Chrome. It's included with OpenClaw at:

text

~/.openclaw/browser/chrome-extension

Load it via chrome://extensions → Developer mode ON → Load unpacked.

The extension must also be pinned to the toolbar. The script finds the icon via Chrome's accessibility tree, which only exposes toolbar-pinned extensions — not icons hidden inside the Extensions panel. To pin: click the puzzle-piece icon → click the pin icon next to "OpenClaw Browser Relay".

How it works

The script finds the extension icon using Chrome's accessibility tree — not pixel coordinates. The icon's description changes based on state:

• Detached: "OpenClaw Browser Relay (click to attach/detach)"
• Attached: "OpenClaw Browser Relay: attached (click to detach)"

Peekaboo scans for a pop-up button element whose description starts with "OpenClaw Browser Relay", determines state, and clicks to attach if needed. Retries up to 8× (every 2s) to handle slow Chrome startup.

Window maximize is required before scanning — Chrome's toolbar icons are not visible in the accessibility tree on a small or default-sized window.

What the script does (step by step)

1. Fast path — if Chrome is running and badge already shows "attached", exits immediately (~2s)
2. Kill any running Chrome instance
3. Patch ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Preferences to suppress the "Restore Pages?" dialog on relaunch
4. Open Chrome to https://info.cern.ch/ — the world's first website, a 428-byte static HTML file with zero anti-bot tech, JS, cookies, or Cloudflare
5. Maximize the window via Peekaboo (required for toolbar visibility)
6. Scan accessibility tree for the extension icon (retries up to 8×, 2s apart)
7. Click the icon to attach
8. Verify state changed to "attached" before returning

Known pitfalls

Approach	Why it doesn't work
Hardcoded pixel coordinates	Breaks at any screen size other than what they were measured on
AppleScript keystroke with Ctrl+Shift	Modifier keys are silently dropped — only the bare key fires
Chrome extension keyboard shortcut	The extension manifest has no commands — shortcuts don't trigger attach
Vision model to locate icon	Not reliable enough for toolbar UI at any resolution
Skipping window maximize	Toolbar icons don't appear in the accessibility tree on a small window
Extension not pinned to toolbar	Unpinned extensions are hidden inside the Extensions panel — not visible in the accessibility tree
Wrong profile name or port in config	browser(profile="chrome") requires the profile named exactly chrome pointing to port 18792

Token efficiency tips

python

# ✅ Use snapshot for reading page content (~3k tokens)
browser(action="snapshot", profile="chrome", compact=True)

# ❌ Avoid screenshot + vision for UI element detection
# → Unreliable for toolbar/coordinate identification
# → 10–50x more expensive than snapshot

Integration pattern

Any skill that needs Chrome relay should call this first:

bash

# 1. Attach
bash <path-to-chrome-relay>/scripts/attach.sh

# 2. Navigate
browser(action="navigate", profile="chrome", targetUrl="https://target.com")

# 3. Automate
browser(action="snapshot", profile="chrome", compact=True)
browser(action="act", profile="chrome", request={kind: "click", ref: "..."})