Snapshots and action evidence

Browser.observe() returns an immutable Snapshot of the active page's accessibility tree. The tree represents semantic roles, accessible names, states, and relationships used by assistive technology. Interactive nodes carry ref IDs such as e1. Each Ref is scoped to the snapshot that produced it.

from agentbrowser import Browser, SnapshotSpec

spec = SnapshotSpec(compact=True, urls=True)

with Browser.launch() as browser:
    browser.open("https://example.com")
    snapshot = browser.observe(spec)

    print(snapshot.text)
    print(snapshot.refs)

SnapshotSpec controls an optional selector, interactive-node filtering, compact output, maximum depth, and URL inclusion. Refreshes and ref actions reuse the same specification.

Focused snippets that start from snapshot or link are partial. Run them inside an active Browser context such as the preceding example.

Select refs from observed content

Use one() when one match is part of the workflow contract:

link = snapshot.one(role="link", name="Learn more")

one() raises LookupError for zero or several matches. Use all() when the page can contain several matching elements. ref("e1") and ref("@e1") select an exact ref ID.

A ref mutation captures a transition

from agentbrowser import Wait

result = link.click(wait=Wait.url("*://www.iana.org/*"))

print(result.before.origin)
print(result.after.origin)
print(result.diff.text)

The operation runs in this order:

1. Mutate. Run the native action against the ref selector.
2. Wait. Apply the requested text, URL, load, or combined conditions.
3. Observe. Capture the next snapshot with the source specification.
4. Diff. Compare each snapshot origin and accessibility text, then return ActionResult.

If the mutation succeeds and a later stage fails, ActionTransitionError reports stage, before, optional after, and cause. Treat the page mutation as completed when handling this error.

Refresh an expired ref

Page replacement can expire native element identity. A stale action raises StaleRefError.

from agentbrowser import StaleRefError

try:
    result = link.click()
except StaleRefError as error:
    result = error.refresh().click()

refresh() captures a new snapshot and resolves the accessible role and name again. Pass new criteria when the page changed the element's accessible identity.

Use a live query for direct control

from agentbrowser import Browser

with Browser.launch() as browser:
    browser.page.set_content("""
        <label>Email <input id="email"></label>
        <button type="button">Continue</button>
    """)
    browser.find.label("Email").fill("ada@example.com")
    browser.find.role("button", name="Continue").click()

A Query resolves against the live document when each operation runs. Query mutations return the query for chaining. Query reads return a direct value.

Contract	Snapshot-scoped Ref	Live Query
Resolution time	Snapshot capture	Each operation
Mutation result	ActionResult	Query for chaining
Before-and-after evidence	Captured automatically	Capture separately
Stale identity	Refresh against a new snapshot	Locator resolves again

Use Interact with pages for complete ref and query workflows.