Agent skill

electron

Automate Electron desktop apps (VS Code, Slack, Discord, Figma, Notion, Spotify, etc.) using agent-browser via Chrome DevTools Protocol. Use when the user needs to interact with an Electron app, automate a desktop app, connect to a running app, control a native app, or test an Electron application. Triggers include "automate Slack app", "control VS Code", "interact with Discord app", "test this Electron app", "connect to desktop app", or any task requiring automation of a native Electron application.

View SKILL.md on GitHub Repository
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Forks 1,616

Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-browser/tree/main/skills/electron

SKILL.md

Electron App Automation

Automate any Electron desktop app using agent-browser. Electron apps are built on Chromium and expose a Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) port that agent-browser can connect to, enabling the same snapshot-interact workflow used for web pages.

Core Workflow

  1. Launch the Electron app with remote debugging enabled
  2. Connect agent-browser to the CDP port
  3. Snapshot to discover interactive elements
  4. Interact using element refs
  5. Re-snapshot after navigation or state changes
bash
# Launch an Electron app with remote debugging
open -a "Slack" --args --remote-debugging-port=9222

# Connect agent-browser to the app
agent-browser connect 9222

# Standard workflow from here
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser click @e5
agent-browser screenshot slack-desktop.png

Launching Electron Apps with CDP

Every Electron app supports the --remote-debugging-port flag since it's built into Chromium.

macOS

bash
# Slack
open -a "Slack" --args --remote-debugging-port=9222

# VS Code
open -a "Visual Studio Code" --args --remote-debugging-port=9223

# Discord
open -a "Discord" --args --remote-debugging-port=9224

# Figma
open -a "Figma" --args --remote-debugging-port=9225

# Notion
open -a "Notion" --args --remote-debugging-port=9226

# Spotify
open -a "Spotify" --args --remote-debugging-port=9227

Linux

bash
slack --remote-debugging-port=9222
code --remote-debugging-port=9223
discord --remote-debugging-port=9224

Windows

bash
"C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\slack\slack.exe" --remote-debugging-port=9222
"C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\Code.exe" --remote-debugging-port=9223

Important: If the app is already running, quit it first, then relaunch with the flag. The --remote-debugging-port flag must be present at launch time.

Connecting

bash
# Connect to a specific port
agent-browser connect 9222

# Or use --cdp on each command
agent-browser --cdp 9222 snapshot -i

# Auto-discover a running Chromium-based app
agent-browser --auto-connect snapshot -i

After connect, all subsequent commands target the connected app without needing --cdp.

Tab Management

Electron apps often have multiple windows or webviews. Use tab commands to list and switch between them:

bash
# List all available targets (windows, webviews, etc.)
agent-browser tab

# Switch to a specific tab by index
agent-browser tab 2

# Switch by URL pattern
agent-browser tab --url "*settings*"

Webview Support

Electron <webview> elements are automatically discovered and can be controlled like regular pages. Webviews appear as separate targets in the tab list with type: "webview":

bash
# Connect to running Electron app
agent-browser connect 9222

# List targets -- webviews appear alongside pages
agent-browser tab
# Example output:
#   0: [page]    Slack - Main Window     https://app.slack.com/
#   1: [webview] Embedded Content        https://example.com/widget

# Switch to a webview
agent-browser tab 1

# Interact with the webview normally
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser click @e3
agent-browser screenshot webview.png

Note: Webview support works via raw CDP connection.

Common Patterns

Inspect and Navigate an App

bash
open -a "Slack" --args --remote-debugging-port=9222
sleep 3  # Wait for app to start
agent-browser connect 9222
agent-browser snapshot -i
# Read the snapshot output to identify UI elements
agent-browser click @e10  # Navigate to a section
agent-browser snapshot -i  # Re-snapshot after navigation

Take Screenshots of Desktop Apps

bash
agent-browser connect 9222
agent-browser screenshot app-state.png
agent-browser screenshot --full full-app.png
agent-browser screenshot --annotate annotated-app.png

Extract Data from a Desktop App

bash
agent-browser connect 9222
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser get text @e5
agent-browser snapshot --json > app-state.json

Fill Forms in Desktop Apps

bash
agent-browser connect 9222
agent-browser snapshot -i
agent-browser fill @e3 "search query"
agent-browser press Enter
agent-browser wait 1000
agent-browser snapshot -i

Run Multiple Apps Simultaneously

Use named sessions to control multiple Electron apps at the same time:

bash
# Connect to Slack
agent-browser --session slack connect 9222

# Connect to VS Code
agent-browser --session vscode connect 9223

# Interact with each independently
agent-browser --session slack snapshot -i
agent-browser --session vscode snapshot -i

Color Scheme

The default color scheme when connecting via CDP may be light. To preserve dark mode:

bash
agent-browser connect 9222
agent-browser --color-scheme dark snapshot -i

Or set it globally:

bash
AGENT_BROWSER_COLOR_SCHEME=dark agent-browser connect 9222

Troubleshooting

"Connection refused" or "Cannot connect"

  • Make sure the app was launched with --remote-debugging-port=NNNN
  • If the app was already running, quit and relaunch with the flag
  • Check that the port isn't in use by another process: lsof -i :9222

App launches but connect fails

  • Wait a few seconds after launch before connecting (sleep 3)
  • Some apps take time to initialize their webview

Elements not appearing in snapshot

  • The app may use multiple webviews. Use agent-browser tab to list targets and switch to the right one

Cannot type in input fields

  • Try agent-browser keyboard type "text" to type at the current focus without a selector
  • Some Electron apps use custom input components; use agent-browser keyboard inserttext "text" to bypass key events

Supported Apps

Any app built on Electron works, including:

  • Communication: Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, Signal, Telegram Desktop
  • Development: VS Code, GitHub Desktop, Postman, Insomnia
  • Design: Figma, Notion, Obsidian
  • Media: Spotify, Tidal
  • Productivity: Todoist, Linear, 1Password

If an app is built with Electron, it supports --remote-debugging-port and can be automated with agent-browser.

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