glider CLI

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

Table of Contents

Problem
Approach
Setup
Browsers
Commands
Contact

glidercli → relay at ws://127.0.0.1:19988 → Glider extension → CDP on your tab.

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

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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).

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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.

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Task files

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

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Usage

glider config browser chrome
glider install
glider connect
glider goto "https://news.ycombinator.com"
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.

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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
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

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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 heal	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

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Verification

npm test                 # unit, CLI regression, relay integration, tarball boundary
npm run test:live        # isolated live-browser fixture against the connected extension
npm run test:syntax      # package JavaScript syntax gate

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.

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Roadmap

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

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Contact