orca/skill-guides/orca-cli/references/browser.md

Built-in browser commands

Pin one page, snapshot it once, then act on it. Each action reports what it changed, so you rarely need to snapshot again:

ORCA tab current --json
ORCA goto --page <browserPageId> --url https://example.com --json
ORCA snapshot --page <browserPageId> --interactive
ORCA click --page <browserPageId> --element @e3 --json

Choosing what to look at, cheapest first:

• snapshot --interactive lists only controls and links with their refs, often under half the size of the whole tree. It leaves out page text, including error and status messages.
• --delta is the cheap second look, for example after a wait with no action in between: it returns only what changed since the last --delta snapshot of that page, as "no change" or which lines of that tree to replace and with what. Each page keeps one baseline: a navigation, a large change, or a --delta call with different flags returns the whole tree again and replaces it. --full asks for the whole tree and restarts the baseline.
• --selector <css> limits the tree to one part of the page, --depth <n> limits nesting, --compact drops empty structure, and --urls adds link targets.
• To read page text, run exec --command "read" (the page as Markdown) or a plain snapshot (the whole tree with its text).
• screenshot saves a PNG of the visible page and prints its path; open that file to see the page. In Orca's desktop browser its pixels are CSS pixels, so x/y read off it work with ORCA mouse. full-screenshot saves the whole page the same way. --annotate labels each control with its ref, and --if-changed saves nothing when the page looks the same as last time.

Common commands:

ORCA goto --page <browserPageId> --url <url> --json
ORCA back --page <browserPageId> --json
ORCA reload --page <browserPageId> --json
ORCA snapshot --page <browserPageId> --interactive
ORCA snapshot --page <browserPageId> --interactive --delta
ORCA snapshot --page <browserPageId> --selector main --depth 4
ORCA screenshot --page <browserPageId>
ORCA screenshot --page <browserPageId> --annotate
ORCA full-screenshot --page <browserPageId>
ORCA pdf --page <browserPageId> --json
ORCA click --page <browserPageId> --element <ref> --json
ORCA fill --page <browserPageId> --element <ref> --value <text> --json
ORCA type --page <browserPageId> --input <text> --json
ORCA select --page <browserPageId> --element <ref> --value <value> --json
ORCA check --page <browserPageId> --element <ref> --json
ORCA scroll --page <browserPageId> --direction down --amount 1000 --json
ORCA hover --page <browserPageId> --element <ref> --json
ORCA focus --page <browserPageId> --element <ref> --json
ORCA keypress --page <browserPageId> --key Enter --json
ORCA upload --page <browserPageId> --element <ref> --files <paths> --json
ORCA wait --page <browserPageId> --text <text> --json
ORCA wait --page <browserPageId> --url <substring> --json
ORCA wait --page <browserPageId> --selector <css> --json
ORCA wait --page <browserPageId> --load load --json
ORCA eval --page <browserPageId> --expression <js> --json
ORCA dialog accept --page <browserPageId> [--text <answer>] --json
ORCA dialog dismiss --page <browserPageId> --json
ORCA set device --page <browserPageId> --name "iPhone 15" --json
ORCA viewport --page <browserPageId> --width 390 --height 844 --scale 3 --mobile --json
ORCA tab list --json
ORCA tab create --url <url> --json
ORCA tab create --url <url> --split right --json
ORCA tab switch --index <n> --json
ORCA tab close --index <n> --json
ORCA cookie get --page <browserPageId> --json
ORCA capture start --page <browserPageId> --json
ORCA console --page <browserPageId> --limit 50 --json
ORCA network --page <browserPageId> --limit 50 --json
ORCA exec --page <browserPageId> --command "read" --json
ORCA exec --page <browserPageId> --command "get text @e3" --json

Browser rules:

• Actions (click, fill, type, keypress, select, check, hover, scroll, goto, back, reload, mouse and the rest) wait briefly for the page to settle and then report what they caused in result.effects (text mode prints it under the action): url/title when they changed, newTabs with their browserPageId, blocked or opened popups, downloads started, consoleErrors, and page: "unchanged", or the snapshot lines the action added or replaced, with their refs (full: true means the whole new page). loading: true means a navigation was still running: wait --load load, then snapshot. No page means the page could not be read: run snapshot. settled: false means the page was still changing when it was read. An action that opens a JavaScript dialog fails with browser_dialog_opened instead.
• Snapshot again only when page.truncated is true, after wait, after a tab switch, on a browser_stale_ref, or when a result has no effects (older Orca, or a server-hosted page).
• Pass --expect-url <url> with --page when acting on the wrong resource would matter, such as writing or sending in one conversation of a chat app. Use the exact absolute URL from result.tab.url in ORCA tab current --json, or url from a snapshot --json or goto. Path, query and fragment must all match, so a page that rewrites its URL while you work refuses until you read the URL again. If the page's URL differs, or a navigation to another URL is under way, the command fails with browser_expected_url_mismatch, and error.data holds expectedUrl, actualUrl, browserPageId and mayHaveStarted. mayHaveStarted: false means nothing ran; true means a step of a longer command (a typed run, a select-all) may have happened, so look at the page before retrying. Success adds browserPageId and checkedUrl, the URL last checked; the action itself may have navigated since, and effects.url says where. The check runs right before the action and again before each later step, but it is not a lock: a route change in the instant after a check can still receive the action. It compares the top-level page only, so it says nothing about an iframe or an app that shows different content at one URL; read the page for those. exec refuses the flag, because one raw batch can navigate and retarget. A runtime, client or desktop that cannot check the URL refuses with incompatible_runtime or browser_expect_url_unsupported rather than acting unguarded.
• Refs like @e1 are assigned by snapshot, scoped to one tab, and invalidated by navigation or tab switch.
• Pass --page <browserPageId> on every command that acts on one page; ORCA <command> --help lists --page when it does. tab list, tab current, tab create and open-url take no --page, and tab switch/tab close pick a tab by --index or --page, never both, since --page wins. Take the ID from result.tab.browserPageId in ORCA tab current --json or result.browserPageId in ORCA tab create --json and keep it for the task; tab current shows the routed tab, not the one you pin. When the user means a specific tab, find it by URL or title in ORCA tab list --json.
• Without --page, a command goes to the worktree's current tab. That stays the agent's tab while it has had a command in the last 20 seconds or so, even after the user picks another (tab current reports it too), then moves to the user's pick.
• After ORCA tab switch, pass the new page's browserPageId.
• A popup window a page opens (sign-in, payment) is listed in ORCA tab list --json as a popup-<n> page with openerBrowserPageId. If a click seems to do nothing, check tab list, then drive the popup with --page popup-<n>. When it closes, continue on the opener page.
• Browser commands default to the current worktree. --page reaches the page in any worktree unless you also pass --worktree <selector>. Use --worktree all only intentionally.
• tab list shows every tab in the tab bar. After a restart, tabs the user has not opened report loaded: false; tab switch or any --page command loads one in the background without changing the user's visible tab.
• tab create --split <right|left|down|up> opens the page in a new pane beside the calling terminal instead of as another tab; focus stays in the terminal. When a browser pane is already open beside it, the page opens as that pane's visible tab instead of adding another pane.
• Use typed tab commands (ORCA tab list/create/close/switch), not ORCA exec --command "tab ...", so Orca keeps UI state synchronized.
• Use ORCA set device or ORCA viewport --mobile, not ORCA exec --command "set device ...", so the page also gets touch input and pointer: coarse. Each page load (reload, goto, link click) resets it, so run it again after navigating.
• Prefer wait --text, --url, --selector, or --load after async page changes instead of bare timeouts. Avoid --load networkidle except on pages known to go quiet: polling, websockets and streaming keep it from ever resolving.
• Anything not listed above goes through ORCA exec --page <browserPageId> --command "<agent-browser command>", which takes agent-browser's own command syntax (for example "get text @e3" or "is visible @e3") and prints JSON. It has no help command.
• upload takes the file input itself or the button that opens a file picker, in any frame, including cross-origin iframes; Orca catches the picker and sets the files on its input. Use ORCA upload, not ORCA exec --command "upload ...". On server-hosted pages pass the file input's ref.
• fill sets a field's whole value in one step, at any size. type presses real keys into the focused element, so minlength/maxlength, key handlers, Enter and Tab act as they would for a person; ORCA focus the element first. Use type when the page reacts to keystrokes.
• On server-hosted pages fill and type still insert text the engine's own way. If either does nothing on a custom input there, try ORCA focus --page <browserPageId> --element @e1 --json then ORCA inserttext --page <browserPageId> --text "text" --json.
• A client-hosted page renders in the paired desktop's browser engine, so every command against it needs that desktop online and returns browser_host_unavailable while it is closed, asleep, or disconnected. Server-hosted pages run with no desktop attached; prefer them for long or unattended automation.

Common recoveries:

• browser_no_tab: open a tab with ORCA tab create --url <url> --json.
• browser_stale_ref: run ORCA snapshot --page <browserPageId> --json and retry on the same page with fresh refs.
• browser_element_not_interactable: the element can't take that command, and the message says why (not a text field, disabled, read-only, not a <select>, opened no file picker). Re-snapshot and pick the right ref; for a custom dropdown, click it and then click the option.
• browser_tab_not_found: run ORCA tab list --json before switching or closing.
• browser_dialog_open / browser_dialog_opened: the page has a JavaScript alert, confirm or prompt open, and the error quotes it. Answer it with ORCA dialog accept (--text for a prompt; without it a prompt takes its default) or ORCA dialog dismiss before any other command on that page; a command that opened it may already have taken effect, so check before repeating it.
• browser_host_unavailable: the desktop hosting the page is offline. Bring it back, or recreate the page with server placement if the work must outlive the desktop session.