airbrow

airbrow

Ultra-fast browser CLI for LLM agents. Rust/CDP based.

AI Coding Assistants

Add the skill to your AI coding assistant for richer context:

npx add-skill RenKoya1/airbrow

Works with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, Goose, OpenCode, and Windsurf.

Benchmark Results (2026-01-28)

Metric	airbrow	agent-browser	playwright-cli
Memory	2.3MB	1.9MB*	60MB
Context	~6KB	~90KB	~89KB
Binary	1.8MB	670KB*	Node.js

*agent-browser CLI only; requires Playwright backend

Context Size Comparison (Real Data)

Tool	Hacker News	GitHub	Total	vs airbrow
airbrow	~3KB	~3KB	~6.6KB	1x
agent-browser	~60KB	~30KB	~90KB	14x larger
playwright-cli	~58KB	~31KB	~89KB	13x larger

14x smaller context. 25x less memory. Zero dependencies.

Install

From source

cargo build --release
./target/release/airbrow

Via npm

npm install -g airbrow
airbrow install  # Download Chromium (optional if Chrome installed)
airbrow

Quick Start

> open                       # Start browser
> goto https://example.com   # Navigate
> observe                    # Get interactive elements
{"e":[["r1","a","More info"],["r2","btn","Search"]],"n":2,"t":"Example","u":"https://example.com/"}
> click r1                   # Click by ref
> fill r2 "hello world"      # Fill input
> screenshot shot.png        # Take screenshot
> quit                       # Close

Comparison with Competitors

vs agent-browser (Vercel)

Feature	airbrow	agent-browser
Focus	Speed & minimal context	Semantic understanding
Context size	~6KB	~90KB (14x larger)
Element refs	r1, r2	@e1, @e2
Output	Compact JSON	Full YAML tree
PII redaction	Manual	Automatic
Use case	LLM agents	Complex semantic tasks

vs playwright-cli (Microsoft)

Feature	airbrow	playwright-cli
Focus	LLM optimization	Full Playwright API
Memory	2.3MB	60MB (25x more)
Context	~6KB	~89KB (13x larger)
Startup	1.8s	5.6s (3x slower)
Tracing	No	Yes
MCP support	No	Yes
Use case	LLM agents	MCP/IDE integration

Summary

Metric	airbrow	Competitors	Advantage
Context	~6KB	~90KB	14x smaller
Memory	2.3MB	60MB	25x less
Dependencies	None	Node.js+Playwright	Zero

Commands (50+)

Session

Command	Description
open	Start browser (add --headed to show)
reconnect	Reconnect to existing browser
quit	Close browser and exit

Navigation

Command	Description
goto <url>	Navigate to URL
back	Go back
forward	Go forward
reload	Reload page

Observation

Command	Description
observe	Get interactive elements with refs (r1, r2...)
snap	Get URL and title only
snapshot	Full page with text content
content	Get main HTML

Interaction

Command	Description
click <ref>	Click element
fill <ref> <text>	Fill input field
type <ref> <text>	Type character by character
press <key>	Press key (Enter, Tab, Escape...)
hover <ref>	Hover over element

Scroll

Command	Description
scroll [up|down|<px>]	Scroll viewport
scrollto <ref>	Scroll element into view
top	Scroll to top
bottom	Scroll to bottom
pageup	Page up
pagedown	Page down

Tabs

Command	Description
newtab [url]	Open new tab
tabs	List all tabs
tab <n>	Switch to tab
closetab [n]	Close tab

Network

Command	Description
block <pattern>	Block URLs matching pattern
unblock	Clear all blocks
blockimages	Block image loading
blockmedia	Block video/audio
blockfonts	Block web fonts

Cookies & Storage

Command	Description
cookies [domain]	Get cookies
setcookie <n> <v> <d>	Set cookie
clearcookies	Clear all cookies
storage get <key>	Get localStorage item
storage set <k> <v>	Set localStorage item
storage clear	Clear localStorage

Output

Command	Description
screenshot [path]	Save PNG screenshot
pdf [path]	Save PDF
eval <js>	Execute JavaScript

Viewport & Media

Command	Description
viewport <w> <h>	Set viewport size
mobile	Mobile emulation (375x667)
dark	Dark color scheme
light	Light color scheme

Wait

Command	Description
wait <ms>	Wait milliseconds
wait <ref> [timeout]	Wait for element

Selectors

Type	Example	Description
Ref	r1, r2	From observe output
CSS	#id, .class	CSS selector
XPath	//div[@id='x']	XPath expression
Text	text:Submit	By text content
Role	role:button	By ARIA role
Label	label:Email	By label text
Placeholder	placeholder:Search	By placeholder

Output Format

Minimal JSON optimized for LLM context:

{
  "e": [["r1","btn","Submit"],["r2","in","Email"]],
  "n": 2,
  "t": "Page Title",
  "u": "https://example.com"
}

• e: Elements array [ref, type, label]
• n: Element count
• t: Page title
• u: Current URL

Element types: btn (button), in (input), a (link), sel (select), txt (text)

Output Comparison

airbrow (Compact JSON):

{"e":[["r1","a","Hacker News"],["r2","a","new"]],"n":50,"t":"Hacker News","u":"https://news.ycombinator.com/"}

agent-browser (Full YAML Tree):

- document:
  - table:
    - rowgroup:
      - row "Hacker News":
        - cell "Hacker News" [ref=e1]:
          - link "new" [ref=e5]:
            - /url: newest

Result: airbrow output is 14x smaller

LLM Agent Integration

Minimal context example

# Python pseudocode
def browse(cmd):
    return subprocess.run(["airbrow"], input=cmd, capture_output=True).stdout

browse("open")
browse("goto https://example.com")
result = json.loads(browse("observe"))
# result: {"e":[["r1","btn","Login"]],"n":1,"t":"Example","u":"..."}
browse("click r1")

Why minimal context matters

Tool	observe output	Tokens (~)
airbrow	~200 chars	~50
agent-browser	~3000 chars	~750
playwright-cli	~3000 chars	~750

Smaller context = Lower cost + Faster response + Better focus

Feature Comparison

Feature	airbrow	agent-browser	playwright-cli
Navigation	✅	✅	✅
Click/Input	✅	✅	✅
Screenshot	✅	✅	✅
PDF Output	✅	✅	✅
Tab Management	✅	✅	✅
Network Blocking	✅	✅	✅
Cookies/Storage	✅	✅	✅
Mobile Emulation	✅	✅	✅
Dark Mode	✅	✅	✅
Tracing	❌	✅	✅
Video Recording	❌	✅	❌
PII Redaction	❌	✅	❌
MCP Support	❌	❌	✅

Security

Aspect	airbrow	agent-browser	playwright-cli
Sandbox	Chrome default	Playwright	Playwright
Dependencies	Minimal	Playwright	Node.js + Playwright
Attack Surface	Low	Medium	High
PII Protection	Manual	Automatic	Manual

See Also

• SKILL.md - Full command reference for LLM agents
• ../README.md - Project overview
• ../COMPARISON.md - Detailed benchmark results

License

MIT