actionbook

When to Use This Skill

Activate this skill when the user:

Needs to complete a multi-step task ("Send a LinkedIn message", "Book an Airbnb")
Asks how to interact with a website ("How do I post a tweet?")
Builds browser-based AI agents or web scrapers
Writes E2E tests for external websites
Navigates to any new page during browser automation

How to Use

Phase 1: Get Action Manual

bash

# Step 1: Search for action manuals
actionbook search "arxiv search papers"
# Returns: area IDs with descriptions

# Step 2: Get the full manual (use area_id from search results)
actionbook get "arxiv.org:/search/advanced:default"
# Returns: Page structure, UI Elements with CSS/XPath selectors

Phase 2: Execute with Browser

bash

# Step 3: Open browser
actionbook browser open "https://arxiv.org/search/advanced"

# Step 4: Use CSS selectors from Action Manual directly
actionbook browser fill "#terms-0-term" "Neural Network"
actionbook browser select "#terms-0-field" "title"
actionbook browser click "#date-filter_by-2"
actionbook browser fill "#date-year" "2025"
actionbook browser click "form[action='/search/advanced'] button.is-link"

# Step 5: Wait for results
actionbook browser wait-nav

# Step 6: Extract data
actionbook browser text

# Step 7: Close browser
actionbook browser close

Action Manual Format

Action manuals return:

Page URL - Target page address
Page Structure - DOM hierarchy and key sections
UI Elements - CSS/XPath selectors with element metadata

yaml

  ### button_advanced_search

  - ID: button_advanced_search
  - Description: Advanced search navigation button
  - Type: link
  - Allow Methods: click
  - Selectors:
    - role: getByRole('link', { name: 'Advanced Search' }) (confidence: 0.9)
    - css: button.button.is-small.is-cul-darker (confidence: 0.65)
    - xpath: //button[contains(@class, 'button')] (confidence: 0.55)

Action Search Commands

bash

actionbook search "<query>"                    # Basic search
actionbook search "<query>" --domain site.com  # Filter by domain
actionbook search "<query>" --url <url>        # Filter by URL
actionbook search "<query>" -p 2 -s 20         # Page 2, 20 results

actionbook get "<area_id>"                     # Full details with selectors
# area_id format: "site.com:/path:area_name"

actionbook sources list                        # List available sources
actionbook sources search "<query>"            # Search sources by keyword

Browser Commands

Navigation

bash

actionbook browser open <url>                  # Open URL in new tab
actionbook browser goto <url>                  # Navigate current page
actionbook browser back                        # Go back
actionbook browser forward                     # Go forward
actionbook browser reload                      # Reload page
actionbook browser pages                       # List open tabs
actionbook browser switch <page_id>            # Switch tab
actionbook browser close                       # Close browser
actionbook browser restart                     # Restart browser
actionbook browser connect <endpoint>          # Connect to existing browser (CDP port or URL)

Interactions (use CSS selectors from Action Manual)

bash

actionbook browser click "<selector>"                  # Click element
actionbook browser click "<selector>" --wait 1000      # Wait then click
actionbook browser fill "<selector>" "text"            # Clear and type
actionbook browser type "<selector>" "text"            # Append text
actionbook browser select "<selector>" "value"         # Select dropdown
actionbook browser hover "<selector>"                  # Hover
actionbook browser focus "<selector>"                  # Focus
actionbook browser press Enter                         # Press key

Get Information

bash

actionbook browser text                        # Full page text
actionbook browser text "<selector>"           # Element text
actionbook browser html                        # Full page HTML
actionbook browser html "<selector>"           # Element HTML
actionbook browser snapshot                    # Accessibility tree
actionbook browser viewport                    # Viewport dimensions
actionbook browser status                      # Browser detection info

Wait

bash

actionbook browser wait "<selector>"                   # Wait for element
actionbook browser wait "<selector>" --timeout 5000    # Custom timeout
actionbook browser wait-nav                            # Wait for navigation

Screenshots & Export

bash

# Ensure target directory exists before saving screenshots
actionbook browser screenshot                  # Save screenshot.png
actionbook browser screenshot output.png       # Custom path
actionbook browser screenshot --full-page      # Full page
actionbook browser pdf output.pdf              # Export as PDF

JavaScript & Inspection

bash

actionbook browser eval "document.title"               # Execute JS
actionbook browser inspect 100 200                     # Inspect at coordinates
actionbook browser inspect 100 200 --desc "login btn"  # With description

Cookies

bash

actionbook browser cookies list                # List all cookies
actionbook browser cookies get "name"          # Get cookie
actionbook browser cookies set "name" "value"  # Set cookie
actionbook browser cookies set "name" "value" --domain ".example.com"
actionbook browser cookies delete "name"       # Delete cookie
actionbook browser cookies clear               # Clear all

Global Flags

bash

actionbook --json <command>           # JSON output
actionbook --headless <command>       # Headless mode
actionbook --verbose <command>        # Verbose logging
actionbook -P <profile> <command>     # Use specific profile
actionbook --cdp <port|url> <command> # CDP connection

Guidelines

Search by task description, not element name ("arxiv search papers" not "search button")
Use Action Manual selectors first - they are pre-verified and don't require snapshot
Prefer CSS ID selectors (
```
#id
```
) over XPath when both are provided
Fallback to snapshot when selectors fail - use
```
actionbook browser snapshot
```
then CSS selectors from the output
Re-snapshot after navigation - DOM changes invalidate previous state

Fallback Strategy

When Fallback is Needed

Actionbook stores pre-computed page data captured at indexing time. This data may become outdated as websites evolve:

Selector execution failure - The returned CSS/XPath selector does not match any element
Element mismatch - The selector matches an element with unexpected type or behavior
Multiple selector failures - Several selectors from the same action fail consecutively

Fallback Approaches

When Action Manual selectors don't work:

Snapshot the page -
```
actionbook browser snapshot
```
to get the current accessibility tree
Inspect visually -
```
actionbook browser screenshot
```
to see the current state
Inspect by coordinates -
```
actionbook browser inspect <x> <y>
```
to find elements

Execute JS -

actionbook browser eval "document.querySelector(...)"

for dynamic queries

When to Exit

If actionbook search returns no results or action fails unexpectedly, use other available tools to continue the task.

Examples

End-to-end with Action Manual

bash

# 1. Find selectors
actionbook search "airbnb search" --domain airbnb.com

# 2. Get detailed selectors (area_id from search results)
actionbook get "airbnb.com:/:default"

# 3. Automate using pre-verified selectors
actionbook browser open "https://www.airbnb.com"
actionbook browser fill "input[data-testid='structured-search-input-field-query']" "Tokyo"
actionbook browser click "button[data-testid='structured-search-input-search-button']"
actionbook browser wait-nav
actionbook browser text
actionbook browser close

Deep-Dive Documentation

For detailed patterns and best practices:

Reference	Description
references/command-reference.md	Complete command reference with all features
references/authentication.md	Login flows, OAuth, 2FA handling, state reuse

actionbook

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

When to Use This Skill

How to Use

Phase 1: Get Action Manual

Phase 2: Execute with Browser

Action Manual Format

Action Search Commands

Browser Commands

Navigation

Interactions (use CSS selectors from Action Manual)

Get Information

Wait

Screenshots & Export

JavaScript & Inspection

Cookies

Global Flags

Guidelines

Fallback Strategy

When Fallback is Needed

Fallback Approaches

When to Exit

Examples

End-to-end with Action Manual

Deep-Dive Documentation