glider CLI

glider CLI

Attach to the logged-in Chromium tab. Keep the page out of the agent context window.

Problem

		Playwright MCP	glider
	access	cold profile. no SSO/MFA/cookies	`Glider` extension on the tab you already logged into
	tokens	a11y tree on every navigate/click/type (quote)	`glider snapshot` when asked. 200-node cap (`bsnapshot.js`)

	1 snapshot	9 calls	200K window (quote)	1M window (quote)
Playwright MCP	~13.8K tok	124.3K tok (quote)	62%	12%
glider (cap)	~4.0K tok (16,142 chars/4)	~36.3K tok	18%	4%

large-page MCP snapshots: 50KB-540KB; 2-3 visits overflow (quote)
2 of 9 Playwright snapshots in that signup flow were byte-identical (quote)

Approach

	Step	What
	1	extension in the live profile
	2	CLI -> relay `ws://127.0.0.1:19988`. `glider eval`, `glider snapshot`, `glider loop`

Setup

npm i -g glidercli
glider install
glider connect

Step	Action
CLI	`npm i -g glidercli`
Extension	`Glider` on Chrome Web Store in the profile you automate
Daemon	`glider install`
Session	`glider connect` (once per browser launch)

Node 18+. Chromium-based browser with the extension enabled (see Browsers).

Browsers

Extension + relay model uses Chromium + Glider extension from Chrome Web Store in the same profile as glider connect.

	Browser	Config
	Google Chrome	`glider config browser chrome`
	Microsoft Edge	`glider config browser edge`
	Brave	`glider config browser brave`
	Opera	`glider config browser opera`
	Vivaldi	`glider config browser vivaldi`
	Helium	`glider config browser helium`
	Arc	`glider config browser arc`

Not supported today: Firefox/Safari/WebKit/Gecko, DuckDuckGo, browsers without Chrome Web Store extension path.

Browser config

CLI or the file. One shape.

glider config browser chrome

writes { "use": "chrome" } to $GLIDER/config/browser.json. Chrome is the default. glider config browser lists the same commands.

macOS launch. Linux/Windows: planned.

Task files

name: hn-front
steps:
  goto: "https://news.ycombinator.com"
  wait: 2
  eval: "document.title"
  screenshot: "/tmp/hn.png"

Usage

glider config browser chrome
glider install
glider connect
glider goto "https://news.ycombinator.com"
glider tabs
glider loop hn-scrape.yaml

Output	Path
daemon log	`~/.glider/daemon.log`
domain index	`~/.glider/config/domains.json`
per-host intel	`~/.glider/warch/HOST/glider.json`
explore cache	`~/.glider/bexplore/HOST/`

Env	Default	Role
`GLIDER`	`~/.glider`	home: config, cache, warch

Copy config/domains.template.json into ~/.glider/config/domains.json to seed the host index.

Tabs

glider tabs is the visible Helium rail, not the debugger map. TUI (0.4.28): [n] is the handle. One field per line under each tab (url:, status:, tabId:, active:, sessionId:, targetId:, …). Empty identity values print -. glider tabs writes $GLIDER/state/tab-map.json. Chain: --current --incognito --window --index --handle --tab --target --session --iframe --context then pin (or use-session <id>). --json tabs is the full catalog.

current window chrome.tabs (live title/url, including chrome://newtab)
other windows
attached: CDP session not in chrome.tabs
stale: tabId gone from chrome.tabs; dropped from the relay map

Incognito is Chromium windows.Window.incognito and tabs.Tab.incognito only. TUI: window N [current] [incognito]. Enable Allow in Incognito on the extension. CDP browserContextId is not that flag.

glider targets stays the raw CDP session list.

Old relay without GET /catalog is recycled by glider start, glider heal, and the daemon (SIGTERM the child; supervisor respawns current bserve.js). listTabs fail reloads the extension and attach-all.

CLI 0.4.18 expects an extension with listTabs plus incognito on tabs/windows (github vdutts7/glider 1.0.10, or Chrome Web Store after that upload). Store 1.0.9 lacks listTabs; windows stay empty and live CDP rows sit under attached.

Gotchas

problem	fix	stability	why
extension not connected	install/enable `Glider` on Chrome Web Store in selected browser profile; click Glider icon, then run `glider connect`	per browser launch	relay waits on extension WS
extension socket up but worker dead	click Glider icon or `glider reload`	MV3 worker	status refuses healthy until pong
daemon / `glider start` refuses after a killed supervisor	run `glider start` or `glider install` again (0.4.15+ reaps dead claim tombstones when nothing listens)	session-stable	crash/SIGKILL left `daemon-*.claim` without a live owner
`glider tabs` dumps old CDP pages	`glider start` or `glider heal` (0.4.17 recycles a relay that does not advertise `/catalog`)	session	node does not hot-load `bserve.js`
`glider tabs` has empty windows	load Glider 1.0.10 from `vdutts7/glider` or CWS after upload (needs `listTabs`)	until CWS 1.0.10	Chrome Web Store 1.0.9 lacks that RPC
incognito window has no `(incognito)` tag	Allow in Incognito on the extension, then reload; CLI 0.4.18	per profile	Chromium hides those windows until that toggle
custom relay port has no extension	stay on `19988` with Chrome Web Store build	install-stable	published extension connects to `ws://localhost:19988/extension`
wrong tab targeted	`glider targets` → `glider use-session session-6`	session-stable	multi-tab needs explicit session
explore HAR empty bodies	replay in-tab with auth hook on XHR/fetch	site-specific	some SPAs never expose bearer in storage
`resolve` misses host	add `~/.glider/warch/HOST/glider.json`	file-stable	per-host capture hints

Commands

Command	Description
`glider install`	background relay supervisor
`glider uninstall`	remove supervisor
`glider config browser chrome`	set browser
`glider connect`	attach relay to browser
`glider status`	server + extension + tabs
`glider doctor`	relay + SW + targets
`glider tabs`	chrome.tabs by window (incognito tag), then attached, then stale
`glider heal`	recycle stale relay, wake SW, reattach
`glider reload`	pin extension
`glider goto`	navigate
`glider eval`	run JS
`glider click`	click
`glider type`	type
`glider screenshot`	PNG
`glider frozen`	detect frozen tab
`glider thaw`	unfreeze tab
`glider explore`	crawl + HAR
`glider resolve`	host warch
`glider run`	YAML task
`glider loop`	loop until marker

Verification

node --check bin/glider.js && node --check lib/bserve.js
node --test tests/*.test.js
node tests/live-browser.smoke.js  # isolated live-browser fixture

Live smoke creates + closes its own browser window.

Incomplete event-stream features fail closed: wait --network-idle, console streaming, response fulfillment. No success-shaped fallback.

Roadmap

status	item
done	CDP relay, YAML tasks, loop, daemon, multi-tab, `resolve`, `glider tabs` catalog
planned	Linux and Windows browser launch
	headless cloud mode
	task chaining

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
.github		.github
assets/badges		assets/badges
bin		bin
config		config
docs		docs
examples		examples
lib		lib
scripts		scripts
tests		tests
.gitignore		.gitignore
README.md		README.md
claude-sidebar-har-capture.js		claude-sidebar-har-capture.js
linkedin-har-capture.js		linkedin-har-capture.js
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json
repo.spine.json		repo.spine.json

Navigation Menu

Repository navigation

About

Repository files navigation

glider CLI

Table of Contents

Problem

Approach

Setup

Browsers

Browser config

Task files

Usage

Tabs

Gotchas

Commands

Verification

Roadmap

Contact

About

Releases

Packages

Contributors

Languages

Latest commit

History

Folders and files

Repository files navigation

glider CLI

Table of Contents

Problem

Approach

Setup

Browsers

Browser config

Task files

Usage

Tabs

Gotchas

Commands

Verification

Roadmap

Contact

About

Topics

Resources

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases

Packages

Contributors

Languages