name: chrome-devtools description: Browser automation, debugging, and performance analysis using Puppeteer CLI scripts. Use for automating browsers, taking screenshots, analyzing performance, monitoring network traffic, web scraping, form automation, and JavaScript debugging. license: Apache-2.0

Chrome DevTools Agent Skill

Browser automation via executable Puppeteer scripts. All scripts output JSON for easy parsing.

Quick Start

Installation

Step 1: Install System Dependencies (Linux/WSL only)

On Linux/WSL, Chrome requires system libraries. Install them first:

cd .claude/skills/chrome-devtools/scripts
./install-deps.sh  # Auto-detects OS and installs required libs

Supports: Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, Arch, Manjaro

macOS/Windows: Skip this step (dependencies bundled with Chrome)

Step 2: Install Node Dependencies

npm install  # Installs puppeteer, debug, yargs

Test

node navigate.js --url https://example.com
# Output: {"success": true, "url": "https://example.com", "title": "Example Domain"}

Available Scripts

All scripts are in .claude/skills/chrome-devtools/scripts/

Script Usage

• ./scripts/README.md

Core Automation

• navigate.js - Navigate to URLs
• screenshot.js - Capture screenshots (full page or element)
• click.js - Click elements
• fill.js - Fill form fields
• evaluate.js - Execute JavaScript in page context

Analysis & Monitoring

• snapshot.js - Extract interactive elements with metadata
• console.js - Monitor console messages/errors
• network.js - Track HTTP requests/responses
• performance.js - Measure Core Web Vitals + record traces

Usage Patterns

Single Command

cd .claude/skills/chrome-devtools/scripts
node screenshot.js --url https://example.com --output ./docs/screenshots/page.png

Important: Always save screenshots to ./docs/screenshots directory.

Chain Commands (reuse browser)

# Keep browser open with --close false
node navigate.js --url https://example.com/login --close false
node fill.js --selector "#email" --value "user@example.com" --close false
node fill.js --selector "#password" --value "secret" --close false
node click.js --selector "button[type=submit]"

Parse JSON Output

# Extract specific fields with jq
node performance.js --url https://example.com | jq '.vitals.LCP'

# Save to file
node network.js --url https://example.com --output /tmp/requests.json

Common Workflows

Web Scraping

node evaluate.js --url https://example.com --script "
  Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('.item')).map(el => ({
    title: el.querySelector('h2')?.textContent,
    link: el.querySelector('a')?.href
  }))
" | jq '.result'

Performance Testing

PERF=$(node performance.js --url https://example.com)
LCP=$(echo $PERF | jq '.vitals.LCP')
if (( $(echo "$LCP < 2500" | bc -l) )); then
  echo "✓ LCP passed: ${LCP}ms"
else
  echo "✗ LCP failed: ${LCP}ms"
fi

Form Automation

node fill.js --url https://example.com --selector "#search" --value "query" --close false
node click.js --selector "button[type=submit]"

Error Monitoring

node console.js --url https://example.com --types error,warn --duration 5000 | jq '.messageCount'

Script Options

All scripts support:

• --headless false - Show browser window
• --close false - Keep browser open for chaining
• --timeout 30000 - Set timeout (milliseconds)
• --wait-until networkidle2 - Wait strategy

See ./scripts/README.md for complete options.

Output Format

All scripts output JSON to stdout:

{
  "success": true,
  "url": "https://example.com",
  ... // script-specific data
}

Errors go to stderr:

{
  "success": false,
  "error": "Error message"
}

Finding Elements

Use snapshot.js to discover selectors:

node snapshot.js --url https://example.com | jq '.elements[] | {tagName, text, selector}'

Troubleshooting

Common Errors

"Cannot find package 'puppeteer'"

• Run: npm install in the scripts directory

"error while loading shared libraries: libnss3.so" (Linux/WSL)

• Missing system dependencies
• Fix: Run ./install-deps.sh in scripts directory
• Manual install: sudo apt-get install -y libnss3 libnspr4 libasound2t64 libatk1.0-0 libatk-bridge2.0-0 libcups2 libdrm2 libxkbcommon0 libxcomposite1 libxdamage1 libxfixes3 libxrandr2 libgbm1

"Failed to launch the browser process"

• Check system dependencies installed (Linux/WSL)
• Verify Chrome downloaded: ls ~/.cache/puppeteer
• Try: npm rebuild then npm install

Chrome not found

• Puppeteer auto-downloads Chrome during npm install
• If failed, manually trigger: npx puppeteer browsers install chrome

Script Issues

Element not found

• Get snapshot first to find correct selector: node snapshot.js --url <url>

Script hangs

• Increase timeout: --timeout 60000
• Change wait strategy: --wait-until load or --wait-until domcontentloaded

Blank screenshot

• Wait for page load: --wait-until networkidle2
• Increase timeout: --timeout 30000

Permission denied on scripts

• Make executable: chmod +x *.sh

Reference Documentation

Detailed guides available in ./references/:

• CDP Domains Reference - 47 Chrome DevTools Protocol domains
• Puppeteer Quick Reference - Complete Puppeteer API patterns
• Performance Analysis Guide - Core Web Vitals optimization

Advanced Usage

Custom Scripts

Create custom scripts using shared library:

import { getBrowser, getPage, closeBrowser, outputJSON } from './lib/browser.js';
// Your automation logic

Direct CDP Access

const client = await page.createCDPSession();
await client.send('Emulation.setCPUThrottlingRate', { rate: 4 });

See reference documentation for advanced patterns and complete API coverage.

External Resources

• Puppeteer Documentation
• Chrome DevTools Protocol
• Scripts README