smallnest/goclaw/actionbook

Name: actionbook
Author: smallnest

Trust tier 2

community

LLM review pending

By smallnest
Coding
smallnest/goclaw
internal/builtin_skills/actionbook/SKILL.md
Updated 1 Oct 2026
Version 1.0.01 version recorded

Source check pending

Checking that the SKILL.md file is still in the repository.

This skill should be used when the user needs to automate multi-step website tasks. Activates for browser automation, web scraping, UI testing, or building AI agents. Provides complete action manuals with step-by-step instructions and verified selectors.

Install

npx vskill@latest install smallnest/goclaw/actionbook

SKILL.md

When to Use This Skill

Activate this skill when the user:

Needs to complete a multi-step task ("Send a LinkedIn message", "Book an Airbnb")
Asks how to interact with a website ("How do I post a tweet?")
Builds browser-based AI agents or web scrapers
Writes E2E tests for external websites
Navigates to any new page during browser automation
Wants to control their existing Chrome browser (Extension mode)

Browser Modes

Actionbook supports two browser control modes:

Mode	Flag	Use Case
CDP (default)	(none)	Launches a dedicated browser instance via Chrome DevTools Protocol
Extension	`--extension`	Controls the user's existing Chrome browser via a Chrome Extension + WebSocket bridge

When to use Extension mode:

The user wants to operate on their already-open Chrome (with existing logins, cookies, tabs)
The task requires interacting with pages that need the user's real session state
The user explicitly mentions their Chrome browser, extension, or existing tabs

When to use CDP mode (default):

Clean browser environment is preferred
Headless automation or CI/CD
Profile-based session isolation is needed

All actionbook browser commands work identically in both modes. The only difference is adding --extension flag (or setting ACTIONBOOK_EXTENSION=1).

How to Use

Phase 1: Get Action Manual

bash

# Step 1: Search for action manuals
actionbook search "arxiv search papers"
# Returns: area IDs with descriptions
 
# Step 2: Get the full manual (use area_id from search results)
actionbook get "arxiv.org:/search/advanced:default"
# Returns: Page structure, UI Elements with CSS/XPath selectors

Phase 2: Execute with Browser (CDP mode — default)

bash

# Step 3: Open browser
actionbook browser open "https://arxiv.org/search/advanced"
 
# Step 4: Use CSS selectors from Action Manual directly
actionbook browser fill "#terms-0-term" "Neural Network"
actionbook browser select "#terms-0-field" "title"
actionbook browser click "#date-filter_by-2"
actionbook browser fill "#date-year" "2025"
actionbook browser click "form[action='/search/advanced'] button.is-link"
 
# Step 5: Wait for results
actionbook browser wait-nav
 
# Step 6: Extract data
actionbook browser text
 
# Step 7: Close browser
actionbook browser close

Phase 2 (alt): Execute with Extension mode

Extension mode uses identical browser commands — just add --extension. But you must follow the full lifecycle below.

bash

# Step 3: Open URL in user's Chrome
actionbook --extension browser open "https://arxiv.org/search/advanced"
 
# Step 4-7: Same commands, just add --extension
actionbook --extension browser fill "#terms-0-term" "Neural Network"
actionbook --extension browser select "#terms-0-field" "title"
actionbook --extension browser click "#date-filter_by-2"
actionbook --extension browser fill "#date-year" "2025"
actionbook --extension browser click "form[action='/search/advanced'] button.is-link"
actionbook --extension browser wait-nav
actionbook --extension browser text
 
# Step 8: Cleanup (CRITICAL — see Extension Mode Lifecycle below)
actionbook --extension browser close    # release debug connection FIRST
actionbook extension stop               # then stop bridge server

Action Manual Format

Action manuals return:

Page URL - Target page address
Page Structure - DOM hierarchy and key sections
UI Elements - CSS/XPath selectors with element metadata

yaml

  ### button_advanced_search
 
  - ID: button_advanced_search
  - Description: Advanced search navigation button
  - Type: link
  - Allow Methods: click
  - Selectors:
    - role: getByRole('link', { name: 'Advanced Search' }) (confidence: 0.9)
    - css: button.button.is-small.is-cul-darker (confidence: 0.65)
    - xpath: //button[contains(@class, 'button')] (confidence: 0.55)

Action Search Commands

bash

actionbook search "<query>"                    # Basic search
actionbook search "<query>" --domain site.com  # Filter by domain
actionbook search "<query>" --url <url>        # Filter by URL
actionbook search "<query>" -p 2 -s 20         # Page 2, 20 results
 
actionbook get "<area_id>"                     # Full details with selectors
# area_id format: "site.com:/path:area_name"
 
actionbook sources list                        # List available sources
actionbook sources search "<query>"            # Search sources by keyword

Extension Setup & Management

Commands for managing the Chrome Extension bridge:

bash

actionbook extension install              # Install extension files to local config dir
actionbook extension path                 # Show extension directory (for Chrome "Load unpacked")
actionbook extension serve                # Start WebSocket bridge (keep running in background)
actionbook extension stop                 # Stop the running bridge server (sends SIGTERM)
actionbook extension status               # Check bridge and extension connection status
actionbook extension ping                 # Ping the extension to verify link is alive

Setup flow (one-time):

actionbook extension install — extract extension files and register native messaging host
Open chrome://extensions → enable Developer mode → Load unpacked → select the path from actionbook extension path
actionbook extension serve — start bridge (keep running)
Extension auto-connects via native messaging (no manual token needed in most cases). If auto-pairing fails: copy token from serve output → paste in extension popup → Save

Connection check before automation:

bash

actionbook extension status    # should show "running"
actionbook extension ping      # should show "responded"

Browser Commands

All browser commands below work in both CDP and Extension mode.
For Extension mode, add --extension flag or set ACTIONBOOK_EXTENSION=1.

Navigation

bash

actionbook browser open <url>                  # Open URL in new tab
actionbook browser goto <url>                  # Navigate current page
actionbook browser back                        # Go back
actionbook browser forward                     # Go forward
actionbook browser reload                      # Reload page
actionbook browser pages                       # List open tabs
actionbook browser switch <page_id>            # Switch tab
actionbook browser close                       # Close browser
actionbook browser restart                     # Restart browser
actionbook browser connect <endpoint>          # Connect to existing browser (CDP port or URL)

Interactions (use CSS selectors from Action Manual)

bash

actionbook browser click "<selector>"                  # Click element
actionbook browser click "<selector>" --wait 1000      # Wait then click
actionbook browser fill "<selector>" "text"            # Clear and type
actionbook browser type "<selector>" "text"            # Append text
actionbook browser select "<selector>" "value"         # Select dropdown
actionbook browser hover "<selector>"                  # Hover
actionbook browser focus "<selector>"                  # Focus
actionbook browser press Enter                         # Press key

Get Information

bash

actionbook browser text                        # Full page text
actionbook browser text "<selector>"           # Element text
actionbook browser html                        # Full page HTML
actionbook browser html "<selector>"           # Element HTML
actionbook browser snapshot                    # Accessibility tree
actionbook browser viewport                    # Viewport dimensions
actionbook browser status                      # Browser detection info

Wait

bash

actionbook browser wait "<selector>"                   # Wait for element
actionbook browser wait "<selector>" --timeout 5000    # Custom timeout
actionbook browser wait-nav                            # Wait for navigation

Screenshots & Export

bash

# Ensure target directory exists before saving screenshots
actionbook browser screenshot                  # Save screenshot.png
actionbook browser screenshot output.png       # Custom path
actionbook browser screenshot --full-page      # Full page
actionbook browser pdf output.pdf              # Export as PDF

JavaScript & Inspection

bash

actionbook browser eval "document.title"               # Execute JS
actionbook browser inspect 100 200                     # Inspect at coordinates
actionbook browser inspect 100 200 --desc "login btn"  # With description

Cookies

bash

actionbook browser cookies list                # List all cookies
actionbook browser cookies get "name"          # Get cookie
actionbook browser cookies set "name" "value"  # Set cookie
actionbook browser cookies set "name" "value" --domain ".example.com"
actionbook browser cookies delete "name"       # Delete cookie
actionbook browser cookies clear               # Clear all

Global Flags

bash

actionbook --json <command>              # JSON output
actionbook --headless <command>          # Headless mode (CDP only)
actionbook --verbose <command>           # Verbose logging
actionbook -P <profile> <command>        # Use specific profile (CDP only)
actionbook --cdp <port|url> <command>    # CDP connection
actionbook --extension <command>         # Use Chrome Extension mode
# or: ACTIONBOOK_EXTENSION=1 actionbook <command>

Guidelines

Search by task description, not element name ("arxiv search papers" not "search button")
Use Action Manual selectors first - they are pre-verified and don't require snapshot
Prefer CSS ID selectors (#id) over XPath when both are provided
Fallback to snapshot when selectors fail - use actionbook browser snapshot then CSS selectors from the output
Re-snapshot after navigation - DOM changes invalidate previous state
Extension mode: follow the full lifecycle — pre-flight → connect → execute → cleanup (see Extension Mode Lifecycle)
Extension mode: verify extension is installed before starting bridge; prefer auto-pair over manual token
Extension mode: always run browser close before stopping the bridge to release the debug connection
Extension mode: the user's real browser is being controlled — avoid destructive actions (clearing all cookies, closing all tabs) without confirmation
Extension mode: L3 operations (some cookie/storage modifications) may require manual approval in the extension popup

Fallback Strategy

When Fallback is Needed

Actionbook stores pre-computed page data captured at indexing time. This data may become outdated as websites evolve:

Selector execution failure - The returned CSS/XPath selector does not match any element
Element mismatch - The selector matches an element with unexpected type or behavior
Multiple selector failures - Several selectors from the same action fail consecutively

Fallback Approaches

When Action Manual selectors don't work:

Snapshot the page - actionbook browser snapshot to get the current accessibility tree
Inspect visually - actionbook browser screenshot to see the current state
Inspect by coordinates - actionbook browser inspect <x> <y> to find elements
Execute JS - actionbook browser eval "document.querySelector(...)" for dynamic queries

When to Exit

If actionbook search returns no results or action fails unexpectedly, use other available tools to continue the task.

Examples

End-to-end with Action Manual

bash

# 1. Find selectors
actionbook search "airbnb search" --domain airbnb.com
 
# 2. Get detailed selectors (area_id from search results)
actionbook get "airbnb.com:/:default"

This is the start of the file. Read the full SKILL.md on GitHub.

Security

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Source

SKILL.md in the repositoryCheckinginternal/builtin_skills/actionbook/SKILL.md

Popularity

Repository stars: 599
Repository forks: 119
7-day trend score: 32

Stars and forks are for the whole GitHub repository, not this skill alone. Not refreshed yet.

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