# agent-browser

> Vercel Labs Rust CLI with compact a11y refs for agents

**Category:** AI Agents  
**Pricing:** open-source  
**URL:** https://agent-browser.dev  
**GitHub:** https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-browser  
**Added:** 2026-09-03

---

## The Hook

agent-browser snapshots a compact accessibility tree and lets the agent click `@e1` instead of a CSS selector.

## What's Good

Vercel Labs Rust CLI (Apache-2.0). Native daemon talks CDP to Chrome. `agent-browser snapshot -i` returns an a11y tree with refs (`@e1`, `@e2`); click/fill use those refs. Distinct from Browser Use (Python LLM browser framework), Playwright MCP (MCP control plane), and Chrome DevTools MCP (DevTools traces/Lighthouse). CLI-first for any agent that can run a shell—Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini. Native binaries for macOS, Linux, Windows.

## The Catch

Default idle timeout is about one hour: the headless daemon shuts down and discards transient tabs/state unless you passed `--restore` (or another restore key). Headed, Safari/iOS WebDriver, and user-attached browsers are exempt; cloud-provider browsers are not. Tune with `--idle-timeout` or `AGENT_BROWSER_IDLE_TIMEOUT_MS`; `0` disables. This is CDP Chrome, not stealth—anti-bot pages will still block you.

## Verdict

The CLI browser for agents that want refs, not a full DOM dump. Restore or lose the session.