Browse a web page

Job: you need the content of a public page (or a short chain of pages) without dumping raw HTML into the prompt. Use browse. It fetches the page, defaults to markdown, and turns further bash_exec calls into a small REPL until you quit or park.

Same network policy as curl (allow-list / full-internet flag). Private and reserved IPs (including localhost) are always blocked. Form submit and click do not run page JavaScript.

Skill source of truth: /skills/browse.md.

Done looks like

browse https://example.com -- 'links; go 0; show; quit'

Stdout opens the URL (status 200), lists numbered links (0-based), follows link 0, prints the next page as markdown, then returns you to normal bash. There is no active browse session afterward.

Worked example: open, list links, follow one

browse https://example.com -- 'status; links; go 0; show; quit'

Expected shape (titles and link counts can change):

Open line: browse: https://example.com/ (200) with format: markdown and links: 1.
status repeats URL, title, format, and counts.
links prints 0. Learn more — https://iana.org/help/example-domains (indexes start at 0).
go 0 loads that URL. go 1 errors with link 1 out of range (0-0) when there is only one link.
show prints the markdown body (truncated by output limits).
quit ends the session. browse status then reports no active session.

Interactive REPL (several bash_exec calls)

browse https://example.com
# next bash_exec calls are browse verbs until quit/park:
links
go 0
show
quit

Batch verbs in one call with newlines or ; (quote fill values that contain ;):

status; links; show

One-shot script on open

Quote the script so bash does not split on ;:

browse https://example.com -- 'links; go 0; show; quit'

Forms (no JavaScript)

browse https://example.com/login -- 'forms; form 0; fill email=ada@example.com password=secret; submit; show; quit'

forms lists forms. form N selects one (0-based) and shows fields. fill k=v … sets values. submit / submit N posts or gets per the form method. A click N that only works via JS returns a clear error.

Park and resume (in memory)

Park keeps HTML, markdown, forms, history, and format on the MCP tenant. Not written to disk. No cookie jar. Lost if the tenant session is evicted.

browse https://example.com
park docs
browse jobs          # or: browse ls
browse resume docs   # or: browse fg docs
show
quit
browse drop docs     # discard a parked session without resuming

Starting browse <url> while another session is active auto-parks the current one.

CLI (verified)

browse <url>
browse <url> -- <script>
browse status
browse jobs | browse ls
browse resume [id|name] | browse fg [id|name]
browse drop <id|name>

While a session is active, bash_exec is the browse REPL:

Command	Meaning
`show`	Current page body in the active format
`format md` / `format html`	Sticky view mode (`markdown` also accepted)
`links`	Numbered outbound links (0-based)
`go <url\|N>`	Navigate to a URL, or follow link N (`open N` still works)
`back`	Previous page in history
`forms` / `form N`	List forms / select form N and show fields
`fill k=v …`	Set field values on the selected form
`submit` / `submit N`	Submit form
`buttons` / `click N`	List controls / activate button N (`clickables` alias)
`park [name]` / `bg [name]`	Background this session; return to bash
`status`	URL, title, format, counts (+ parked list from outer `browse status`)
`quit`	End the active session (parked ones stay)

Successful replies often end with a next: line suggesting follow-ups.

Notes that bite agents

Default view is markdown (HTML→markdown; script/style stripped). Use format html when attributes or structure matter.
Pages served as text/markdown or text/plain open as text. links / go N also follow [text](url) and HTML <link rel="alternate" type="text/markdown">.
Batch scripts stop on the first failing statement. Failed go / submit leave you on the previous page; the error says the REPL is still active. Type quit or park to return to bash.
An unknown verb such as curl is a browse error, not a missing shell command.
REPL priority: debug wins over browse; browse wins over logs.
browse is a workspace command. There is no separate sails shell binary required in the agent environment.

Failure modes

What you see	What it means	What to do
Network / allow-list error	Host not allowed, or private IP	Use a public host on the allow-list, or the full-internet flag your workspace already uses for `curl`
`link N out of range (0-M)`	Indexes are 0-based	Run `links`, then `go 0` … `go M`
`session still active` after a failed script	REPL did not close	Send `quit` or `park` as the next `bash_exec`
Click / submit needs JS	Control is client-side only	Use a real form `submit`, or fetch an API the page calls
Parked session missing	Tenant session was evicted	Open the URL again; park is in-memory only
`browse: no active session` but `parked sessions` listed	You quit and left parks	`browse resume N` or `browse drop N`

Outbound shell to a real host: SSH to a host
Fetching bytes into the workspace: Send a file (transfer)
Skill: /skills/browse.md