Open Browser Use

Overview

Open Browser Use connects an MV3 Chrome extension, a local native messaging host, a CLI, SDKs, and an optional stdio MCP server so agents can automate a real Chrome profile. It is not Codex.app-specific; adapt the commands, MCP config, and SDK examples to the agent runtime you are operating in.

Core Workflow

1. Check setup with open-browser-use ping or obu ping. If it fails because setup is missing, read references/installation.md.
2. Choose a unique browser session id for the current agent task before opening or claiming tabs. Prefer the surrounding runtime's conversation/session id when available; otherwise create a short unique id such as obu-<task-slug>-<timestamp>. Reuse that same id for every Open Browser Use command in this task.
3. Name the current browser task group before opening or claiming tabs. Use a short task label followed by - OBU; if no better task label is available, use Task - OBU.
4. Use the CLI for simple inspection or one-shot actions: info, tabs, user-tabs, history, open-tab, navigate, cdp, and call.
5. Use open-browser-use run / obu run for CLI-level multi-step orchestration when a small line-oriented action plan is enough and writing SDK code would be unnecessary.
6. If the surrounding agent runtime supports local MCP servers, configure obu mcp and call the exposed browser tools directly. Use the run_action_plan MCP tool for the same line-oriented orchestration from MCP. Read references/sdk-and-protocol.md.
7. Use the JavaScript, Python, or Go SDK for larger multi-step workflows, event subscriptions, richer control flow, or when the surrounding agent runtime already runs code. Read references/sdk-and-protocol.md.
8. Before ending browser work, release or keep session tabs with open-browser-use finalize-tabs --session-id "$OBU_SESSION_ID" --keep '<json-array>', the MCP finalize_tabs tool, or the SDK finalizeTabs / finalize_tabs / FinalizeTabs method.
9. If communication fails after setup, read references/troubleshooting.md.

Operating Rules