Browser (clawd-managed)

Scope

Use this page when:

Adding agent-controlled browser automation
Debugging why clawd is interfering with your own Chrome
Implementing browser settings + lifecycle in the macOS app

Moltbot can run a dedicated Chrome/Brave/Edge/Chromium profile that the agent controls. It is isolated from your personal browser and is managed through a small local control server.

Beginner view:

Think of it as a separate, agent-only browser.
The clawd profile does not touch your personal browser profile.
The agent can open tabs, read pages, click, and type in a safe lane.
The default chrome profile uses the system default Chromium browser via the extension relay; switch to clawd for the isolated managed browser.

What you get

A separate browser profile named clawd (orange accent by default).
Deterministic tab control (list/open/focus/close).
Agent actions (click/type/drag/select), snapshots, screenshots, PDFs.
Optional multi-profile support (clawd, work, remote, …).

This browser is not your daily driver. It is a safe, isolated surface for agent automation and verification.

Quick start

moltbot browser --browser-profile clawd status
moltbot browser --browser-profile clawd start
moltbot browser --browser-profile clawd open https://example.com
moltbot browser --browser-profile clawd snapshot

If you get “Browser disabled”, enable it in config (see below) and restart the Gateway.

Profiles: `clawd` vs `chrome`

clawd: managed, isolated browser (no extension required).
chrome: extension relay to your system browser (requires the Moltbot extension to be attached to a tab).

Set browser.defaultProfile: "clawd" if you want managed mode by default.

Configuration

Browser settings live in ~/.moltbot/moltbot.json.

{
  browser: {
    enabled: true,                    // default: true
    controlUrl: "http://127.0.0.1:18791",
    cdpUrl: "http://127.0.0.1:18792", // defaults to controlUrl + 1
    remoteCdpTimeoutMs: 1500,         // remote CDP HTTP timeout (ms)
    remoteCdpHandshakeTimeoutMs: 3000, // remote CDP WebSocket handshake timeout (ms)
    defaultProfile: "chrome",
    color: "#FF4500",
    headless: false,
    noSandbox: false,
    attachOnly: false,
    executablePath: "/Applications/Brave Browser.app/Contents/MacOS/Brave Browser",
    profiles: {
      clawd: { cdpPort: 18800, color: "#FF4500" },
      work: { cdpPort: 18801, color: "#0066CC" },
      remote: { cdpUrl: "http://10.0.0.42:9222", color: "#00AA00" }
    }
  }
}

Notes:

controlUrl defaults to http://127.0.0.1:18791.
If you override the Gateway port (gateway.port or MOLTBOT_GATEWAY_PORT), the default browser ports shift to stay in the same “family” (control = gateway + 2).
cdpUrl defaults to controlUrl + 1 when unset.
remoteCdpTimeoutMs applies to remote (non-loopback) CDP reachability checks.
remoteCdpHandshakeTimeoutMs applies to remote CDP WebSocket reachability checks.
attachOnly: true means “never launch a local browser; only attach if it is already running.”
color + per-profile color tint the browser UI so you can see which profile is active.
Default profile is chrome (extension relay). Use defaultProfile: "clawd" for the managed browser.
Auto-detect order: system default browser if Chromium-based; otherwise Chrome → Brave → Edge → Chromium → Chrome Canary.
Local clawd profiles auto-assign cdpPort/cdpUrl — set those only for remote CDP.

Use Brave (or another Chromium-based browser)

If your system default browser is Chromium-based (Chrome/Brave/Edge/etc), Moltbot uses it automatically. Set browser.executablePath to override auto-detection:

CLI example:

moltbot config set browser.executablePath "/usr/bin/google-chrome"

// macOS
{
  browser: {
    executablePath: "/Applications/Brave Browser.app/Contents/MacOS/Brave Browser"
  }
}

// Windows
{
  browser: {
    executablePath: "C:\\Program Files\\BraveSoftware\\Brave-Browser\\Application\\brave.exe"
  }
}

// Linux
{
  browser: {
    executablePath: "/usr/bin/brave-browser"
  }
}

Local vs remote control

Local control (default): controlUrl is loopback (127.0.0.1/localhost). The Gateway starts the control server and can launch a local browser.
Remote control: controlUrl is non-loopback. The Gateway does not start a local server; it assumes you are pointing at an existing server elsewhere.
Remote CDP: set browser.profiles.<name>.cdpUrl (or browser.cdpUrl) to attach to a remote Chromium-based browser. In this case, Moltbot will not launch a local browser.

Remote browser (control server)

You can run the browser control server on another machine and point your Gateway at it with a remote controlUrl. This lets the agent drive a browser outside the host (lab box, VM, remote desktop, etc.).

Key points:

The control server speaks to Chromium-based browsers (Chrome/Brave/Edge/Chromium) via CDP.
The Gateway only needs the HTTP control URL.
Profiles are resolved on the control server side.

Example:

{
  browser: {
    enabled: true,
    controlUrl: "http://10.0.0.42:18791",
    defaultProfile: "work"
  }
}

Use profiles.<name>.cdpUrl for remote CDP if you want the Gateway to talk directly to a Chromium-based browser instance without a remote control server.

Remote CDP URLs can include auth:

Query tokens (e.g., https://provider.example?token=<token>)
HTTP Basic auth (e.g., https://user:[email protected])

Moltbot preserves the auth when calling /json/* endpoints and when connecting to the CDP WebSocket. Prefer environment variables or secrets managers for tokens instead of committing them to config files.

Node browser proxy (zero-config default)

If you run a node host on the machine that has your browser, Moltbot can auto-route browser tool calls to that node without any custom controlUrl setup. This is the default path for remote gateways.

Notes:

The node host exposes its local browser control server via a proxy command.
Profiles come from the node’s own browser.profiles config (same as local).
Disable if you don’t want it:
- On the node: nodeHost.browserProxy.enabled=false
- On the gateway: gateway.nodes.browser.mode="off"

Browserless (hosted remote CDP)

Browserless is a hosted Chromium service that exposes CDP endpoints over HTTPS. You can point a Moltbot browser profile at a Browserless region endpoint and authenticate with your API key.

Example:

{
  browser: {
    enabled: true,
    defaultProfile: "browserless",
    remoteCdpTimeoutMs: 2000,
    remoteCdpHandshakeTimeoutMs: 4000,
    profiles: {
      browserless: {
        cdpUrl: "https://production-sfo.browserless.io?token=<BROWSERLESS_API_KEY>",
        color: "#00AA00"
      }
    }
  }
}

Notes:

Replace <BROWSERLESS_API_KEY> with your real Browserless token.
Choose the region endpoint that matches your Browserless account (see their docs).

Running the control server on the browser machine

Run a standalone browser control server (recommended when your Gateway is remote):

# on the machine that runs Chrome/Brave/Edge
moltbot browser serve --bind <browser-host> --port 18791 --token <token>

Then point your Gateway at it:

{
  browser: {
    enabled: true,
    controlUrl: "http://<browser-host>:18791",

    // Option A (recommended): keep token in env on the Gateway
    // (avoid writing secrets into config files)
    // controlToken: "<token>"
  }
}

And set the auth token in the Gateway environment:

export MOLTBOT_BROWSER_CONTROL_TOKEN="<token>"

Option B: store the token in the Gateway config instead (same shared token):

{
  browser: {
    enabled: true,
    controlUrl: "http://<browser-host>:18791",
    controlToken: "<token>"
  }
}

Security

This section covers the browser control server (browser.controlUrl) used for agent browser automation.

Key ideas:

Treat the browser control server like an admin API: private network only.
Use token auth always when the server is reachable off-machine.
Prefer Tailnet-only connectivity over LAN exposure.

Tokens (what is shared with what?)

browser.controlToken / MOLTBOT_BROWSER_CONTROL_TOKEN is only for authenticating browser control HTTP requests to browser.controlUrl.
It is not the Gateway token (gateway.auth.token) and not a node pairing token.
You can reuse the same string value, but it’s better to keep them separate to reduce blast radius.

Binding (don’t expose to your LAN by accident)

Recommended:

Keep moltbot browser serve bound to loopback (127.0.0.1) and publish it via Tailscale.
Or bind to a Tailnet IP only (never 0.0.0.0) and require a token.

Avoid:

--bind 0.0.0.0 (LAN-visible). Even with token auth, traffic is plain HTTP unless you also add TLS.

TLS / HTTPS (recommended approach: terminate in front)

Best practice here: keep moltbot browser serve on HTTP and terminate TLS in front.

If you’re already using Tailscale, you have two good options:

Tailnet-only, still HTTP (transport is encrypted by Tailscale):

Keep controlUrl as http://… but ensure it’s only reachable over your tailnet.

Serve HTTPS via Tailscale (nice UX: https://… URL):

# on the browser machine
moltbot browser serve --bind 127.0.0.1 --port 18791 --token <token>
tailscale serve https / http://127.0.0.1:18791

Then set your Gateway config browser.controlUrl to the HTTPS URL (MagicDNS/ts.net) and keep using the same token.

Notes:

Do not use Tailscale Funnel for this unless you explicitly want to make the endpoint public.
For Tailnet setup/background, see Gateway web surfaces and the Gateway CLI.

Profiles (multi-browser)

Moltbot supports multiple named profiles (routing configs). Profiles can be:

clawd-managed: a dedicated Chromium-based browser instance with its own user data directory + CDP port
remote: an explicit CDP URL (Chromium-based browser running elsewhere)
extension relay: your existing Chrome tab(s) via the local relay + Chrome extension

Defaults:

The clawd profile is auto-created if missing.
The chrome profile is built-in for the Chrome extension relay (points at http://127.0.0.1:18792 by default).
Local CDP ports allocate from 18800–18899 by default.
Deleting a profile moves its local data directory to Trash.

All control endpoints accept ?profile=<name>; the CLI uses --browser-profile.

Chrome extension relay (use your existing Chrome)

Moltbot can also drive your existing Chrome tabs (no separate “clawd” Chrome instance) via a local CDP relay + a Chrome extension.

Full guide: Chrome extension

Flow:

You run a browser control server (Gateway on the same machine, or moltbot browser serve).
A local relay server listens at a loopback cdpUrl (default: http://127.0.0.1:18792).
You click the Moltbot Browser Relay extension icon on a tab to attach (it does not auto-attach).
The agent controls that tab via the normal browser tool, by selecting the right profile.

If the Gateway runs on the same machine as Chrome (default setup), you usually do not need moltbot browser serve. Use browser serve only when the Gateway runs elsewhere (remote mode).

Sandboxed sessions

If the agent session is sandboxed, the browser tool may default to target="sandbox" (sandbox browser). Chrome extension relay takeover requires host browser control, so either:

run the session unsandboxed, or
set agents.defaults.sandbox.browser.allowHostControl: true and use target="host" when calling the tool.

Setup

Load the extension (dev/unpacked):

moltbot browser extension install

Chrome → chrome://extensions → enable “Developer mode”
“Load unpacked” → select the directory printed by moltbot browser extension path
Pin the extension, then click it on the tab you want to control (badge shows ON).

Use it:

CLI: moltbot browser --browser-profile chrome tabs
Agent tool: browser with profile="chrome"

Optional: if you want a different name or relay port, create your own profile:

moltbot browser create-profile \
  --name my-chrome \
  --driver extension \
  --cdp-url http://127.0.0.1:18792 \
  --color "#00AA00"

Notes:

This mode relies on Playwright-on-CDP for most operations (screenshots/snapshots/actions).
Detach by clicking the extension icon again.

Isolation guarantees

Dedicated user data dir: never touches your personal browser profile.
Dedicated ports: avoids 9222 to prevent collisions with dev workflows.
Deterministic tab control: target tabs by targetId, not “last tab”.

Browser selection

When launching locally, Moltbot picks the first available:

Chrome
Brave
Edge
Chromium
Chrome Canary

You can override with browser.executablePath.

Platforms:

macOS: checks /Applications and ~/Applications.
Linux: looks for google-chrome, brave, microsoft-edge, chromium, etc.
Windows: checks common install locations.

Control API (optional)

If you want to integrate directly, the browser control server exposes a small HTTP API:

Status/start/stop: GET /, POST /start, POST /stop
Tabs: GET /tabs, POST /tabs/open, POST /tabs/focus, DELETE /tabs/:targetId
Snapshot/screenshot: GET /snapshot, POST /screenshot
Actions: POST /navigate, POST /act
Hooks: POST /hooks/file-chooser, POST /hooks/dialog
Downloads: POST /download, POST /wait/download
Debugging: GET /console, POST /pdf
Debugging: GET /errors, GET /requests, POST /trace/start, POST /trace/stop, POST /highlight
Network: POST /response/body
State: GET /cookies, POST /cookies/set, POST /cookies/clear
State: GET /storage/:kind, POST /storage/:kind/set, POST /storage/:kind/clear
Settings: POST /set/offline, POST /set/headers, POST /set/credentials, POST /set/geolocation, POST /set/media, POST /set/timezone, POST /set/locale, POST /set/device

All endpoints accept ?profile=<name>.

Playwright requirement

Some features (navigate/act/AI snapshot/role snapshot, element screenshots, PDF) require Playwright. If Playwright isn’t installed, those endpoints return a clear 501 error. ARIA snapshots and basic screenshots still work for clawd-managed Chrome. For the Chrome extension relay driver, ARIA snapshots and screenshots require Playwright.

If you see Playwright is not available in this gateway build, install the full Playwright package (not playwright-core) and restart the gateway, or reinstall Moltbot with browser support.

How it works (internal)

High-level flow:

A small control server accepts HTTP requests.
It connects to Chromium-based browsers (Chrome/Brave/Edge/Chromium) via CDP.
For advanced actions (click/type/snapshot/PDF), it uses Playwright on top of CDP.
When Playwright is missing, only non-Playwright operations are available.

This design keeps the agent on a stable, deterministic interface while letting you swap local/remote browsers and profiles.

CLI quick reference

All commands accept --browser-profile <name> to target a specific profile. All commands also accept --json for machine-readable output (stable payloads).

Basics:

moltbot browser status
moltbot browser start
moltbot browser stop
moltbot browser tabs
moltbot browser tab
moltbot browser tab new
moltbot browser tab select 2
moltbot browser tab close 2
moltbot browser open https://example.com
moltbot browser focus abcd1234
moltbot browser close abcd1234

Inspection:

moltbot browser screenshot
moltbot browser screenshot --full-page
moltbot browser screenshot --ref 12
moltbot browser screenshot --ref e12
moltbot browser snapshot
moltbot browser snapshot --format aria --limit 200
moltbot browser snapshot --interactive --compact --depth 6
moltbot browser snapshot --efficient
moltbot browser snapshot --labels
moltbot browser snapshot --selector "#main" --interactive
moltbot browser snapshot --frame "iframe#main" --interactive
moltbot browser console --level error
moltbot browser errors --clear
moltbot browser requests --filter api --clear
moltbot browser pdf
moltbot browser responsebody "**/api" --max-chars 5000

Actions:

moltbot browser navigate https://example.com
moltbot browser resize 1280 720
moltbot browser click 12 --double
moltbot browser click e12 --double
moltbot browser type 23 "hello" --submit
moltbot browser press Enter
moltbot browser hover 44
moltbot browser scrollintoview e12
moltbot browser drag 10 11
moltbot browser select 9 OptionA OptionB
moltbot browser download e12 /tmp/report.pdf
moltbot browser waitfordownload /tmp/report.pdf
moltbot browser upload /tmp/file.pdf
moltbot browser fill --fields '[{"ref":"1","type":"text","value":"Ada"}]'
moltbot browser dialog --accept
moltbot browser wait --text "Done"
moltbot browser wait "#main" --url "**/dash" --load networkidle --fn "window.ready===true"
moltbot browser evaluate --fn '(el) => el.textContent' --ref 7
moltbot browser highlight e12
moltbot browser trace start
moltbot browser trace stop

State:

moltbot browser cookies
moltbot browser cookies set session abc123 --url "https://example.com"
moltbot browser cookies clear
moltbot browser storage local get
moltbot browser storage local set theme dark
moltbot browser storage session clear
moltbot browser set offline on
moltbot browser set headers --json '{"X-Debug":"1"}'
moltbot browser set credentials user pass
moltbot browser set credentials --clear
moltbot browser set geo 37.7749 -122.4194 --origin "https://example.com"
moltbot browser set geo --clear
moltbot browser set media dark
moltbot browser set timezone America/New_York
moltbot browser set locale en-US
moltbot browser set device "iPhone 14"

Notes:

upload and dialog are arming calls; run them before the click/press that triggers the chooser/dialog.
upload can also set file inputs directly via --input-ref or --element.
snapshot:
- --format ai (default when Playwright is installed): returns an AI snapshot with numeric refs (aria-ref="<n>").
- --format aria: returns the accessibility tree (no refs; inspection only).
- --efficient (or --mode efficient): compact role snapshot preset (interactive + compact + depth + lower maxChars).
- Config default (tool/CLI only): set browser.snapshotDefaults.mode: "efficient" to use efficient snapshots when the caller does not pass a mode (see Gateway configuration).
- Role snapshot options (--interactive, --compact, --depth, --selector) force a role-based snapshot with refs like ref=e12.
- --frame "<iframe selector>" scopes role snapshots to an iframe (pairs with role refs like e12).
- --interactive outputs a flat, easy-to-pick list of interactive elements (best for driving actions).
- --labels adds a viewport-only screenshot with overlayed ref labels (prints MEDIA:<path>).
click/type/etc require a ref from snapshot (either numeric 12 or role ref e12). CSS selectors are intentionally not supported for actions.

Snapshots and refs

Moltbot supports two “snapshot” styles:

AI snapshot (numeric refs): moltbot browser snapshot (default; --format ai)
- Output: a text snapshot that includes numeric refs.
- Actions: moltbot browser click 12, moltbot browser type 23 "hello".
- Internally, the ref is resolved via Playwright’s aria-ref.
Role snapshot (role refs like e12): moltbot browser snapshot --interactive (or --compact, --depth, --selector, --frame)
- Output: a role-based list/tree with [ref=e12] (and optional [nth=1]).
- Actions: moltbot browser click e12, moltbot browser highlight e12.
- Internally, the ref is resolved via getByRole(...) (plus nth() for duplicates).
- Add --labels to include a viewport screenshot with overlayed e12 labels.

Ref behavior:

Refs are not stable across navigations; if something fails, re-run snapshot and use a fresh ref.
If the role snapshot was taken with --frame, role refs are scoped to that iframe until the next role snapshot.

Wait power-ups

You can wait on more than just time/text:

Wait for URL (globs supported by Playwright):
- moltbot browser wait --url "**/dash"
Wait for load state:
- moltbot browser wait --load networkidle
Wait for a JS predicate:
- moltbot browser wait --fn "window.ready===true"
Wait for a selector to become visible:
- moltbot browser wait "#main"

These can be combined:

moltbot browser wait "#main" \
  --url "**/dash" \
  --load networkidle \
  --fn "window.ready===true" \
  --timeout-ms 15000

Debug workflows

When an action fails (e.g. “not visible”, “strict mode violation”, “covered”):

moltbot browser snapshot --interactive
Use click <ref> / type <ref> (prefer role refs in interactive mode)
If it still fails: moltbot browser highlight <ref> to see what Playwright is targeting
If the page behaves oddly:
- moltbot browser errors --clear
- moltbot browser requests --filter api --clear
For deep debugging: record a trace:
- moltbot browser trace start
- reproduce the issue
- moltbot browser trace stop (prints TRACE:<path>)

JSON output

--json is for scripting and structured tooling.

Examples:

moltbot browser status --json
moltbot browser snapshot --interactive --json
moltbot browser requests --filter api --json
moltbot browser cookies --json

Role snapshots in JSON include refs plus a small stats block (lines/chars/refs/interactive) so tools can reason about payload size and density.

State and environment knobs

These are useful for “make the site behave like X” workflows:

Cookies: cookies, cookies set, cookies clear
Storage: storage local|session get|set|clear
Offline: set offline on|off
Headers: set headers --json '{"X-Debug":"1"}' (or --clear)
HTTP basic auth: set credentials user pass (or --clear)
Geolocation: set geo <lat> <lon> --origin "https://example.com" (or --clear)
Media: set media dark|light|no-preference|none
Timezone / locale: set timezone ..., set locale ...
Device / viewport:
- set device "iPhone 14" (Playwright device presets)
- set viewport 1280 720

Security & privacy

The clawd browser profile may contain logged-in sessions; treat it as sensitive.
For logins and anti-bot notes (X/Twitter, etc.), see Browser login + X/Twitter posting.
Keep control URLs loopback-only unless you intentionally expose the server.
Remote CDP endpoints are powerful; tunnel and protect them.

Troubleshooting

For Linux-specific issues (especially snap Chromium), see Browser troubleshooting.

Agent tools + how control works

The agent gets one tool for browser automation:

browser — status/start/stop/tabs/open/focus/close/snapshot/screenshot/navigate/act

How it maps:

browser snapshot returns a stable UI tree (AI or ARIA).
browser act uses the snapshot ref IDs to click/type/drag/select.
browser screenshot captures pixels (full page or element).
browser accepts:
- profile to choose a named browser profile (host or remote control server).
- target (sandbox | host | custom) to select where the browser lives.
- controlUrl sets target: "custom" implicitly (remote control server).
- In sandboxed sessions, target: "host" requires agents.defaults.sandbox.browser.allowHostControl=true.
- If target is omitted: sandboxed sessions default to sandbox, non-sandbox sessions default to host.
- Sandbox allowlists can restrict target: "custom" to specific URLs/hosts/ports.
- Defaults: allowlists unset (no restriction), and sandbox host control is disabled.

This keeps the agent deterministic and avoids brittle selectors.

apply_patch tool Browser login + X/Twitter posting

Browser (clawd-managed)

Scope

What you get

Quick start

Profiles: clawd vs chrome

Configuration

Use Brave (or another Chromium-based browser)

Local vs remote control

Remote browser (control server)

Node browser proxy (zero-config default)

Browserless (hosted remote CDP)

Running the control server on the browser machine

Security

Tokens (what is shared with what?)

Binding (don’t expose to your LAN by accident)

TLS / HTTPS (recommended approach: terminate in front)

Profiles (multi-browser)

Chrome extension relay (use your existing Chrome)

Sandboxed sessions

Setup

Isolation guarantees

Browser selection

Control API (optional)

Playwright requirement

How it works (internal)

CLI quick reference

Snapshots and refs

Wait power-ups

Debug workflows

JSON output

State and environment knobs

Security & privacy

Troubleshooting

Agent tools + how control works

Profiles: `clawd` vs `chrome`