midscene-browser: Let AI become a browser "assistant"

Recently, the AI ​​agent wave has been all the rage, from OpenAI's Operator to Manus, and then to ByteDance's Button Space. Artificial intelligence is actively moving towards desktops and browsers. There was even news recently that OpenAI was preparing to launch an AI shopping feature.

From inputting commands to automatic execution, everything seems to be changing quietly: Imagine if AI can master the mouse and keyboard by itself, and use its hands and feet on the web page to complete tasks such as searching, logging in, and crawling data. What will it be like? Browsing the web no longer requires people to click and input, but AI can do it as a "browser secretary" - this is the attractive prospect of AI task automation.

Plugin Introduction: The Story Behind Midscene-browser

midscene-browser  is a Chrome browser plug-in developed based on the open source project  Midscene.js  . Its goal is to enable the Large Language Model (LLM) to "understand" the page and operate the browser by itself. Midscene.js was launched by the ByteDance Web Infra team and is an AI-driven UI automation framework. As its official introduction says: "Midscene.js makes artificial intelligence your browser operation assistant. Just use natural language to describe what you want to do, and it will help you operate web pages, verify content, and extract data."

midscene-browser can be seen as a "remote control" for Midscene.js. After being installed in Chrome, it will encapsulate various browser operations - such as query, extraction, assertion, etc. - into tools for AI to call on demand, achieving a zero-code automation experience.

For more information about how AI recognizes UI elements on web pages, please read my other article Manus, If You Don’t Make a Debut, You’ll Be Out! The Life-and-Death Race of AI Agents and Their Future Breakouts.

Principle analysis: How AI big models "orchestrate" browser tasks

The core mechanism of midscene-browser is to use various operations on the browser as "tools" for AI to call. Specifically, Midscene.js provides three natural language interfaces:

• Action (interaction) : through 
.aiAction The interface tells the AI ​​to perform a series of actions, such as "type 'Midscene' in the search box and press enter" or "click the login button."

• Query (data extraction) : through .aiQuery The interface lets AI extract data from the page and return the results in the specified JSON format.

• Assert : Passed .aiAssert The interface allows AI to verify whether a certain page status or content is correct, such as "the page title contains 'user management'" or "the pop-up window has been closed". 

The above operations all accept plain text prompts, and AI understands the user's intention and performs the corresponding page actions. In other words, midscene-browser will first "think" about the execution strategy (task scheduling) according to user needs, and then call these tools to operate step by step to complete the entire task.

This model is similar to giving AI the ability to "remotely control the browser", allowing it to complete the browser automation process like an interactive robot: AI outputs tool call commands, the plug-in performs real operations and returns results, and AI decides the next action based on the results.

Through this combination of task planning and tool-calling, AI can automatically break down complex tasks and execute them step by step.

What can AI do?

midscene-browser can handle a wide range of scenarios, covering almost all of our common web automation needs, such as:

• Automatically log in and retrieve information
  

• Keyword search and data collection
  

• Page interaction and form operation
  

• Comprehensive multi-step tasks
  

Through midscene-browser, many things that previously required manual operation of the browser can be automated. It gives AI "eyes" and "hands" to understand page content and operate like a real person. For example, open Taobao and tell AI: "Buy a Bluetooth headset under 300 yuan." AI can execute the steps: first find the input box next to the search and enter keywords, then click the search button, then parse the result list to find Bluetooth headsets under 300 yuan, then click to enter the details, and add to the shopping cart for settlement.

Website Knowledge Base

midscene-browser also supports adding advanced knowledge bases of websites as guidance for AI to operate websites. For example, if AI is asked to use DeepSeek, it may not understand what Search and DeepThink modes are, and at this time the advanced knowledge base comes in handy.

Meaning for developers: A great toy for learning and practice

midscene-browser is not only useful for end users, but also an excellent learning and practice project for developers. It combines the concepts of AI and front-end automation, allowing people to intuitively experience the power of "big model + tools".

As the intelligence ceiling of large models continues to increase, AI-driven automation will continue to evolve. In the future, we can expect:

• More powerful multimodal agents : The new generation of visual language models will make AI's understanding of page vision and semantics more powerful. In the future, AI may actively plan and complete multi-step operations like Jarvis in science fiction movies.

• Rich tool plug-in ecosystem : With the continuous development of the AI ​​tool ecosystem, many similar tools have emerged in the industry. In the future, various AI plug-ins and tools will be as prosperous as the applications in our mobile app stores.

• Cross-platform collaborative automation : AI automation is not limited to browsers, it can also be extended to mobile phones, desktop applications and even smart homes. In the future, we may be able to say to AI: "Help me open several programs on my computer and mobile phone, synchronize and organize the document content", and AI will be able to work collaboratively across devices.

• Personalized intelligent assistant : With the popularization of AI technology, every user or developer can have a customized "automated assistant". For example, it can learn your habits, automatically complete repetitive tasks, and remind you of new questions. Plugins such as midscene-browser are a step towards making AI better "understand intent and perform actions".

  
  

midscene-browser combines AI's powerful natural language understanding capabilities with browser automation, demonstrating the magic of "big model + tools" in an easy way.

Of course, now it is just my initial attempt to learn AI, and there is still a lot of room for improvement. The project has been open sourced. Friends who are interested are welcome to help.