Back to Devoured - September 18, 2026
DEVOURED
Browserskill (GitHub Repo)

Browserskill (GitHub Repo)

DevOps aiagents GitHub
BrowserSkill enables AI agents to perform tasks in your already-logged-in browser sessions securely and on demand.
What: The project uses a CLI, a daemon, and a browser extension to allow AI agents like Cursor or Claude to borrow specific browser tabs for tasks and then return control to the user.
Why it matters: By utilizing existing browser cookies and sessions, agents can perform actions requiring authentication without needing secondary test accounts or complex login flows.
Takeaway: Run `bsk install-skill` to configure your preferred agent harness, then use the browser extension to manage tab borrowing permissions.
Deep dive
  • Architecture: Consists of a local bsk CLI, a daemon for IPC, and a browser extension for automation.
  • Tab Management: The agent must explicitly borrow a tab; it cannot access other open tabs or browser windows without permission.
  • Human-in-the-loop: Built-in support for agents to pause tasks and request human intervention for CAPTCHAs, MFA, or confirmation dialogs.
  • Agent Support: Works with any shell-capable agent, including Cursor, Claude Code, and Codex.
  • Deployment: Supports macOS, Linux, and Windows, with Chrome/Edge extensions.
Decoder
  • Agent Harness: The framework or environment (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code) that runs the AI agent and manages its capabilities.
  • IPC (Inter-Process Communication): Mechanisms used by an OS to allow processes to manage shared data and interact with each other.
  • Daemon: A background process that handles requests and manages the state of the BrowserSkill bridge between the CLI and the extension.
Original article

BrowserSkill

Let AI agents use your browser without interrupting your work.

BrowserSkill connects Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw, CodeBuddy, WorkBuddy, Pi, Hermes Agent, DeepSeek Harness, and other AI agents to your already logged-in browser.

Need the agent to touch a tab you already have open? It must borrow that tab explicitly, return it when the task is done, and leave the rest of your browser alone.

BrowserSkill Advantages

  • Reuse real login state: Agents can work with sites you are already signed into, without separate test accounts.
  • Keep working uninterrupted: browser tasks run in a separate, visible Agent Window, so you can keep using your own browser.
  • Support any Agent: any Agent that can call a shell can use BrowserSkill through the bsk CLI, with no lock-in to a specific model, Agent framework, or harness.
  • Built-in human-in-loop: when a task hits captcha, login, confirmation dialogs, or other human-only steps, the Agent can ask you to take over and then continue afterwards.

Capture a long image in Quick actions → Full-page screenshot, or let an Agent use bsk screenshot --session <id> --full-page --out page.png.

Runtime Environment

BrowserSkill has two local runtime pieces: the bsk CLI/daemon and the browser extension.

Runtime Support
Operating systems macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Linux (x64 and ARM64), Windows x64
Browsers Chrome and Microsoft Edge are supported; other Chromium-based browsers are expected to work when they support unpacked Chromium extensions; Firefox is planned

Quick Start

Using an agent sandbox that reaps background processes after each command? Follow the sandboxed agent setup to keep the daemon in a persistent host environment and connect with a shared BSK_HOME plus BSK_AUTO_START=0. Ordinary local use keeps automatic startup by default.

Install with your Agent (recommended)

Already using Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, or another shell-capable agent? Just copy this one line and send it to your agent — it will install the CLI and skill for you, then walk you through loading the extension:

Set up browser-skill on this machine by following https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Tencent/BrowserSkill/main/AGENT_INSTALL.md

Manual install

Install the CLI, then install the extension from the Chrome Web Store or Edge Add-ons.

1. Install the bsk CLI

macOS / Linux (recommended — installs to ~/.local/bin):

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Tencent/BrowserSkill/main/install.sh | sh
export PATH="${BSK_INSTALL_DIR:-$HOME/.local/bin}:$PATH"

Windows (PowerShell — installs to ~/.local/bin):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Tencent/BrowserSkill/main/install.ps1 | iex

Verify the binary in the terminal or agent environment that will use it:

bsk --version

2. Install the browser extension

Install BrowserSkill from your browser's store:

Browser Store listing
Chrome Chrome Web Store
Microsoft Edge Edge Add-ons

On other Chromium-based browsers, install the Chrome Web Store build.

3. Install the skill

BrowserSkill ships a skill that teaches your agent harness how to use bsk. For these harnesses, install it in one step:

bsk install-skill

Use Space to select the Agent harness you want to install into, then press Enter to install the skill. Run bsk install-skill --list to see internal variants and install paths.

4. Verify the connection

Run bsk doctor and follow its hints. Open the extension popup and confirm it is connected. Start a new Agent session, confirm browser-skill is available in the harness, and ask it to open https://example.com and summarize the page.

Updating

For the default local setup, finish active browser tasks before updating:

bsk update --yes

Automation settings

The extension popup has two independent Automation settings, both enabled by default. The user's saved browser settings are authoritative for every session.

Confirm before borrowing tabs Allow requests for human help Behavior
On On Borrowing requires approval; help requests show the existing UI.
On Off Borrowing requires approval; help requests return disabled.
Off On Borrowing skips confirmation; help requests show the existing UI.
Off Off Borrowing skips confirmation; help requests return disabled.

DeepSeek Harness plugin

Using DeepSeek Harness (dsh)? BrowserSkill ships a first-class dsh plugin on npm as @wxg-prc-cpg/browser-skill-dsh-plugin.

dsh plugin --profile web add @wxg-prc-cpg/browser-skill-dsh-plugin
dsh --profile web

How It Works

BrowserSkill is a local bridge between your agent harness and your browser. The agent never talks to the browser directly. It asks the bsk CLI to perform a browser task; the local daemon routes that request to the extension; the extension runs it in an Agent Window.

For Developers

The repository is a Cargo + pnpm workspace:

  • crates/bsk-cli — bsk CLI and local daemon
  • crates/bsk-protocol — shared wire types and JSON schemas
  • apps/extension — browser extension
  • packages/ui and packages/i18n — shared extension UI support
  • packages/dsh-plugin-browserskill — DeepSeek Harness plugin
  • evals/browser — deterministic local pages and agent-neutral browser capability evaluation

License

MIT

Explore all 58 articles in today's digest

Fresh dev news, AI-digested daily. Never miss a trend at devoured.fyi