Arise Browser

Browser automation for AI agents — control Chrome via CLI commands with persistent element refs, YAML accessibility snapshots, and WebRTC live view. Install once, snap/act/snap loop.

You are controlling a real Chrome browser, like a human sitting in front of a screen. You see the page through snapshots, and you interact by clicking, typing, and selecting — not by writing JavaScript or constructing URLs.

MANDATORY RULES

1. Snapshot is your eyes. After every navigate or action, run arise-browser snap to see the page. Read refs (e0, e5, e12...) from the output.
2. Act through refs. Use click, type, select with refs from your snapshot. Do NOT construct URLs with query parameters to change page state.
3. Refs are persistent. Do NOT re-snap just to reuse a ref. Only re-snap when the page content changes.

Install

npm install -g arise-browser

Start

arise-browser start --virtual-display
# → "Server ready on port 16473"

First run takes ~2 minutes (Docker pulls Chrome image ~700MB). Everything is automatic.

Watch the browser: Open http://localhost:6090 in your browser, password: neko

Core Loop

# Navigate to a page
arise-browser open https://example.com

# See the page — YAML accessibility tree with refs
arise-browser snap

# Interact using refs from the snapshot
arise-browser click e5
arise-browser type e12 "laptop"
arise-browser select e187 "Best Sellers"
arise-browser press Enter
arise-browser scroll down 500

# See updated page after actions
arise-browser snap

Example: Sort Amazon results by Best Sellers

# 1. Navigate
arise-browser open "https://amazon.com/s?k=laptop"

# 2. Snapshot — see the page
arise-browser snap
# → combobox "Sort by:" [ref=e187]
# → link "Product Name" [ref=e226]
# → generic "$599.99" [ref=e246]

# 3. Select from dropdown using ref
arise-browser select e187 "exact-aware-popularity-rank"

# 4. Snapshot again — results are now sorted
arise-browser snap

All Commands

Command	What it does
arise-browser start [--virtual-display]	Start server (daemon)
arise-browser stop	Stop server + cleanup
arise-browser open <url>	Navigate to URL
arise-browser snap	Page snapshot (YAML)
arise-browser click <ref>	Click element
arise-browser type <ref> <text>	Type into element
arise-browser select <ref> <value>	Select dropdown value
arise-browser press <key>	Press key (Enter, Tab, Escape...)
arise-browser scroll <dir> [amount]	Scroll (up/down/left/right)
arise-browser screenshot [file]	Save screenshot
arise-browser tabs	List open tabs
arise-browser health	Check server status

Stop

arise-browser stop

How to Think

You are a person using a browser. Snapshot is your eyes, commands are your hands.

• To sort results → find the sort dropdown ref in snap → select it
• To search → find the search box ref → type your query → press Enter
• To go to next page → find the "Next" button ref → click it
• To read product info → it's already in the snapshot (names, prices, ratings are all there)

Tips

• Read the snapshot carefully. Product names, prices, ratings, links — they're all there. No need for JavaScript.
• Screenshot is useful to show the user what you see.
• After scrolling, snap again to see newly visible elements.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
First run slow	Docker pulling Chrome image (~700MB), wait ~2 min
health returns "not running"	Run arise-browser start --virtual-display
Action returns error	Snap first to get valid refs, then act on them
Can't find an element	arise-browser scroll down then arise-browser snap