Browserbase CLI

Use the official

bb

CLI for Browserbase platform operations, Functions workflows, and Fetch API calls.

Setup check

Before using the CLI, verify it is installed:

which

bb

||

npm

install

-g

@browserbasehq/cli

bb

--help

For authenticated commands, set the API key:

export

BROWSERBASE_API_KEY

=

"your_api_key"

If using

bb functions dev

or

bb functions publish

, also set:

export

BROWSERBASE_PROJECT_ID

=

"your_project_id"

When to use this skill

Use this skill when the user wants to:

run Browserbase commands through

bb

scaffold, develop, publish, or invoke Browserbase Functions

inspect or manage Browserbase sessions, projects, contexts, or extensions

fetch a page through Browserbase without opening a browser session

search the web through Browserbase without opening a browser session

browse or scaffold starter templates with

bb templates

When not to use this skill

For interactive browsing, page inspection, screenshots, clicking, typing, or login flows, prefer the

browser

skill.

For simple HTTP content retrieval where the user does not care about using the CLI specifically, the dedicated

fetch

skill is often a better fit.

Use

bb browse ...

only when the user explicitly wants the CLI wrapper or is already working in a

bb

-centric workflow.

Command selection

bb functions

for local dev, packaging, publishing, and invocation

bb sessions

,

bb projects

,

bb contexts

,

bb extensions

for Browserbase platform resources

bb fetch

for Fetch API requests

bb search ""

for Search API requests

bb templates

to browse and scaffold starter templates

bb browse ...

to forward to the standalone

browse

binary (requires

@browserbasehq/browse-cli

)

bb skills install

to install Browserbase agent skills for Claude Code

For

bb browse

, the standalone

browse

CLI behavior is the source of truth:

bb browse env local

uses a clean isolated local browser by default, and

bb browse env local --auto-connect

opts into reusing an existing local Chrome session.

Common workflows

Functions

bb functions init my-function

cd

my-function

bb functions dev index.ts

bb functions publish index.ts

bb functions invoke

<

function_id

>

--params

'{"url":"https://example.com"}'

Use

bb functions invoke --check-status

to poll an existing invocation instead of creating a new one.

Platform APIs

bb projects list

bb sessions create

--proxies

--advanced-stealth

--region

us-east-1

bb sessions create --solve-captchas --context-id ctx_abc

--persist

bb sessions get

<

session_id

>

bb sessions downloads get

<

session_id

>

--output

session-artifacts.zip

bb contexts create

--body

'{"region":"us-west-2"}'

bb extensions upload ./my-extension.zip

Fetch API

bb fetch https://example.com

bb fetch https://example.com --allow-redirects

--output

page.html

Search API

bb search

"browser automation"

bb search

"web scraping"

--num-results

5

bb search

"AI agents"

--output

results.json

Templates

bb templates list

bb templates list

--language

python

bb templates clone form-filling

--language

typescript

bb templates clone amazon-product-scraping

--language

python ./my-scraper

Best practices

Prefer

bb --help

and subgroup

--help

before guessing flags.

Use dash-case flags exactly as shown in CLI help.

Use

--output

on

bb fetch

and

bb search

to save results to a file.

Use environment variables for auth unless the user explicitly wants one-off overrides.

Pass structured request bodies with JSON strings in

--body

or

--params

.

Remember that

bb functions ...

uses

--api-url

, while platform API commands use

--base-url

.

If

bb browse

fails because

browse

is missing, either install

@browserbasehq/browse-cli

or switch to the

browser

skill.

Troubleshooting

Missing API key: set

BROWSERBASE_API_KEY

or pass

--api-key

Missing project ID on

bb functions dev

or

bb functions publish

set BROWSERBASE_PROJECT_ID or pass --project-id Unknown flag: rerun the relevant command with --help and use the exact dash-case form bb browse install error: run npm install -g @browserbasehq/browse-cli For command-by-command reference and more examples, see REFERENCE.md .