browser-act--skills/docs/skill-forge.md

Skill Forge

An extension Skill built on top of the BrowserAct CLI. Let AI write your scrapers — explore once, reuse forever.

What It Solves

Every time you ask an agent to scrape a new site, it starts from scratch:

• Different execution path each time
• Different failure modes
• Unreliable at scale
• Token cost grows linearly with each call

Skill Forge separates "exploring a site" from "using a site":

Explore once to generate a deploy-ready Skill package. 500 or 5,000 records all run through the same stable path.

Scraping teams move from "build a scraper per request" to "run a platform that lets agents self-serve Skill generation."

Install

Skill Forge is an extension separate from the BrowserAct entry Skill. Install it on its own.

Agent Integration (Recommended)

Tell your AI agent:

Install browser-act-skill-forge. Skill source: https://github.com/browser-act/skills/tree/main/browser-act-skill-forge . Verify it works after installation.

The agent handles Skill configuration and validates it.

Prerequisites

• BrowserAct CLI installed (see Installation)
• BrowserAct entry Skill installed

How It Works: A Four-Step Pipeline

Describe → Explore → Generate → Self-Test

Step	What it does
01 · Describe	Tell the agent what you want
02 · Explore	API-first, DOM as fallback
03 · Generate	Parameterized Skill package
04 · Self-test	End-to-end validation + self-repair

Step 01 · Describe

Tell the agent in natural language what data you need and how you'll use it:

"Pull title, company, salary, and URL from LinkedIn job postings. I'll run 300 keywords later."

Step 02 · Explore: API-First, DOM Fallback

The agent automatically discovers the implementation path:

Priority	Method	Stability
1	API-first — endpoint discovery via network capture	10× more stable
2	DOM fallback — element extraction	Affected by site redesigns

API paths keep working as long as the backend contract holds. DOM paths require re-exploration after a redesign.

Step 03 · Generate: Parameterized Skill Package

Business variables become CLI arguments (not hard-coded):

# The generated Skill takes parameterized inputs
forged-skill linkedin-jobs --keyword "AI Engineer" --location "Remote"
forged-skill linkedin-jobs --keyword "Backend" --location "SF"

Output:

• SKILL.md — Skill file
• Executable script
• Deploy-ready

Step 04 · Self-Test: End-to-End Validation + Self-Repair

A sub-agent runs tests automatically and self-repairs on failure until it passes — no manual intervention needed.

Business Value

For Individual Developers

• Pay the exploration cost once, reuse cheaply forever
• When a site redesigns, just tell the agent to re-explore
• Token cost shifts from "pay per call" to "pay once at exploration"

For Scraping Teams

Traditional model:

Request → engineer codes scraper → test → deploy → maintain
            ↑                                    ↑
            takes requests                       breaks on redesign

Skill Forge model:

Request → agent explores and generates Skill → self-tests → deploy
                                                              ↑
                                                          re-explore on redesign

Engineers move from "writing every scraper" to "running the platform agents use to self-serve Skill generation."

Use Cases

Scenario	Description
Batch data collection	Same pattern across N keywords / regions / categories
Cross-site comparison	Explore each site once, generate a Skill set with a unified interface
Recurring monitoring	Price changes, inventory changes, new arrivals
Data mining	Recruiting, e-commerce, social — structured data extraction
Internal enterprise flows	Encapsulate a fixed operation in an internal system as a reusable Skill

Relationship to the BrowserAct Entry Skill

	BrowserAct entry Skill	Skill Forge
Role	Foundation, exposes local browser CLI capabilities	Extension Skill, built on top of the CLI
Required	✓	Optional
Use pattern	Agent explores and operates the browser live	Agent explores once, generates a reusable Skill
Token cost	Pay per call	Pay once at exploration

BrowserAct provides the "ability to do things." Skill Forge provides the "ability to bake doing into a Skill."

Next Steps

• Installation — Install the base CLI and entry Skill
• Anti-Blocking — Anti-scraping capabilities Skill Forge relies on during exploration
• Agent Design — Network capture for API endpoint discovery