/actionbook

name: actionbook
description: Browser action engine. Provides up-to-date action manuals for the modern web — operate any website instantly, one tab or dozens, concurrently.
version: 1.5.0
license: MIT
platforms: [macos, linux, windows]
metadata:
  hermes:
    tags: [browser-automation, web-automation, scraping, e2e-testing]
    requires_toolsets: [terminal]
required_environment_variables:
  - name: ACTIONBOOK_API_KEY
    prompt: "Actionbook API key"
    help: "Create one at https://actionbook.app/dashboard — skill works without it, but requests are rate-limited"
    required_for: "unlimited requests (without a key, public rate limits apply)"
    optional: true

When to Use This Skill

Activate when the user:

• Needs to do anything on a website ("Send a LinkedIn message", "Book an Airbnb", "Search Google for...")
• Asks how to interact with a site ("How do I post a tweet?", "How to apply on LinkedIn?")
• Wants to fill out forms, click buttons, navigate, search, filter, or browse on a specific site
• Wants to take a screenshot of a web page or monitor changes
• Builds browser-based AI agents, web scrapers, or E2E tests for external websites
• Automates repetitive web tasks (data entry, form submission, content posting)
• Needs to operate multiple websites or tabs concurrently

How It Works

Actionbook provides **up-to-date action manuals** for the modern web. Action manuals tell agents exactly what to do on a page — no parsing, no guessing.

**Why this matters:**

• **10x faster** — action manuals provide selectors and page structure upfront. No snapshot-per-step loop needed.
• **Accurate** — handles SPAs, streaming components, dropdowns, date pickers, and dynamic content reliably.
• **Concurrent** — stateless architecture with explicit `--session`/`--tab`. Operate dozens of tabs in parallel.

The workflow: 1. **Start** a browser session 2. **Navigate** to the target page 3. **Snapshot** to get the page structure with element refs 4. **Automate** using refs from the snapshot

Run `actionbook <command> --help` for full usage and examples of any command.

Browser Automation

Every browser command is **stateless** — pass `--session` and `--tab` explicitly. No "current tab" — you can run commands on any session/tab in parallel.

Start a session

actionbook browser start --set-session-id s1

Both `--session` and `--set-session-id` are get-or-create: they reuse a Running session with the given ID, or create one if not found. If `--profile` is passed and does not match the session's bound profile, the command fails with `SESSION_PROFILE_MISMATCH`.

Core workflow: snapshot, act, wait

actionbook browser goto <url> --session s1 --tab t1
actionbook browser snapshot --session s1 --tab t1          # Get page structure with refs
actionbook browser fill @e3 "text" --session s1 --tab t1   # Use refs from snapshot
actionbook browser click @e7 --session s1 --tab t1
actionbook browser wait navigation --session s1 --tab t1   # Wait for page load

Snapshot refs

`snapshot` labels every element with a ref (e.g. `@e3`, `@e7`). Use these refs as selectors in any command — they are the recommended way to target elements.

Refs are **stable across snapshots** — if the element stays the same, the ref stays the same. This lets you chain multiple commands without re-snapshotting after every step.

Command categories

All commands support `--help` for full usage and examples.

| Category | Key commands | Help | |----------|-------------|------| | Search | `search` | `actionbook search --help` | | Manual | `manual` (alias: `man`) | `actionbook manual --help` | | Session | `start`, `close`, `restart`, `list-sessions`, `status` | `actionbook browser start --help` | | Tab | `new-tab`, `close-tab`, `list-tabs` | `actionbook browser new-tab --help` | | Navigation | `goto`, `back`, `forward`, `reload` | `actionbook browser goto --help` | | Observation | `snapshot`, `text`, `html`, `value`, `title`, `url`, `viewport`, `attr`, `attrs`, `box`, `styles`, `describe`, `state`, `inspect-point`, `screenshot`, `pdf` | `actionbook browser snapshot --help` | | Interaction | `click`, `fill`, `type`, `press`, `select`, `hover`, `focus`, `scroll`, `drag`, `upload`, `eval`, `mouse-move`, `cursor-position` | `actionbook browser click --help` | | Wait | `wait element`, `wait navigation`, `wait network-idle`, `wait condition` | `actionbook browser wait element --help` | | Cookies | `cookies list`, `cookies get`, `cookies set`, `cookies delete`, `cookies clear` | `actionbook browser cookies list --help` | | Storage | `local-storage list\|get\|set\|delete\|clear`, `session-storage ...` | `actionbook browser local-storage get --help` | | Logs | `logs console`, `logs errors` | `actionbook browser logs console --help` | | Network | `network requests`, `network request <id>`, `network har start`, `network har stop` | `actionbook browser network requests --help` | | Query | `query one\|all\|nth\|count` | `actionbook browser query --help` | | Batch | `batch-new-tab`, `batch-snapshot`, `batch-click` | `actionbook browser batch-new-tab --help` | | Extension | `extension status`, `extension ping`, `extension install`, `extension uninstall`, `extension path` | `actionbook extension status --help` | | Daemon | `daemon restart` | `actionbook daemon restart --help` |

Full command reference: [command-reference.md](references/command-reference.md)

Cloud providers

Use `-p` / `--provider` with `browser start` to run sessions on a remote browser instead of launching local Chrome. Supported providers: `driver`, `hyperbrowser`, `browseruse`. Each reads its own `<PROVIDER>_API_KEY` from the shell env.

export HYPERBROWSER_API_KEY="your-key"
actionbook browser start -p hyperbrowser --session s1
actionbook browser goto "https://example.com" --session s1 --tab t1
actionbook browser snapshot --session s1 --tab t1

All browser commands work the same way regardless of mode. `browser restart --sess