When to Use This Skill Use the Kernel Python SDK when you need to: Build browser automation scripts - Create Python programs that control remote browsers Execute server-side automation - Run Playwright code directly in the browser VM without local dependencies Manage browser sessions programmatically - Create, configure, and control browsers from code Build scalable scraping/testing tools - Use browser pools and profiles for high-volume automation Deploy automation as actions - Package scripts as Kernel actions for invocation via API When NOT to use: For CLI commands (e.g., kernel browsers create ), use the kernel-cli skill instead For quick one-off tasks, the CLI may be simpler than writing code Core Concepts SDK Architecture The SDK is organized into resource-based modules: kernel.browsers - Browser session management (create, list, delete) kernel.browsers.playwright - Server-side Playwright execution kernel.browsers.computer - OS-level controls (mouse, keyboard, screenshots) kernel.browser_pools - Pre-warmed browser pool management kernel.profiles - Persistent browser profiles (auth state) kernel.auth.connections - Managed auth (create, login, submit, follow, retrieve, delete) kernel.credential_providers - External credential providers (1Password) kernel.proxies - Proxy configuration kernel.extensions - Chrome extension management kernel.deployments - App deployment kernel.invocations - Action invocation Two Automation Approaches 1. Server-side Execution (RECOMMENDED) Execute Playwright code directly in browser VM using kernel.browsers.playwright.execute(session_id, code="...") session_id must be passed as a positional argument (first parameter), not as id= keyword Response accessed via response.result - MUST use return in code to get data back Best for: Most use cases, production automation, parallel execution, actions 2. CDP Connection (Client-side) Connect Playwright to browser via CDP WebSocket URL Code runs locally, browser runs remotely; requires local Playwright installation Best for: Complex debugging, specific local development needs Patterns Reference Import Patterns Standard: from kernel import Kernel For actions: import kernel and from kernel import Kernel For typed payloads: from typing import TypedDict For CDP: from playwright.async_api import async_playwright SDK Initialization client = Kernel() reads KERNEL_API_KEY from environment automatically Action Handler Pattern from typing import TypedDict from kernel import Kernel app = kernel . App ( "app-name" ) class TaskInput ( TypedDict ) : task : str @app . action ( "action-name" ) async def my_action ( ctx : kernel . KernelContext , input_data : TaskInput ) :

Access input: input_data["task"] or input_data.get("task")

. . . CDP Connection Pattern (Client-side) async with async_playwright ( ) as playwright : browser = await playwright . chromium . connect_over_cdp ( kernel_browser . cdp_ws_url ) context = browser . contexts [ 0 ] if browser . contexts else await browser . new_context ( ) page = context . pages [ 0 ] if context . pages else await context . new_page ( ) Binary Data Handling Binary data (screenshots, PDFs) returns as Node.js Buffer:

Follow canonical pattern above, then:

if response . success and response . result : data = bytes ( response . result [ 'data' ] ) with open ( "output.png" , "wb" ) as f : f . write ( data ) Installation uv pip install kernel or pip install kernel For CDP: uv pip install playwright References Kernel Documentation : https://www.kernel.sh/docs API Reference : https://www.kernel.sh/docs/api-reference/ Templates : https://www.kernel.sh/docs/reference/cli/create#available-templates Quickstart Guide : https://www.kernel.sh/docs/quickstart Examples : examples