Launches a new Chrome with a fresh, dedicated profile
Automated tasks, CI/CD, headless, no user data needed
Cloud
Connects to a remote browser via a cloud provider
Scalable headless infra, geo-targeting, persistent profiles in the cloud
Extension
Connects to the user’s running Chrome via extension bridge
Tasks requiring existing login sessions, cookies, personal context
All three modes are designed for AI agents:
Local gives agents a clean, reproducible environment.
Cloud offloads the browser to a remote provider, suited for production workloads, parallel execution at scale, or IP geolocation control.
Extension lets agents operate inside the user’s real browser when the task requires existing authentication (e.g., “book my flight”, “reply to that email”).
-p <name> automatically implies --mode cloud, so you don’t need to set both
-p is mutually exclusive with --cdp-endpoint and --mode local/extension
The CLI forwards provider env vars from your current shell to the daemon at start time (the daemon’s own env is frozen at spawn)
browser restart --session <id> mints a fresh remote session while preserving the same session_id, so you can reset state without losing your addressing handle
For raw CDP connections without a managed provider, use --mode cloud --cdp-endpoint wss://... instead of -p.
The actionbook extension commands manage the Chrome extension and its connection to the actionbook daemon.The recommended install method is the Chrome Web Store (current version: 0.4.0). actionbook extension install is a local fallback — after running it, you must manually load the unpacked extension in Chrome via chrome://extensions > Developer mode > Load unpacked, using the path from actionbook extension path.
actionbook extension status # Bridge status + extension connection stateactionbook extension ping # Measure bridge RTTactionbook extension install # Fallback: install to ~/Actionbook/extension/ (requires manual Chrome load)actionbook extension install --force # Force reinstallactionbook extension uninstall # Remove extension from diskactionbook extension path # Print install path, status, and version
The extension bridge runs inside the actionbook daemon (auto-started by browser commands). extension status shows whether the bridge is listening and the extension is connected. extension ping tests connectivity by connecting to the bridge WebSocket at ws://127.0.0.1:19222.
Extension 0.4.0: Tabs opened by Actionbook are automatically grouped into a Chrome “Actionbook” tab group (toggleable via extension popup). list-tabs in extension mode now returns only Actionbook-managed tabs — other user tabs are hidden. Extensions below 0.4.0 are rejected at handshake.
The recommended way to set your preferred browser mode is via actionbook setup.
It writes your choice to ~/.actionbook/config.toml, so you can run browser commands without extra flags.
actionbook browser list-tabs --session s1 # list all tabsactionbook browser new-tab "https://example.com" --session s1 # open a new tab (alias: open)actionbook browser close-tab --session s1 --tab t1 # close a tab
For running parallel tasks across multiple tabs, use Multi-Session with the --session flag instead of manual tab switching.
wait network-idle automatically falls back to relaxed mode on pages with persistent background traffic (analytics pings, health-checks). Relaxed mode tolerates low-rate background requests instead of requiring absolute silence. The response includes mode (“strict” or “relaxed”).
Available since v0.11.0. Requires local mode (default).
Multi-session lets you run multiple independent tabs in a single browser instance. Each named session is bound to its own tab, so commands sent to one session never affect another.
# Open three sites in separate sessionsactionbook browser start --session research --open-url "https://arxiv.org"actionbook browser start --session social --open-url "https://x.com"actionbook browser start --session shopping --open-url "https://amazon.com"# Each session operates independentlyactionbook browser snapshot --session research --tab t1 # only sees arxiv.orgactionbook browser snapshot --session social --tab t1 # only sees x.comactionbook browser click "#search" --session shopping --tab t1 # only affects amazon.com
Without --session, commands use a default session.
# List all active sessionsactionbook browser list-sessions# Show session statusactionbook browser status --session research# Close a sessionactionbook browser close --session research
