Bot Browser Automation

--browser gives your bot a browser_automate tool that drives a real local Chromium — no cloud API key required.

Quick Start

Install the local browser

pip install "praisonai-browser[playwright]"
playwright install chromium

Enable on a bot

# Headed — a visible Chromium window opens
praisonai bot telegram --token $TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN --browser

# Headless — Chromium runs invisibly (recommended for servers)
praisonai bot telegram --token $TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN --browser --browser-headless

Try it from your chat

Message the bot from Telegram, Slack, or Discord:

Go to news.ycombinator.com and tell me the top 3 stories.

The agent calls browser_automate(goal="Get the top 3 stories", start_url="https://news.ycombinator.com"), the local Chromium opens (or stays headless), and the bot replies with the summary.

How It Works

--browser prefers local Playwright automation and falls back to the cloud tool only when the local browser is unavailable.

Piece	What it does
`browser_available()`	Returns `True` only when both `praisonai_browser` and `playwright` import. Guards against selecting local automation that would fail at launch.
`create_browser_tool(...)`	Builds the `browser_automate` callable the agent sees, passing through `model`, `headless`, and `profile`.
`BrowserBaseTool` (fallback)	Cloud scraping tool used when the local browser is missing. Requires BrowserBase credentials.

Configuration Options

Option	Type	Default	Description
`--browser`	flag	off	Turn the tool on. Off by default so bots stay lightweight.
`--browser-headless`	flag	off	Run Chromium without a visible window. Recommended for servers.
`--browser-profile NAME`	`str`	`"default"`	Currently accepted but not yet applied — the local Playwright agent opens a fresh ephemeral context each session.
`--model MODEL`	`str`	`gpt-4o-mini`	Same flag as the bot’s own model. Also drives the browser tool’s internal LLM.
`browser_automate(goal, start_url)`	callable	`start_url="https://www.google.com"`	The tool the agent sees. `goal` is required; `start_url` defaults to Google.

Common Patterns

Choosing local vs cloud

Use local Playwright for zero-credential dev boxes and personal automation; use the cloud fallback for serverless or no-Playwright environments.

Combining with `--web`

praisonai bot slack --browser --browser-headless --web --memory

--web adds a search tool, --browser adds a real browser, and --memory lets the agent remember what it saw between messages.

Best Practices

Use --browser-headless on servers

Headed mode requires a display; on a headless server or Docker container the launch will fail. On a display-less host, wrap the command with xvfb-run to provide a virtual display.

Confirm which tool loaded from the startup log

Three exact log lines tell you which mode you landed in:

Local browser automation enabled (headless=…, profile=…) — local Playwright is running.
Browser tool enabled via BrowserBaseTool (cloud fallback). Install praisonai-browser for local automation. — cloud fallback path.
Browser tool not available. Install praisonai-browser (local) or praisonai-tools (cloud). — --browser was a no-op; the agent has no browser tool.

Named profiles aren't yet honoured

--browser-profile is accepted for forward-compatibility, but the current release always uses a fresh Chromium context. For a persistent profile, watch praisonai-browser upstream and use the CDP mode from Browser Agent → Deep Dive in the meantime.

Failures reach the agent, not the process

browser_automate returns {"success": False, "error": "…"} on Playwright errors instead of raising — the agent can retry, apologise, or fall back to search_web. This differs from BrowserBaseTool, which fails at construction if the API key is absent.

Bot CLI

All praisonai bot flags and platforms

Bot Default Tools

The tools every bot gets automatically

Browser Agent (standalone)

The standalone browser agent this wraps

praisonai-browser Package

Install matrix and Chromium extras

​Quick Start

​How It Works

​Configuration Options

​Common Patterns

​Choosing local vs cloud

​Combining with --web

​Best Practices

​Related