version: "1.0.0" name: canary-scripting description: The Canary sandbox scripting API for browser automation. Use when writing or debugging a Canary script — looking up how to open a page, click, fill, extract text, observe an unknown page with snapshotForAI, evaluate in the page, take a screenshot, persist data between steps, or understand sandbox limits (no imports, timeouts). Trigger phrases — "how do I click in canary", "canary page API", "what's on this page", "explore a page in canary", "snapshotForAI", "saveScreenshot signature", "get text from the page", "why is my canary script timing out", "open a new tab in canary". license: MIT metadata: author: usecanary version: 0.4.4 category: reference tags:

• canary
• browser-automation
• playwright
• scripting

Canary scripting API

Canary scripts are plain async JavaScript run in a QuickJS sandbox with a Playwright-like API. Both canary-browser run (one-off) and canary run --session (recorded step) execute the same way: top-level await, with browser, console, and the file helpers available as globals.

When to use

• Writing a script to drive a browser with Canary
• Looking up a page or locator method (goto, locator, evaluate, waitForSelector, screenshot)
• Persisting a page or a file between steps of a session
• Debugging a timeout, a missing global, or a "page closed" error

Examples

Example 1: open a page and read it

User says: "navigate to a site and get the title in canary" or "how do I read text off the page?" Use a named page so it persists across steps, then goto and evaluate/locator. See Quick start.

Example 2: click / fill / extract

User says: "click the login button", "fill the search box", "scrape the headlines" page.locator(selector) then .click() / .fill(value) / .textContent(); or page.evaluate(fn) to pull structured data in one round-trip.

Example 3: screenshot

User says: "take a screenshot" or "what's the saveScreenshot signature?" const buf = await page.screenshot({ fullPage: true }); await saveScreenshot(buf, "home.png"); — note buffer first, and that saveScreenshot is a top-level global, not browser.saveScreenshot.

Example 4: observe an unknown page

User says: "I don't know the selectors", "what's on this page?", "explore before acting" (await page.snapshotForAI()).full → an aria outline of the page. Read it to pick a role/text selector, then act. See Observing the page.

Quick start

<!-- canary:snippet ex-quickstart fenced=js -->

const page = await browser.getPage("main");          // named, persistent page
await page.goto("https://example.com", { waitUntil: "domcontentloaded" });
console.log(await page.title());
const headings = await page.evaluate(() =>
  [...document.querySelectorAll("h1, h2")].map((h) => h.textContent.trim())
);
console.log(JSON.stringify(headings));
await page.locator("a.more").click();
const buf = await page.screenshot({ fullPage: false });
await saveScreenshot(buf, "page.png");               // saveScreenshot(buffer, name)

<!-- canary:end ex-quickstart -->

Observing the page

<!-- canary:snippet ex-snapshot fenced=js -->

const page = await browser.getPage("main");
const snap = await page.snapshotForAI(); // { full, incremental? }
console.log(page.url(), await page.title());
console.log(snap.full); // aria outline — pick a role/text selector from this
// then act: await page.getByRole("button", { name: "Continue" }).click();
// after changes, page.snapshotForAI({ track: "main" }) returns just the incremental diff

<!-- canary:end ex-snapshot -->

<!-- canary:snippet api-snapshot -->

• page.snapshotForAI() returns { full, incremental? } — full is an aria outline of the

page: roles, accessible names, [ref=eN] markers on actionable nodes. Read it to pick a semantic selector — page.getByRole("button", { name: "Continue" }), page.getByText("Sign in") — then act.

• Options { track?, depth?, timeout? }: re-run page.snapshotForAI({ track: "main" }) after

the page changes to get just the incremental diff; { depth: N } caps the tree on huge pages; timeout bounds the walk.

• page.locator("aria-ref=e12") works for an immediate action in the same script only — refs go

stale across steps and after navigations. Prefer re-deriving a semantic selector. <!-- canary:end api-snapshot -->

<!-- canary:snippet rule-observe-first -->

• Unknown page? Snapshot first, then act: read (await page.snapshotForAI()).full to see what

is there, pick a semantic selector from it (getByRole, getByText), then interact. Never guess selectors blind.

• Known page or selectors? Skip the snapshot and use direct selectors — faster and more reliable.

<!-- canary:end rule-observe-first -->

• End each script by logging the state you need for the next decision — stdout is your observation

channel.

The essentials

<!-- canary:snippet api-globals --> Every script gets these globals:

• browser — pre-connected browser handle (see the script API)
• console — log / info / warn / error, captured per run
• setTimeout / clearTimeout — basic timers
• saveScreenshot(buffer, name) — save a screenshot buffer (async — await it)
• writeFile(name, data) / readFile(name) — small-file persistence (async — await them)

<!-- canary:end api-globals -->

<!-- canary:snippet rule-data-passing -->

• Browser state persists across steps: named pages (and their cookies) stay open between scripts

within a session — reuse the same page name so each step picks up where the last left off.

• Anonymous newPage() tabs are closed when each script ends.
• To pass values between steps: writeFile("state.json", JSON.stringify(x)) in one step,

JSON.parse(await readFile("state.json")) in the next. <!-- canary:end rule-data-passing -->

• One primary named page per step keeps the per-step report screenshot correct (the full rule

is in `references/REFERENCE.md`).

• No module system — no import/require. Inline any helpers.
• Timeouts — both CPU and wall-clock are enforced; long loops or unresolved promises abort the script.

For the complete API — every page/locator/browser method, signatures, the per-step screenshot rule, and sandbox limits — see `references/REFERENCE.md`.