Opensteer

Browser automation framework for developers and AI agents with deterministic replay.

Opensteer gives you one API for local and cloud runs, description-based actions, structured extraction, and CUA agent workflows.

Install

Main setup (recommended):

npm i -g opensteer
opensteer skills install

SDK package (when importing Opensteer in app code):

# npm
npm install opensteer

# pnpm
pnpm add opensteer

# bun
bun add opensteer

Requirements

• Node.js >=20
• Playwright-supported browser runtime
• Model provider API key for LLM-powered resolution/extraction/CUA

If browser binaries are missing:

npx playwright install chromium

What It Does

• Unified local/cloud execution with the same API surface
• Descriptor-aware actions with selector persistence for replay
• Structured extraction with typed schemas
• CUA agent support (openai, anthropic, google)

Quick Start: SDK

import { Opensteer } from "opensteer";

const opensteer = new Opensteer({ name: "quickstart" });

try {
  await opensteer.launch();
  await opensteer.goto("https://example.com");

  await opensteer.snapshot({ mode: "action" });
  await opensteer.click({ description: "main call to action" });

  await opensteer.snapshot({ mode: "extraction" });
  const data = await opensteer.extract({
    description: "hero section",
    schema: { title: "string", href: "string" },
  });

  console.log(data);
} finally {
  await opensteer.close();
}

Quick Start: CUA Agent

import { Opensteer } from "opensteer";

const opensteer = new Opensteer({ model: "openai/computer-use-preview" });

try {
  await opensteer.launch();
  const agent = opensteer.agent({ mode: "cua" });
  const result = await agent.execute({
    instruction: "Go to Hacker News and open the top story.",
    maxSteps: 20,
  });
  console.log(result.message);
} finally {
  await opensteer.close();
}

Quick Start: CLI

# Open a browser session and bind a selector namespace
opensteer open https://example.com --session demo --name quickstart

# Action snapshot + interaction
opensteer snapshot action --session demo
opensteer click --description "main call to action" --session demo

# Extraction snapshot + structured extract
opensteer snapshot extraction --session demo
opensteer extract '{"title":"string","href":"string"}' --description "hero section" --session demo

# Close session
opensteer close --session demo

For non-interactive runs, set OPENSTEER_SESSION or OPENSTEER_CLIENT_ID.

For AI Agents

Use this workflow to keep scripts replayable and maintainable:

1. Use Opensteer APIs (goto, snapshot, click, input, extract) instead of raw Playwright calls.
2. Keep namespace consistent: SDK name must match CLI --name.
3. Take snapshot({ mode: "action" }) before actions and snapshot({ mode: "extraction" }) before extraction.
4. Prefer description targeting for persistence and deterministic reruns.
5. Always wrap runs in try/finally and call close().

First-party skills:

• skills/opensteer/SKILL.md
• skills/electron/SKILL.md
• skills/README.md

Install the Opensteer skill pack:

opensteer skills install

Claude Code marketplace plugin:

/plugin marketplace add steerlabs/opensteer
/plugin install opensteer@opensteer-marketplace

Cloud Mode

Opensteer defaults to local mode. Enable cloud mode with env or constructor options:

OPENSTEER_MODE=cloud
OPENSTEER_API_KEY=<your_api_key>

• OPENSTEER_BASE_URL overrides the default cloud host
• OPENSTEER_AUTH_SCHEME supports api-key (default) or bearer
• cloud: true or a cloud options object overrides OPENSTEER_MODE
• Cloud mode is fail-fast (no automatic fallback to local)
• Opensteer.from(page), uploadFile, exportCookies, and importCookies are local-only

Resolution and Replay

For descriptor-aware actions (click, input, hover, select, scroll):

1. Reuse persisted selector path from description
2. Try snapshot counter (element)
3. Try explicit CSS selector (selector)
4. Use LLM resolution (description required)
5. Return actionable error

When step 2-4 succeeds and description is present, selector paths are cached in .opensteer/selectors/<namespace> for deterministic replay.

Docs

• Getting Started
• API Reference
• CLI Reference
• Cloud Integration
• Selectors and Storage
• HTML Cleaning and Snapshot Modes
• Live Web Validation Suite
• Skills

Development

pnpm install
pnpm typecheck
pnpm test
pnpm build

Community

• Contributing
• Code of Conduct
• Security Policy
• Discussions
• Changelog

License

MIT