Content
# Chrome DevTools CLI
Command-line interface for Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP), optimized for LLM agents with NDJSON output format.
## Overview
`cdp-cli` provides CLI access to all Chrome DevTools Protocol features, making it easy to automate browser interactions, debug web applications, and inspect network traffic - all from the command line with grep/tail-friendly output.
## New Features
### `--inspect` for Console Output
Fully expand nested objects and arrays in console messages instead of seeing `Object` or `Array(12)`:
```bash
# Without --inspect
cdp-cli console "MyPage"
"Config: {options: Object, values: Array(5)}"
# With --inspect - see actual values
cdp-cli console "MyPage" --inspect
"Config: {options: {debug: true, level: 3}, values: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]}"
```
### `--user-gesture` for Click Command
Enable WebXR, fullscreen, and other activation-gated browser APIs that require user interaction:
```bash
# Standard click (uses Input.dispatchMouseEvent)
cdp-cli click "MyPage" "button#submit"
# User gesture click (uses Runtime.evaluate with userGesture: true)
# Required for WebXR session requests, fullscreen API, etc.
cdp-cli click "MyPage" "button#enter-vr" --user-gesture
```
## Installation
```bash
npm install -g @myerscarpenter/cdp-cli
```
## Quick Start
```bash
# Launch Chrome with remote debugging
cdp-cli launch
# List all open pages
cdp-cli tabs
# Navigate to a URL
cdp-cli new "https://example.com"
# Get page snapshot (accessibility tree)
cdp-cli snapshot "example"
# Click an element
cdp-cli click "example" "a"
# Take a screenshot
cdp-cli screenshot "example" screenshot.jpg
```
Or start Chrome manually:
```bash
# macOS
/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome \
--remote-debugging-port=9222
# Linux
google-chrome --remote-debugging-port=9222
# Windows
chrome.exe --remote-debugging-port=9222
```
## Output Format: NDJSON
All list commands output **newline-delimited JSON (NDJSON)** - one complete JSON object per line. This format is:
- **LLM-friendly**: Easy to parse programmatically
- **Grep-compatible**: Filter with standard Unix tools
- **Streamable**: Handle large datasets incrementally
### Example NDJSON Output
```bash
$ cdp-cli tabs
{"id":"A1B2C3","title":"GitHub","url":"https://github.com","type":"page"}
{"id":"D4E5F6","title":"Google","url":"https://google.com","type":"page"}
$ cdp-cli console "example"
{"type":"log","timestamp":1698234567890,"text":"Page loaded","source":"console-api"}
{"type":"error","timestamp":1698234568123,"text":"TypeError: Cannot read...","source":"exception","line":42,"url":"https://example.com/app.js"}
$ cdp-cli network "example" | grep '"type":"fetch"'
{"url":"https://api.example.com/data","method":"GET","status":200,"type":"fetch","size":4567}
```
## Commands
### Page Management
**tabs** - List all open browser pages
```bash
cdp-cli tabs
```
**new** - Create a new page/tab
```bash
cdp-cli new "https://example.com"
cdp-cli new # Empty page
```
**go** - Navigate page (URL, back, forward, reload)
```bash
cdp-cli go "example" "https://github.com"
cdp-cli go "example" back
cdp-cli go "example" forward
cdp-cli go "example" reload
```
**close** - Close a page
```bash
cdp-cli close "example"
cdp-cli close A1B2C3
```
### Debugging
**console** - List console messages (minimal output by default, optimized for LLM token savings)
```bash
# Minimal output (bare strings, last 10 messages)
cdp-cli console "example"
"Page loaded"
"API call successful"
# Show more messages
cdp-cli console "example" --tail 50
# Show all messages (no limit)
cdp-cli console "example" --all
# or
cdp-cli console "example" --tail -1
# Note: When truncated, stderr shows: "(N messages skipped. Use --tail M or --all to see more)"
# This warning is visible to both humans and LLM agents
# Include message type (switches to object format)
cdp-cli console "example" --with-type
{"text":"Page loaded","type":"log","source":"console-api"}
{"text":"Error: failed","type":"error","source":"exception","line":42,"url":"app.js"}
# Include timestamp
cdp-cli console "example" --with-timestamp
{"text":"Page loaded","timestamp":1698234567890}
# Include source location (url, line number for exceptions)
cdp-cli console "example" --with-source
{"text":"Error: undefined","url":"https://example.com/app.js","line":42}
# Verbose mode - all fields (shortcut for all three flags)
cdp-cli console "example" --verbose
# or
cdp-cli console "example" -v
{"text":"Error: undefined","type":"error","source":"exception","timestamp":1698234567890,"url":"app.js","line":42}
# Expand nested objects/arrays (instead of "Object" or "Array(N)")
cdp-cli console "example" --inspect
# or
cdp-cli console "example" -i
# Filter by type (still outputs bare strings by default)
cdp-cli console "example" --type error
# Collect for longer duration (2 seconds)
cdp-cli console "example" --duration 2
```
**snapshot** - Get page content snapshot
```bash
# Accessibility tree (default) - great for LLM element identification!
cdp-cli snapshot "example"
# Text content only
cdp-cli snapshot "example" --format text
# DOM tree (JSON)
cdp-cli snapshot "example" --format dom
```
**eval** - Evaluate JavaScript expression
```bash
cdp-cli eval "example" "document.title"
cdp-cli eval "example" "window.location.href"
cdp-cli eval "example" "Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('h1')).map(h => h.textContent)"
```
**screenshot** - Take a screenshot
```bash
# Save to file
cdp-cli screenshot "example" --output screenshot.jpg
# Different formats
cdp-cli screenshot "example" --output screenshot.png --format png
# Output base64 (NDJSON)
cdp-cli screenshot "example"
```
### Network Inspection
**network** - List network requests (collects for 0.1s by default)
```bash
# Collect requests (default 0.1 seconds)
cdp-cli network "example"
# Collect for longer duration (5 seconds)
cdp-cli network "example" --duration 5
# Filter by type
cdp-cli network "example" --type fetch
cdp-cli network "example" --type xhr
# Combine duration and filtering
cdp-cli network "example" --duration 5 --type fetch
```
### Input Automation
**click** - Click an element by CSS selector
```bash
cdp-cli click "example" "button#submit"
cdp-cli click "example" "a.link" --double
# Use --user-gesture for WebXR, fullscreen, and other activation-gated APIs
cdp-cli click "example" "button#enter-vr" --user-gesture
cdp-cli click "example" "button#fullscreen" -g # short flag
```
**fill** - Fill an input element
```bash
cdp-cli fill "example" "user@example.com" "input#email"
cdp-cli fill "example" "secret123" "input[name='password']"
```
**key** - Press a keyboard key
```bash
cdp-cli key "example" enter
cdp-cli key "example" tab
cdp-cli key "example" escape
```
## LLM Usage Patterns
### Pattern 1: Inspect and Interact
```bash
# 1. List pages to find target
cdp-cli tabs | grep "example"
# 2. Get accessibility tree to understand page structure
cdp-cli snapshot "example" --format ax > page-structure.json
# 3. Parse structure (LLM can identify element selectors)
# 4. Interact with elements
cdp-cli fill "example" "query" "input#search"
cdp-cli click "example" "button[type='submit']"
# 5. Capture result
cdp-cli screenshot "example" --output result.jpg
```
### Pattern 2: Debug Web Application
```bash
# 1. Navigate to app
cdp-cli new "http://localhost:3000"
# 2. Monitor console for errors (increase duration for continuous monitoring)
cdp-cli console "localhost" --duration 10 --type error
# 3. Inspect failed network requests
cdp-cli network "localhost" --duration 5 | grep '"status":4'
```
### Pattern 3: Automated Testing
```bash
# 1. Open test page
cdp-cli new "http://localhost:8080/test.html"
# 2. Fill form
cdp-cli fill "test" "testuser" "input#username"
cdp-cli fill "test" "testpass" "input#password"
cdp-cli click "test" "button#login"
# 3. Wait and verify
sleep 2
cdp-cli eval "test" "document.querySelector('.success-message')?.textContent"
# 4. Capture evidence
cdp-cli screenshot "test" --output test-result.jpg
```
### Pattern 4: Data Extraction
```bash
# 1. Navigate to page
cdp-cli go "example" "https://example.com/data"
# 2. Extract data via JavaScript
cdp-cli eval "example" "Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('.item')).map(el => ({
title: el.querySelector('.title').textContent,
price: el.querySelector('.price').textContent
}))"
```
## Global Options
- `--cdp-url <url>` - Chrome DevTools Protocol URL (default: `http://localhost:9222`)
- `--help` - Show help
- `--version` - Show version
## Tips for LLM Agents
1. **Use NDJSON parsing**: Each line is a complete JSON object
```javascript
const lines = output.split('\n').filter(l => l.trim());
const objects = lines.map(l => JSON.parse(l));
```
2. **Leverage grep for filtering**:
```bash
cdp-cli network "example" | grep '"status":404'
cdp-cli console "example" | grep error
```
3. **Use accessibility tree for element discovery**:
```bash
cdp-cli snapshot "example" --format ax
# Parse to find elements by role, name, etc.
# Then construct CSS selectors for click/fill
```
4. **Chain commands with Unix tools**:
```bash
cdp-cli tabs | jq -r '.title'
cdp-cli console "example" | grep error | tail -5
```
5. **Error handling**: All errors output NDJSON with `"error": true`
```json
{"error":true,"message":"Page not found: example","code":"PAGE_NOT_FOUND"}
```
## Architecture
Built with:
- **TypeScript** - Type-safe code
- **yargs** - CLI argument parsing
- **ws** - WebSocket for CDP communication
- **NDJSON** - LLM-friendly output format
Reuses battle-tested CDP logic from [chrome-devtools-mcp](../chrome-devtools-mcp).
## Testing
This project includes a comprehensive test suite using Vitest.
### Running Tests
```bash
# Run all tests
npm test
# Run tests in watch mode (auto-rerun on file changes)
npm run test:watch
# Run tests with coverage report
npm run test:coverage
# Run tests with interactive UI
npm run test:ui
```
### Test Structure
```
tests/
├── fixtures/ # Sample CDP responses and test data
│ └── cdp-responses.ts
├── mocks/ # Mock implementations
│ ├── websocket.mock.ts # WebSocket mock for CDP
│ └── fetch.mock.ts # Fetch mock for REST API
├── helpers.ts # Test utilities
├── setup.ts # Test environment setup
└── unit/ # Unit tests
├── output.test.ts # Output formatting tests
├── context.test.ts # CDPContext tests
└── commands/ # Command tests
├── pages.test.ts
├── debug.test.ts
├── network.test.ts
└── input.test.ts
```
### Test Coverage
Current coverage:
- **Output formatting**: 100% (10 tests)
- **CDPContext**: ~95% (23 tests)
- **Pages commands**: ~90% (11 tests)
- **Overall**: 80%+ lines, functions, and statements
### Writing New Tests
Tests use mocked WebSocket and fetch, so **no running Chrome instance is required**:
```typescript
import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach } from 'vitest';
import { CDPContext } from '../src/context.js';
import { installMockFetch } from './mocks/fetch.mock.js';
describe('My Test', () => {
beforeEach(() => {
installMockFetch(); // Mock CDP REST API
});
it('should test something', async () => {
const context = new CDPContext();
const pages = await context.getPages();
expect(pages).toHaveLength(3);
});
});
```
### Continuous Integration
Tests run automatically on every commit and pull request (if CI is configured).
## License
MIT
## Related Projects
- [chrome-devtools-mcp](../chrome-devtools-mcp) - MCP server for Chrome DevTools
- [quest-devtools.mjs](../quest-devtools.mjs) - Simple CDP CLI prototype
---
**Built for LLM agents** - Every command outputs structured, parseable, grep-friendly data.
