git:20260601.b10eb85 to git:20260715.5bb4db8

---

name: rodney

description: "Drive headless Chrome from the CLI for web scraping, screenshots, form filling, PDF export, accessibility audits, and browser smoke tests. Use when the user wants to automate browser interactions, scrape dynamic pages (JS-rendered content), take page screenshots or element screenshots, fill and submit web forms, export pages as PDF, run accessibility checks, or assert page state in CI/CD pipelines. Triggers on mentions of: browser automation, headless Chrome, web scraping, page screenshots, form automation, accessibility testing, browser testing, rodney."

---

# Rodney — Chrome Automation

Rodney drives a persistent headless Chrome instance from the terminal. All commands share one long-running Chrome process — cookies, localStorage, and navigation state persist across invocations.

## ⚠️ Usage: CLI Only — NOT an MCP Tool

Rodney is a **CLI tool**, not an MCP server. Use it via the **bash** tool only. Never call `mcp("rodney")`.

Every rodney session follows this pattern via bash:

```bash

rodney start # 1. Launch Chrome

rodney open <url> # 2. Navigate

rodney waitstable # 3. Wait for page to settle

# ... interact, scrape, screenshot ... # 4. Do your work

rodney stop # 5. ALWAYS stop when done

```

**Important:**

- Call each command as a separate bash invocation (e.g. `rodney start`, then `rodney open <url>`, etc.)

- **Always `rodney stop`** when finished — otherwise Chrome runs forever

- Combine start → open → waitstable → work → stop in every workflow

## Install

```bash

uv tool install rodney

```

Requires Chrome or Chromium. Set `ROD_CHROME_BIN` if not at default location.

## Project Setup

To add rodney to a project, add this to the project's AGENTS.md:

```markdown

## Browser Automation

Use rodney for headless Chrome automation (scraping, screenshots, forms, PDFs, a11y, smoke tests).

### Setup

1. Install: `uv tool install rodney`

2. Verify: `rodney start && rodney stop`

3. Link skill: `ln -s /path/to/skale-skills/skills/rodney .pi/skills/rodney`

### Usage

```bash

rodney start

rodney open https://example.com

rodney waitstable

rodney screenshot page.png

rodney stop

```

```

## Quick Start

```bash

rodney start # Launch headless Chrome

rodney start --show # Launch visible Chrome (for debugging)

rodney open https://example.com # Navigate

rodney text "h1" # Extract text

rodney screenshot page.png # Screenshot

rodney stop # Shut down

```

## Commands

### Navigation & Waiting

```bash

rodney open <url> # Navigate (auto-adds http://)

rodney back # Go back

rodney forward # Go forward

rodney reload [--hard] # Reload (bypass cache with --hard)

rodney wait <selector> # Wait for element to appear

rodney waitload # Wait for page load event

rodney waitstable # Wait until DOM stops changing

rodney waitidle # Wait for network idle

rodney sleep <seconds> # Fixed delay

```

### Content Extraction

```bash

rodney title # Page title

rodney url # Current URL

rodney text <selector> # Text content (one per match)

rodney html [selector] # HTML (full page or element)

rodney attr <selector> <name> # Attribute value

rodney js <expression> # Evaluate JS, return result

```

### Screenshots & PDFs

```bash

rodney screenshot [-w N -h N] [file] # Viewport screenshot

rodney screenshot-el <selector> [file] # Element screenshot

rodney pdf [file] # Export as PDF

```

### Interaction

```bash

rodney click <selector> # Click element

rodney input <selector> <text> # Type into input

rodney clear <selector> # Clear input

rodney select <selector> <value> # Select dropdown option

rodney submit <selector> # Submit form

rodney hover <selector> # Hover

rodney file <selector> <path> # Set file on file input

rodney download <selector> [file] # Download href/src target

```

### Tabs

```bash

rodney pages # List tabs (* marks active)

rodney page <index> # Switch tab

rodney newpage [url] # Open new tab

rodney closepage [index] # Close tab

```

### Assertions (exit 1 on failure)

```bash

rodney exists <selector> # Element exists?

rodney visible <selector> # Element visible?

rodney count <selector> # Count matches

rodney assert <expr> [expected] [-m msg] # JS truthy or equality check

```

### Accessibility

```bash

rodney ax-tree [--depth N] [--json] # Dump accessibility tree

rodney ax-find [--name N] [--role R] [--json] # Find accessible nodes

rodney ax-node <selector> [--json] # Element accessibility info

```

## Sessions

| Type | State | Flag |

|------|-------|------|

| Global | `~/.rodney/` | default |

| Local | `./.rodney/` | `--local` |

Use `--local` for per-project isolation. Auto-detects local if `./.rodney/state.json` exists.

## Environment

| Variable | Default | Purpose |

|----------|---------|---------|

| `ROD_CHROME_BIN` | auto | Chrome binary path |

| `ROD_TIMEOUT` | `30` | Element query timeout (seconds) |

| `RODNEY_HOME` | `~/.rodney` | Data directory |

## Gotchas

- **Always `rodney stop`** when done — otherwise a Chrome process lingers indefinitely.

- **`waitstable` is preferred** over `waitload` for SPAs and dynamic pages — `waitload` only fires on initial navigation, not on client-side renders.

- **`js` results are stringified** — arrays and objects come back as JSON strings. Pipe through `python3 -m json.tool` or use `--json` flags where available.

- **`js` does NOT support multi-line expressions** — it takes a single string argument. For complex logic, chain calls or use IIFEs on one line: `rodney js "(function(){ var els = document.querySelectorAll('.item'); return els[0].innerText; })()"`

- **Selectors are CSS only** — no XPath. Use `rodney js` for complex queries.

- **One Chrome process per session** — calling `rodney start` while already running is a no-op, not an error.

- **`open` auto-adds `http://`** — for `https://` URLs, include the scheme explicitly.

- **Exit codes**: 0 = success, 1 = assertion failed, 2 = error (bad args, timeout, no browser).

- **Heavy React apps** (booking sites, SPAs with autocomplete dropdowns) may timeout on `click`/`input`. Workaround: use the site's public API directly (most airlines, travel sites have one), or use `rodney js` to set values programmatically.

## References

- **[references/examples.md](references/examples.md)** — Ready-to-use workflow scripts for scraping, form filling, smoke tests, and accessibility audits.

- **[references/debugging.md](references/debugging.md)** — Non-obvious debugging patterns: screenshot time-series, form validation checks, exit code chaining, and visible-mode debugging.

- **[references/dev-workflow.md](references/dev-workflow.md)** — Dev loop: reload-assess-iterate, page inspection without screenshots, DOM structure, accessibility tree, layout queries.