Browser automation plays a large role in areas such as web scraping, automated testing , and web application interaction. So far, for example, Puppeteer has been used for this purpose. With the advent of AI, new opportunities are now opening up to make browser automation more intuitive and less maintenance-intensive - clear the stage for Stagehand .
To illustrate how it works, we want to turn the front LED lights of my (crappy) Vodafone cable box second router - which, among other important functions, does not offer a direct API - on/off via the corresponding web interface. First, we install both tools in the command line (assuming Node \(\geq\) 23):
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Finally, we store our Vodafone password and our OpenAI API key in an .env file:
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With Puppeteer, the desired result can be achieved as follows:
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Stagehand, on the other hand, accepts commands written in natural language:
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If you want to scrape websites, automatically fill out forms or carry out tests for a web app, browser remote control can help. Integrating AI into browser remote control makes it possible to perform complex tasks with simple instructions, speeding up development and making maintenance easier. Especially when the DOM structure changes, stagehand scripts can be more robust and less maintenance-intensive.