chrome-cli is a command line utility for controlling Google Chrome compatible browsers on OS X. It is a native binary that uses the Scripting Bridge to communicate with Chrome. chrome-cli has been tested with the following browsers:
- Chrome
- Chrome Canary
- Chromium
- Brave
- Vivaldi
- Edge
- Arc
By default chrome-cli communicates with Chrome, but you can use it with other browsers by settings
the CHROME_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER environment variable. I.e. to use chrome-cli with Brave you can run the following command:
CHROME_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER="com.brave.Browser" chrome-cli list tabsCheck the scripts directory for some convenient wrappers.
The following command will print out the bundle identifier for Brave
mdls -name kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier -raw /Applications/Brave\ Browser.appbrew install chrome-cliThis will install:
- chrome-cli
- chrome-canary-cli
- chromium-cli
- brave-cli
- vivaldi-cli
- edge-cli
- arc-cli
To execute javascript or to view a tab's source you must first enable View > Developer > Allow JavaScript from Apple Events.
More details here. Thanks to @kevinfrommelt and @paulp for providing this information.
chrome-cli -h (Print help)
chrome-cli --help (Print help)
chrome-cli help (Print help)
chrome-cli list windows (List all windows)
chrome-cli list tabs (List all tabs)
chrome-cli list tabs -w <id> (List tabs in specific window)
chrome-cli list links (List all tabs' link)
chrome-cli list links -w <id> (List tabs' link in specific window)
chrome-cli info (Print info for active tab)
chrome-cli info -t <id> (Print info for specific tab)
chrome-cli open <url> (Open url in new tab)
chrome-cli open <url> -n (Open url in new window)
chrome-cli open <url> -i (Open url in new incognito window)
chrome-cli open <url> -t <id> (Open url in specific tab)
chrome-cli open <url> -w <id> (Open url in new tab in specific window)
chrome-cli close (Close active tab)
chrome-cli close -w (Close active window)
chrome-cli close -t <id> (Close specific tab)
chrome-cli close -w <id> (Close specific window)
chrome-cli reload (Reload active tab)
chrome-cli reload -t <id> (Reload specific tab)
chrome-cli back (Navigate back in active tab)
chrome-cli back -t <id> (Navigate back in specific tab)
chrome-cli forward (Navigate forward in active tab)
chrome-cli forward -t <id> (Navigate forward in specific tab)
chrome-cli activate -t <id> (Activate specific tab)
chrome-cli activate -t <id> --focus (Activate tab and bring its window to the front)
chrome-cli activate -t <windowId>:<id> (Activate specific tab in a specific window — useful with multiple profiles)
chrome-cli activate -t <windowId>:<id> --focus (Activate specific tab and bring that window to the front)
chrome-cli presentation (Enter presentation mode with the active tab)
chrome-cli presentation -t <id> (Enter presentation mode with a specific tab)
chrome-cli presentation exit (Exit presentation mode)
chrome-cli size (Print size of active window)
chrome-cli size -w <id> (Print size of specific window)
chrome-cli size <width> <height> (Set size of active window)
chrome-cli size <width> <height> -w <id> (Set size of specific window)
chrome-cli position (Print position of active window)
chrome-cli position -w <id> (Print position of specific window)
chrome-cli position <x> <y> (Set position of active window)
chrome-cli position <x> <y> -w <id> (Set position of specific window)
chrome-cli source (Print source from active tab)
chrome-cli source -t <id> (Print source from specific tab)
chrome-cli execute <javascript> (Execute javascript in active tab)
chrome-cli execute <javascript> -t <id> (Execute javascript in specific tab)
chrome-cli chrome version (Print Chrome version)
chrome-cli version (Print application version)
You can set the environment variable OUTPUT_FORMAT to json to get json output.
For example:
$ OUTPUT_FORMAT=json chrome-cli list tabs
{
"tabs" : [
{
"id" : 1869578516,
"title" : "Lobsters",
"url" : "https://lobste.rs/",
"windowId" : 1869578514,
"windowName" : "Lobsters"
}
]
}
$ chrome-cli list tabs
[57] Inbox (1) - foo.bar@gmail.com - Gmail
[2147] My Drive - Google Drive
[2151] GitHub
[2161]
[2155] Hacker News
If you have multiple Chrome windows (e.g., across profiles), tab listings include window ids like:
[1001:2161] Example Tab Title
You can then activate the tab specifically with:
chrome-cli activate -t 1001:2161
$ chrome-cli info -t 2161
Id: 2162
Title:
Url: http://httpbin.org/ip
Loading: No
$ chrome-cli source -t 2161
<html><head></head><body><pre style="word-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;">{
"origin": "1.2.3.4"
}</pre></body></html>
$ chrome-cli execute '(function() { var nodes = document.querySelectorAll(".title a"); var titles = []; for (var i = 0; i < 5; i++) { titles.push(nodes[i].innerHTML) } return titles.join("\n"); })();' -t 2155
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