OpenCLI
Convert any website into a CLI & run Browser Use on your logged-in Chrome. Turn websites, browser sessions, Electron apps, and local tools into deterministic interfaces for humans and AI agents. Or run Browser Use against any page — navigate, fill forms, click, extract, automate.
OpenCLI gives you one surface for three different kinds of automation:
- Use built-in adapters for sites like Bilibili, Zhihu, Xiaohongshu, Reddit, HackerNews, Twitter/X, and many more.
- Let AI Agents operate any website — install the
opencli-browserskill in your AI agent (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), and it can navigate, click, type/fill, extract, and inspect any page through your logged-in browser viaopencli browserprimitives. - Write new adapters end-to-end with
opencli browser+ theopencli-adapter-authorskill, which guides from first recon through field decoding, code, andopencli browser verify.
It also provides desktop app adapters for Electron apps like Cursor, Trae CN, Codex, Antigravity, ChatGPT, and Trae SOLO.
Quick Start
1. Install OpenCLI
For desktop use, start with OpenCLIApp. It bundles the OpenCLI runtime,
keeps the managed opencli command installed, and gives you a system tray UI
for setup, diagnostics, updates, browser-login keepalive, and Web → Markdown.
Option A — OpenCLIApp (recommended for macOS / Windows):
Download the latest app from https://opencli.info/download, install it, then
open the app once and use the System page to install or repair the opencli
command.
Option B — npm global install (CLI-only / CI / servers): OpenCLI requires Node.js >= 20.18.1 when installed through npm.
node --version
npm install -g @jackwener/opencli2. Install the Browser Bridge Extension
OpenCLI connects to Chrome/Chromium through a lightweight Browser Bridge extension plus a small local daemon. The daemon auto-starts when needed.
Option A — Chrome Web Store (recommended): Install OpenCLI from the Chrome Web Store.
Option B — Manual install:
- Download the latest
opencli-extension-v{version}.zipfrom the GitHub Releases page. - Unzip it, open
chrome://extensions, and enable Developer mode. - Click Load unpacked and select the unzipped folder.
3. Verify the setup
opencli doctor4. Optional: name your Chrome profile
Each Chrome profile runs its own OpenCLI extension instance. If you use multiple Chrome profiles, list the connected profiles and assign local aliases:
opencli profile list
opencli profile rename <contextId> work
opencli profile use work
opencli --profile work browser main stateWith only one connected profile, OpenCLI uses it automatically. With multiple connected profiles and no default, OpenCLI asks you to choose instead of guessing.
5. Run your first commands
opencli list
opencli hackernews top --limit 5
opencli bilibili hot --limit 5For Humans
Use OpenCLI directly when you want a reliable command instead of a live browser session:
opencli listshows every registered command.opencli <site> <command>runs a built-in or generated adapter.opencli doctorhelps diagnose browser connectivity.
Extending OpenCLI
If you want to add your own commands, start with the Extending OpenCLI guide. README keeps this short; the guide covers the directory layout, source-control model, and install commands.
| Need | Recommended path |
|---|---|
| Keep personal website commands in your own Git repo | opencli plugin create + opencli plugin install file://... |
| Quickly draft a private local adapter | opencli browser init <site>/<command> in ~/.opencli/clis/ |
| Modify an official adapter locally | opencli adapter eject <site> + opencli adapter reset <site> |
| Publish or install third-party commands | opencli plugin install github:user/repo |
For AI Agents
OpenCLI's browser commands are designed to be used by AI Agents — not run manually. Install skills into your AI agent (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), and the agent operates websites on your behalf using your logged-in Chrome session.
Install skills (also refreshes existing installs)
npx skills add jackwener/opencliOr install only what you need:
npx skills add jackwener/opencli --skill opencli-adapter-author
npx skills add jackwener/opencli --skill opencli-autofix
npx skills add jackwener/opencli --skill opencli-browser
npx skills add jackwener/opencli --skill opencli-usageWhich skill to use
| Skill | When to use | Example prompt to your AI agent |
|---|---|---|
| opencli-adapter-author | Write a reusable adapter for a new site or add a command to an existing site | "Write an adapter for douyin trending" / "Make a command that grabs the top posts from this page" |
| opencli-autofix | Repair a broken adapter when a built-in command fails | "opencli zhihu hot is returning empty — fix it" |
| opencli-browser | Drive a real Chrome page ad-hoc — navigate, fill forms, click, extract | "Help me check my Xiaohongshu notifications" / "Help me fill out this form" / "Use browser commands to scrape this page" |
| opencli-usage | Quick reference for all OpenCLI commands and sites | "What commands does OpenCLI have for Twitter?" |
How it works
Once opencli-browser is installed, your AI agent can:
- Navigate to any URL using your logged-in browser
- Read page content via structured DOM snapshots (not screenshots)
- Interact — click buttons, fill forms, select options, press keys
- Extract data from the page or intercept network API responses
- Wait for elements, text, or page transitions
The agent handles all the opencli browser commands internally — you just describe what you want done in natural language.
Skill references:
skills/opencli-browser/SKILL.md— drive Chrome ad-hoc (navigate, fill forms, click, extract)skills/opencli-adapter-author/SKILL.md— write a new adapter end-to-endskills/opencli-autofix/SKILL.md— repair broken adaptersskills/opencli-usage/SKILL.md— command and site reference
Available browser commands include open, state, click, type, fill, select, keys, wait, get, find, extract, frames, screenshot, scroll, back, eval, network, tab list, tab new, tab select, tab close, init, verify, and close.
opencli browser commands require a <session> positional immediately after browser. opencli browser work open <url> and opencli browser work tab new [url] both return a target ID. Use opencli browser work tab list to inspect target IDs, then pass --tab <targetId> to route a command to a specific tab. tab new creates a new tab without changing the default browser target; only tab select <targetId> promotes that tab to the default target for later untargeted commands in the same session.
Writing a new adapter
When the site you need is not yet covered, use the opencli-adapter-author skill end-to-end:
- Recon the site and pick a pattern (SPA / SSR / JSONP / Token / Streaming).
- Discover the right endpoint — network inspection, initial state, bundle search, token trace, or interceptor fallback.
- Pick auth —
PUBLIC/COOKIE/INTERCEPT/UI/LOCAL. - Decode response fields and design output columns.
opencli browser recon analyze <url>→opencli browser recon init <site>/<name>→ write adapter →opencli browser recon verify <site>/<name>.- Site knowledge persists to
~/.opencli/sites/<site>/so the next adapter for the same site starts from context.
Configuration
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
OPENCLI_PROFILE |
— | Browser Bridge profile alias/contextId to use when multiple Chrome profiles are connected |
OPENCLI_WINDOW |
command default | Set to foreground or background to override Browser Bridge window placement. Browser-backed commands also accept --window <foreground|background>. |
OPENCLI_SITE_SESSION |
adapter default | Set to ephemeral or persistent to override siteSession metadata for browser-backed adapter commands. ephemeral closes the one-shot automation window when the command finishes; persistent reuses the site's session. Per-command --site-session takes precedence. |
OPENCLI_BROWSER_CONNECT_TIMEOUT |
45 |
Seconds to wait for browser connection |
OPENCLI_BROWSER_COMMAND_TIMEOUT |
60 |
Seconds to wait for a single browser command |
OPENCLI_CDP_ENDPOINT |
— | Chrome DevTools Protocol endpoint for remote browser or Electron apps |
OPENCLI_CDP_TARGET |
— | Filter CDP targets by URL substring (e.g. detail.1688.com) |
OPENCLI_VERBOSE |
false |
Enable verbose logging (-v flag also works) |
DEBUG_SNAPSHOT |
— | Set to 1 for DOM snapshot debug output |
opencli browser * requires an explicit <session> positional, uses a foreground browser window by default, and keeps that session's tab lease until opencli browser <session> close or idle cleanup. Browser-backed adapters use a background adapter window and release one-shot tab leases by default. Interactive adapters can declare siteSession: 'persistent' to keep a stable site tab for continuity; pass --site-session ephemeral for a one-shot tab.
Built-in Commands
| Site | Commands |
|---|---|
| xiaohongshu | search ask note comments feed user download publish follow unfollow notifications creator-notes creator-notes-summary creator-note-detail creator-profile creator-stats |
| bilibili | hot search history feed ranking download comments dynamic favorite following follow unfollow me subtitle summary video user-videos creator-stats |
| zhihu | hot search question download follow like favorite comment answer |
| hackernews | top new best ask show jobs search user |
| hltv | search player-summary player-matches player-form player-map-pool player-vs-team player-teammate-impact player-duel match-map match-series team-matches team-map-pool event-matches |
| geogebra | eval add-point add-line add-circle add-polygon triangle hexagon list info |
connect inbox job-detail jobs-preferences post-analytics posts profile-experience profile-projects profile-read profile-analytics safe-send search services-read sent-invitations thread-snapshot timeline salesnav-search salesnav-inbox salesnav-message salesnav-thread |
|
hot frontpage popular search subreddit read user user-posts user-comments upvote upvoted save saved comment subscribe |
|
trending search timeline tweets lists list-tweets list-create list-delete list-add list-add-batch list-remove list-remove-batch bookmarks post download profile article like likes notifications reply reply-dm thread follow unfollow followers following block unblock bookmark unbookmark delete hide-reply accept |
|
| claude | ask send new status read history detail |
| gemini | new ask image deep-research deep-research-result |
| notebooklm | status list open current get history summary note-list notes-get source-list source-get source-fulltext source-guide |
| amazon | bestsellers search product offer discussion movers-shakers new-releases rankings |
| upwork | search feed detail |
| slock | message-send message-read message-search channel-list channel-info channel-create channel-members channel-join task-list task-create task-claim task-status task-convert task-delete thread-list thread-follow attachment-upload attachment-download bookmark-add inbox dm-list server-list server-use whoami |
| huodongxing | events |
| midjourney | login whoami settings quota generate describe history status action download |
Curated highlights — → see all 100+ supported sites & commands (douyin / weibo / spotify / 1688 / quark / nowcoder / google-scholar / hupu / xianyu / weread / weread-official / xiaoyuzhou / Chess.com / and more).
Desktop app adapters (Electron, via CDP): Cursor / Trae CN / Codex / Antigravity / ChatGPT App / ChatWise / Qoder / Discord / Doubao / Trae SOLO — see docs/adapters/desktop/.
Download Support
OpenCLI supports downloading images, videos, and articles from supported platforms.
| Platform | Content Types | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| xiaohongshu | Images, Videos | Downloads all media from a note |
| rednote | Images, Videos | Downloads all media from a signed rednote note URL |
| bilibili | Videos | Requires yt-dlp installed |
| Images, Videos | From user media tab or single tweet | |
| douban | Images | Poster / still image lists |
| pixiv | Images | Original-quality illustrations, multi-page |
| 1688 | Images, Videos | Downloads page-visible product media from item pages |
| xiaoyuzhou | Audio, Transcript | Downloads episode audio and transcript JSON/text with local credentials |
| zhihu | Column articles, answers (Markdown) | Exports with optional image download |
| weixin | Articles (Markdown) | WeChat Official Account articles |
For video downloads, install yt-dlp first: brew install yt-dlp
opencli xiaohongshu download "https://www.xiaohongshu.com/search_result/<id>?xsec_token=..." --output ./xhs
opencli xiaohongshu download "https://xhslink.com/..." --output ./xhs
opencli rednote download "https://www.rednote.com/search_result/<id>?xsec_token=..." --output ./rednote
opencli bilibili download BV1xxx --output ./bilibili
opencli twitter download elonmusk --limit 20 --output ./twitter
opencli 1688 download 841141931191 --output ./1688-downloads
opencli xiaoyuzhou download 69b3b675772ac2295bfc01d0 --output ./xiaoyuzhou
opencli xiaoyuzhou transcript 69dd0c98e2c8be31551f6a33 --output ./xiaoyuzhou-transcriptsopencli xiaoyuzhou download and transcript require local Xiaoyuzhou credentials in ~/.opencli/xiaoyuzhou.json.
Output Formats
All built-in commands support --format / -f with table (default), json, yaml, md, and csv.
opencli bilibili hot -f json # Pipe to jq or LLMs
opencli bilibili hot -f csv # Spreadsheet-friendly
opencli bilibili hot -v # Verbose: show pipeline debug stepsExit Codes
opencli follows Unix sysexits.h so CI / scripts can branch on failure mode: 0 success, 66 empty result, 69 Browser Bridge down, 75 timeout, 77 auth required, 78 config error, 130 Ctrl-C. Full reference: docs/guide/exit-codes.md.
Plugins
Extend OpenCLI with community-contributed adapters:
opencli plugin install github:user/opencli-plugin-my-tool
opencli plugin list
opencli plugin update --all
opencli plugin uninstall my-tool| Plugin | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| opencli-plugin-github-trending | JS | GitHub Trending repositories |
| opencli-plugin-hot-digest | JS | Multi-platform trending aggregator |
| opencli-plugin-juejin | JS | 稀土掘金 (Juejin) hot articles |
| opencli-plugin-vk | JS | VK (VKontakte) wall, feed, and search |
| opencli-plugin-x-article-publisher | JS | Publish Markdown with local images as X long-form Articles via OpenCLI and xPoster |
See Plugins Guide for creating your own plugin.
Testing
See TESTING.md for how to run and write tests.
Troubleshooting
- "Extension not connected" — Ensure the Browser Bridge extension is installed from the Chrome Web Store and enabled in
chrome://extensions. - "attach failed: Cannot access a chrome-extension:// URL" — Another extension may be interfering. Try disabling other extensions temporarily.
- Empty data or 'Unauthorized' error — Your Chrome/Chromium login session may have expired. Navigate to the target site and log in again.
- Node API errors / missing
fetch/ startup crash on old Node — OpenCLI requires Node.js >= 20.18.1. Runnode --version, upgrade Node if needed, then retry. - Daemon issues — Check status:
curl localhost:19825/status· View logs:curl localhost:19825/logs
