chrome-cli

Overview

chrome-cli is a command line utility for controlling Google Chrome compatible browsers on OS X. It is a native binary that uses the Scripting Bridge to communicate with Chrome. chrome-cli has been tested with the following browsers:

• Chrome
• Chrome Canary
• Chromium
• Brave
• Vivaldi
• Edge
• Arc

Other browsers

By default chrome-cli communicates with Chrome, but you can use it with other browsers by settings the CHROME_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER environment variable. I.e. to use chrome-cli with Brave you can run the following command:

CHROME_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER="com.brave.Browser" chrome-cli list tabs

Check the scripts directory for some convenient wrappers.

How do I find the bundle identifier?

The following command will print out the bundle identifier for Brave

mdls -name kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier -raw /Applications/Brave\ Browser.app

Installation

Homebrew

brew install chrome-cli

This will install:

• chrome-cli
• chrome-canary-cli
• chromium-cli
• brave-cli
• vivaldi-cli
• edge-cli
• arc-cli

JavaScript execution and viewing source

To execute javascript or to view a tab's source you must first enable View > Developer > Allow JavaScript from Apple Events. More details here. Thanks to @kevinfrommelt and @paulp for providing this information.

Usage

chrome-cli -h  (Print help)
chrome-cli --help  (Print help)
chrome-cli help  (Print help)
chrome-cli list windows  (List all windows)
chrome-cli list tabs  (List all tabs)
chrome-cli list tabs -w <id>  (List tabs in specific window)
chrome-cli list links  (List all tabs' link)
chrome-cli list links -w <id>  (List tabs' link in specific window)
chrome-cli info  (Print info for active tab)
chrome-cli info -t <id>  (Print info for specific tab)
chrome-cli open <url>  (Open url in new tab)
chrome-cli open <url> -n  (Open url in new window)
chrome-cli open <url> -i  (Open url in new incognito window)
chrome-cli open <url> -t <id>  (Open url in specific tab)
chrome-cli open <url> -w <id>  (Open url in new tab in specific window)
chrome-cli close  (Close active tab)
chrome-cli close -w  (Close active window)
chrome-cli close -t <id>  (Close specific tab)
chrome-cli close -w <id>  (Close specific window)
chrome-cli reload  (Reload active tab)
chrome-cli reload -t <id>  (Reload specific tab)
chrome-cli back  (Navigate back in active tab)
chrome-cli back -t <id>  (Navigate back in specific tab)
chrome-cli forward  (Navigate forward in active tab)
chrome-cli forward -t <id>  (Navigate forward in specific tab)
chrome-cli activate -t <id>  (Activate specific tab)
chrome-cli presentation  (Enter presentation mode with the active tab)
chrome-cli presentation -t <id>  (Enter presentation mode with a specific tab)
chrome-cli presentation exit  (Exit presentation mode)
chrome-cli size  (Print size of active window)
chrome-cli size -w <id>  (Print size of specific window)
chrome-cli size <width> <height>  (Set size of active window)
chrome-cli size <width> <height> -w <id>  (Set size of specific window)
chrome-cli position  (Print position of active window)
chrome-cli position -w <id>  (Print position of specific window)
chrome-cli position <x> <y>  (Set position of active window)
chrome-cli position <x> <y> -w <id>  (Set position of specific window)
chrome-cli source  (Print source from active tab)
chrome-cli source -t <id>  (Print source from specific tab)
chrome-cli execute <javascript>  (Execute javascript in active tab)
chrome-cli execute <javascript> -t <id>  (Execute javascript in specific tab)
chrome-cli chrome version  (Print Chrome version)
chrome-cli version  (Print application version)

JSON output

You can set the environment variable OUTPUT_FORMAT to json to get json output. For example:

$ OUTPUT_FORMAT=json chrome-cli list tabs
{
  "tabs" : [
    {
      "id" : 1869578516,
      "title" : "Lobsters",
      "url" : "https://lobste.rs/",
      "windowId" : 1869578514,
      "windowName" : "Lobsters"
    }
  ]
}

Examples

List tabs

$ chrome-cli list tabs
[57] Inbox (1) - foo.bar@gmail.com - Gmail
[2147] My Drive - Google Drive
[2151] GitHub
[2161]
[2155] Hacker News

Print tab info

$ chrome-cli info -t 2161
Id: 2162
Title:
Url: http://httpbin.org/ip
Loading: No

Print tab source

$ chrome-cli source -t 2161
<html><head></head><body><pre style="word-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;">{
  "origin": "1.2.3.4"
}</pre></body></html>

Extract information from page

$ chrome-cli execute '(function() { var nodes = document.querySelectorAll(".title a"); var titles = []; for (var i = 0; i < 5; i++) { titles.push(nodes[i].innerHTML) } return titles.join("\n"); })();' -t 2155
High-Speed Trading Isn't About Efficiency—It's About Cheating
The terrifying surveillance case of Brandon Mayfield
Google turns on "Download Gmail Archive" feature
Learning to Code vs Learning Computer Science
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