opencli

OpenCLI

Convert any website into a CLI & run Browser Use on your logged-in Chrome. Turn websites, browser sessions, Electron apps, and local tools into deterministic interfaces for humans and AI agents. Or run Browser Use against any page — navigate, fill forms, click, extract, automate.

OpenCLI gives you one surface for three different kinds of automation:

• Use built-in adapters for sites like Bilibili, Zhihu, Xiaohongshu, Reddit, HackerNews, Twitter/X, and many more.
• Let AI Agents operate any website — install the opencli-browser skill in your AI agent (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), and it can navigate, click, type/fill, extract, and inspect any page through your logged-in browser via opencli browser primitives.
• Write new adapters end-to-end with opencli browser + the opencli-adapter-author skill, which guides from first recon through field decoding, code, and opencli browser verify.

It also works as a CLI hub for local tools such as gh, docker, longbridge, tg, discord, wx, ntn (Notion), and other binaries you register yourself, plus desktop app adapters for Electron apps like Cursor, Trae CN, Codex, Antigravity, ChatGPT, and Trae SOLO.

Quick Start

1. Install OpenCLI

For desktop use, start with OpenCLIApp. It bundles the OpenCLI runtime, keeps the managed opencli command installed, and gives you a system tray UI for setup, diagnostics, updates, browser-login keepalive, and Web → Markdown.

Option A — OpenCLIApp (recommended for macOS / Windows): Download the latest app from https://opencli.info/download, install it, then open the app once and use the System page to install or repair the opencli command.

Option B — npm global install (CLI-only / CI / servers): OpenCLI requires Node.js >= 20.18.1 when installed through npm.

node --version
npm install -g @jackwener/opencli

2. Install the Browser Bridge Extension

OpenCLI connects to Chrome/Chromium through a lightweight Browser Bridge extension plus a small local daemon. The daemon auto-starts when needed.

Option A — Chrome Web Store (recommended): Install OpenCLI from the Chrome Web Store.

Option B — Manual install:

1. Download the latest opencli-extension-v{version}.zip from the GitHub Releases page.
2. Unzip it, open chrome://extensions, and enable Developer mode.
3. Click Load unpacked and select the unzipped folder.

3. Verify the setup

opencli doctor

4. Optional: name your Chrome profile

Each Chrome profile runs its own OpenCLI extension instance. If you use multiple Chrome profiles, list the connected profiles and assign local aliases:

opencli profile list
opencli profile rename <contextId> work
opencli profile use work
opencli --profile work browser main state

With only one connected profile, OpenCLI uses it automatically. With multiple connected profiles and no default, OpenCLI asks you to choose instead of guessing.

5. Run your first commands

opencli list
opencli hackernews top --limit 5
opencli bilibili hot --limit 5

For Humans

Use OpenCLI directly when you want a reliable command instead of a live browser session:

• opencli list shows every registered command.
• opencli <site> <command> runs a built-in or generated adapter.
• opencli external register mycli exposes a local CLI through the same discovery surface.
• opencli doctor helps diagnose browser connectivity.

Extending OpenCLI

If you want to add your own commands, start with the Extending OpenCLI guide. README keeps this short; the guide covers the directory layout, source-control model, and install commands.

Need	Recommended path
Keep personal website commands in your own Git repo	opencli plugin create + opencli plugin install file://...
Quickly draft a private local adapter	opencli browser init <site>/<command> in ~/.opencli/clis/
Modify an official adapter locally	opencli adapter eject <site> + opencli adapter reset <site>
Publish or install third-party commands	opencli plugin install github:user/repo
Wrap an existing local binary	opencli external register <name>

For AI Agents

OpenCLI's browser commands are designed to be used by AI Agents — not run manually. Install skills into your AI agent (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), and the agent operates websites on your behalf using your logged-in Chrome session.

Install skills (also refreshes existing installs)

npx skills add jackwener/opencli

Or install only what you need:

npx skills add jackwener/opencli --skill opencli-adapter-author
npx skills add jackwener/opencli --skill opencli-autofix
npx skills add jackwener/opencli --skill opencli-browser
npx skills add jackwener/opencli --skill opencli-browser-sitemap
npx skills add jackwener/opencli --skill opencli-sitemap-author
npx skills add jackwener/opencli --skill opencli-usage

Which skill to use

Skill	When to use	Example prompt to your AI agent
opencli-adapter-author	Write a reusable adapter for a new site or add a command to an existing site	"Write an adapter for douyin trending" / "Make a command that grabs the top posts from this page"
opencli-autofix	Repair a broken adapter when a built-in command fails	"opencli zhihu hot is returning empty — fix it"
opencli-browser	Drive a real Chrome page ad-hoc — navigate, fill forms, click, extract	"Help me check my Xiaohongshu notifications" / "Help me fill out this form" / "Use browser commands to scrape this page"
opencli-browser-sitemap	Consume site sitemap context while driving a browser task	"Use the sitemap to navigate this website without blind clicking"
opencli-sitemap-author	Create or update site sitemap knowledge for browser agents	"Record the stable workflow you just discovered for this site"
opencli-usage	Quick reference for all OpenCLI commands and sites	"What commands does OpenCLI have for Twitter?"

How it works

Once opencli-browser is installed, your AI agent can:

1. Navigate to any URL using your logged-in browser
2. Read page content via structured DOM snapshots (not screenshots)
3. Interact — click buttons, fill forms, select options, press keys
4. Extract data from the page or intercept network API responses
5. Wait for elements, text, or page transitions

The agent handles all the opencli browser commands internally — you just describe what you want done in natural language.

Skill references:

• skills/opencli-browser/SKILL.md — drive Chrome ad-hoc (navigate, fill forms, click, extract)
• skills/opencli-browser-sitemap/SKILL.md — use sitemap context while driving a browser task
• skills/opencli-sitemap-author/SKILL.md — create or update site sitemap knowledge
• skills/opencli-adapter-author/SKILL.md — write a new adapter end-to-end
• skills/opencli-autofix/SKILL.md — repair broken adapters
• skills/opencli-usage/SKILL.md — command and site reference

Available browser commands include open, state, click, type, fill, select, keys, wait, get, find, extract, frames, screenshot, scroll, back, eval, network, tab list, tab new, tab select, tab close, init, verify, and close.

opencli browser commands require a <session> positional immediately after browser. opencli browser work open <url> and opencli browser work tab new [url] both return a target ID. Use opencli browser work tab list to inspect target IDs, then pass --tab <targetId> to route a command to a specific tab. tab new creates a new tab without changing the default browser target; only tab select <targetId> promotes that tab to the default target for later untargeted commands in the same session.

Writing a new adapter

When the site you need is not yet covered, use the opencli-adapter-author skill end-to-end:

1. Recon the site and pick a pattern (SPA / SSR / JSONP / Token / Streaming).
2. Discover the right endpoint — network inspection, initial state, bundle search, token trace, or interceptor fallback.
3. Pick auth — PUBLIC / COOKIE / INTERCEPT / UI / LOCAL.
4. Decode response fields and design output columns.
5. opencli browser recon analyze <url> → opencli browser recon init <site>/<name> → write adapter → opencli browser recon verify <site>/<name>.
6. Site knowledge persists to ~/.opencli/sites/<site>/ so the next adapter for the same site starts from context.

Configuration

Variable	Default	Description
OPENCLI_PROFILE	—	Browser Bridge profile alias/contextId to use when multiple Chrome profiles are connected
OPENCLI_WINDOW	command default	Set to foreground or background to override Browser Bridge window placement. Browser-backed commands also accept --window <foreground|background>.
OPENCLI_SITE_SESSION	adapter default	Set to ephemeral or persistent to override siteSession metadata for browser-backed adapter commands. ephemeral closes the one-shot automation window when the command finishes; persistent reuses the site's session. Per-command --site-session takes precedence.
OPENCLI_BROWSER_CONNECT_TIMEOUT	45	Seconds to wait for browser connection
OPENCLI_BROWSER_COMMAND_TIMEOUT	60	Seconds to wait for a single browser command
OPENCLI_CDP_ENDPOINT	—	Chrome DevTools Protocol endpoint for remote browser or Electron apps
OPENCLI_CDP_TARGET	—	Filter CDP targets by URL substring (e.g. detail.1688.com)
OPENCLI_VERBOSE	false	Enable verbose logging (-v flag also works)
DEBUG_SNAPSHOT	—	Set to 1 for DOM snapshot debug output

opencli browser * requires an explicit <session> positional, uses a foreground browser window by default, and keeps that session's tab lease until opencli browser <session> close or idle cleanup. Browser-backed adapters use a background adapter window and release one-shot tab leases by default. Interactive adapters can declare siteSession: 'persistent' to keep a stable site tab for continuity; pass --site-session ephemeral for a one-shot tab.

Built-in Commands

Site	Commands
xiaohongshu	search ask note comments feed user download publish follow unfollow notifications creator-notes creator-notes-summary creator-note-detail creator-profile creator-stats
bilibili	hot search history feed ranking download comments dynamic favorite following follow unfollow me subtitle summary video user-videos creator-stats
zhihu	hot search question download follow like favorite comment answer
hackernews	top new best ask show jobs search user