hive.browser-automation

1# GCU Browser Automation
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3All GCU browser automation drives a real Chrome instance through the Beeline extension and Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP). You drive it **from the terminal**: every command is `hive-browser <command> ... --json`, run through `terminal_exec`. Always pass `--json` so the result is machine-readable. That means clicks, keystrokes, and screenshots are processed by the actual browser's native hit testing, focus, and layout engines — **not** a synthetic event layer. Understanding this unlocks strategies that make hard sites easy.
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5## Browser lifecycle & recovery — read this before "fixing" anything
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7The bridge attaches to the **user's already-running Chrome** via the extension. The browser is not yours: it holds the user's logged-in sessions and other agents' work, and the runtime — not you — owns the connection to it. Consequences:
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9- **There is nothing to "start."** If no browser is connected, `hive-browser setup --json` tells you and gives the user install steps. Launching Chrome yourself (any `google-chrome`/`chromium` command, `--remote-debugging-port`, `--user-data-dir`, headless flags) is forbidden and blocked — it opens a browser the bridge can't see, often under the wrong profile.
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